Beyond [[Our Eight Rules of Ad Making]], [[Ryan Horn]] might add: Creativity is NOT synonymous with being clever. By clever we mean almost any ad that goes viral on Youtube for being shocking, or featuring a candidate [shooting](https://www.newsweek.com/arizona-congressional-candidate-jerone-davison-ar-15-klan-hood-campaign-ad-1722349) or [smoking something](https://x.com/tommcdermottjr/status/1516744552215891973?s=61). Silly and fake. It doesn't mean being different for differences sake. It doesn't mean making "art". (Though it can be artistic) We're not trying to reveal truth, beauty and goodness for their own sake. We're trying to convey a message that compels an action. One to the next. There are multiple barriers between the advertiser/communicator and the audience. - A lens. - A camera box. - The viewers' screen. - The time in between production and deployment. - The inherent trust placed in the messenger by the audience, the baggage they may or may not have by association. ##### **Creativity in advertising is the ability to smash these barriers: to create something artificial that feels, to the viewer, authentic and believable -- and therefore, worthy of memory, attention and action.** An idea, an emotion, that permeates this fourth wall as if it is not there and goes straight into her mind, her heart. How? Figuring that out is what creativity is. Grinding on it is how we [[Approach creative work like accountants]]. Cleverness doesn't do it. Voters generally hate clever. It's a good way to [[Don't Offend the Voter|offend them]]. [[The Rise of Anti-Politics]] exists for a reason.