White Space

In the 1980's NIKE made advertising news by taking out full page ads, and then only putting one 'swoosh' in them. Or 'Just Do It' and nothing else. How could this be an effective use of advertising dollars, with so many column inches which were, well, blank?

And yet someone had the wisdom to ask...how can we best communicate this ONE theme? Every day at Peripetee we work with clients in an effort to help them do a better job of telling their story. The common problem is this: they want to tell BUNCHES of stories, some of which may be mediocre or may even draw potential customers AWAY from their primary message.

So, how do we help them narrow the funnel and communicate the CORE of that message with excellence, with candor, with humor? How do we help them be brave enough to communicate the 'swoosh' and only that?

James Joyce, in Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man says this: '...You have asked me what I would do and what I would not do. I will tell you what I will do and what I will not do. I will not serve that in which I no longer believe, whether it call itself my home, my fatherland or my church: and I will try to express myself in some mode of life or art as freely as I can and as wholly as I can, using for my defence the only arms I allow myself to use--silence, exile and cunning...'

At the end of the day, what are you willing to do or not do? Are you brave enough to communicate just one idea that you believe may change the world and make it better? Are you willing to leave white space around the idea, because it is so important that nothing must stand in its way?