June 30, 2004
exherent drama
Leo Burnett, the great man who founded my former company, coined the phrase “Inherent Drama.”
It’s a phrase which has since informed 50 years of advertising and marketing.
Alfred Hitchcock once said, “Film is life with all the boring bits removed.” And this is basically what drama is.
Ergo, it’s the ad agency’s job to find the product’s “inherent drama” and capitalize on it.
For instance, your husband is stuck in a horrible snowstorm. You’re worried. That’s drama.
He makes it home after dumping the car and walking 5 miles in the snow. That’s drama.
When he gets home he’s cold, wet and exhuasted– you hug and kiss him, overwhelmed with relief. That’s drama.
So you make him a nice, fat cup of Hersey’s hot chocolate. That’s the inherent drama of the Hershey product. It’s the product “being there” during a crucial juncture of your life.
Which is precisely why we’ve had 50 years of Daddy-stuck-in-the-snow commercials. We have all these products to ram down your crucial junctures. How very considerate of us.
People are sick of it, obviously. Therefore I propose that advertisers move on from inherent drama. But where to?
Easy. “Exherent Drama” (i.e. opposite of inherent, “outside” as opposed to “inside” etc).
i.e. when a brand stops being a thing, and starts being a place.
I often refer to this as “The Kinetic Quality”. Rock on.
In keeping with the topic of the opposing “dramas”, it appears that you are suggesting that the tendency now is to produce commercials that everyman can identify with as the “boring moments” in life as the selling force for the product.
For example: sitting on the beach; watching the sun set; bucket of Coronas on ice in wait; cell phone rings; toss phone into ocean; result — avoid drama.
This commercial has indeed influenced my purchasing habits. Any product that publicly denounces Drama (and promotes sitting on the beach with a cold libation) will gain my loyalty.
That’s an interesting way of looking at it. Indeed =)
I think it’s also a realisation that the “product” isn’t the only part of the equation.
As Apple or Harley Davidson so wonderfully illustrate; it’s not just about “Product”. People have to also fall in love with the thing that came before the product i.e. “The Process”.
By making your proccess more transparent in any endeavor, you are opening yourself up… you are sharing.
Sharing is an act of love.