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There’s a famous rendition of the Zen tradition by Bruce Lee in Enter the Dragon where he challenges a young acolyte to a dual. In review, Lee castigates the apprentice with a short slap “It’s like the finger pointing to the Moon. Don’t concentrate on the finger or else you’ll miss all that heavenly glory”

Society certainly has a propensity to look at the finger rather than the Moon and delve into the world of business and you’ll find it no different.

When youth voted with their feet against paying for CDs the record labels got stuck looking at the finger rather than the wider value of music. When the Rolling Stones can gross $250m in a year of touring the US you need to ask where is all the “heavenly glory” in developing long term artists? Those finger pointers have got stuck on a format which from Tower Records to the Majors is slowly but surely putting them out of business.

Advertising is another finger. Yes, you can argue, that like the global recorded music industry it still makes money but is the purpose of brands to buy ad space or to connect with customers.

“We’re not in the business of keeping media companies alive we’re in the business of connecting with our customers”
VP Global Brand Nike Trevor Edwards said

“…consumers have been trained to skip all advertising…That’s the world we’re all afraid of.”
Lee Doyle, CEO Mediaedge:cia

Take a look at the most radical and trailblazing youth brands and witness the shape of their advertising spending curve. Nike, Jones Soda, Red Bull, Threadless, Toyota Scion, Hello Kitty and Facebook all are winning youth trust and attention without resorting to high level advertising.

The trouble is that if the only tool in your toolbox is a hammer – everything begins to look like a nail. Every solution to engagement, attention and trust is presented in the form of a clever advertising campaign that stimulates, amuses and captures their hearts and minds… briefly.

The “crazy ones” the radical brands that have thrown the rule book out are the ones that have the trust of youth – their consumers are more effective advertising than the planners could ever dream of. Rock Corps concerts, Music Academies, Xtreme sports events and Breakdance Jams linger in the hearts and minds of youth far longer than that humorous campaign.

But then *they* don’t want to hear it. It’s their business and like the record labels it means radical change. It means cannibalizing their own teams, departments and processes before the market does it for them. Surely this is what creatives should be well positioned to do?

Not so. Hammer wielding agencies suggest the answer lies in being friends on Facebook, a viral marketing video or worse still – the promise of social media marketing. It’s all meatballs as Seth Godin would say. Creativity has become process. The Radicals and the Crazy Ones have been usurped by armies of overstretched planners and juniors too concerned about that next deadline to take time out to “think different”. Some get it and they’ll be the ones within 5 years who may just drop the words “advertising” from their business model.

The finger is the format. The Moon is customer benefit. Sometimes we get lost glorifying the format and the concept of customer benefit becomes an inconvenience. As Bruce Lee concludes “Never take your eye off your opponent – even when you bow”.

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