Candyless Strangers

"It's so cool that we've hit it off the way we have," my new acquaintance Kevin says after a 7-minute explanation of the way he strategically dilutes his pink lemonade with ice.

Bound to be a riveting friendship.

Really though, I love talking to strangers. It's my favorite thing about traveling and second favorite thing about cities (twenty Chinese food places within the same two blocks being the first.) Regardless of the often vapid conversations, it's an interesting way to learn about the general public and a good reminder that you will never figure them out. Ever.

Boy do we try, though. Particularly in advertising. We categorize, analyze and prioritize not-so-indirectly claiming that we know what they want. We might. We might not. But we're sure as hell going to sound confident enough that they might just believe our assessments over self-assessments. It's an interesting thing, the power of persuasion.

However, everyone's different. Perhaps we shouldn't be trying to speak to all of them at once. We can't. Perhaps, instead, we need to speak to the individual. Because it just so happens that we're all individuals.

Individualized messages that are consequently universal. An oxymoron for the ages. People are smarter than we often give them credit for. Complexities in advertising should be created by the observer, not thrown in their face. By providing a simple canvas that requires the observer of the ad to think and interact with your brand, it empowers the consumer. And that's pretty cool. When people really "get" each other, they often finish each other's sentences. You want your target to "get" you. To finish your sentences.

I'm on a creative exploration. For simpler solutions and simpler messages. Sometimes i talk my self in circles. I want to shrink those circles into periods. Period.