Spend Creativity, Not Money

So many clients come to me and need to get noticed, but have almost no budget.

My long-time mantra is "there is an opportunity hiding inside absolutely everything" and this idea for magician Lance Burton is a case in point. As people landed at the Vegas Airport, ready to start a fun vacation, there were greeted with a very smart, very funny idea promoting Burton's performance at the Monte Carlo Hotel.

It couldn't have cost much. Plus, a critical (but rarely discussed) aspect of marketing is timing. Effective marketing is not just a creative message, but a creative message delivered at just the right moment to make the largest impact. The timing of this ad is exquisite. As soon as people land in Vegas they start thinking about what shows to take in - then they see this idea - and it has to make them laugh. I bet a lot of people made a mental note to go see Burton

One of my first Creative Directors once told me that advertising was like "doing ballet in a phonebooth." He meant that our task is to try and create something remarkable inside a tiny, claustrophobic space that doesn't really give us the room we desire. A lack of budget, in other words.

But a lack of budget forces your mind to use another quadrant. The one that generates big ideas that don't need money to hold it up. The kind of idea that can be fully supported by the underpinning of the thinking alone.

Spend creativity.

Not money.