Should Advertising Say Less or Explain More?

When evaluating ideas from my team, I apply this principle: “What exactly are you trying to communicate?” I encourage them to break it down into the essential objects, text, and movements, then conceptualize and execute. Once the work is presented, if someone starts to verbally explain their creation, I say, “It’s time for you to stop talking and let your work speak for itself.” After all, no piece of communication comes with its own translator.

Why Does Chaos Happen?

In advertising or any form of communication, there’s often an overwhelming desire to over-explain. People think that saying more will ensure they’re understood better. Sometimes, while someone else is speaking, we’re already preparing our response instead of listening. With this human tendency, let’s not compound the problem with overly complex words that confuse our audience.

What Are the Best Communication Steps?

Listen → Understand → Interpret → Speak.

As simple as these steps may seem, our personalities, environments, and egos can often mutate this natural process. Think about the game of telephone—the difference between the original message and the final one often highlights our unique interpretations.

What Drives Visual Communication Today?

The most dominant platforms are:

  • WhatsApp: Over 250 million users globally, growing rapidly in Turkey.
  • Twitter: Surpassed 400 million users.
  • Facebook: Over 1 billion users.
  • Online News Portals: Increasing daily traffic (check rankings on Alexa.com).
  • Other Messengers: Platforms like Message Me and WeChat are gaining traction.
  • Print Media (Newspapers & Magazines): Newspaper readership is around 22%, while magazines are at 4%.
  • Books: Reading rates in Turkey stand at only 4%.
  • Television: Still dominant with a 95% viewership rate.
  • Radio: 24% listening rate.

(These statistics are widely available online.)

Communication Is About Focus, Not Tools

Whether using cutting-edge technologies or traditional methods, the more communication tools we have, the more we see a decline in meaningful interactions. Observations and psychological studies show that the fewer words or tools we use, the better the communication.

In advertising and marketing communication, we must create simple yet creative solutions that convey more with less. Perhaps this is why Nietzsche dreamed of condensing an entire book into a single paragraph.

With that said, I’ll stop here. After all, saying too much risks saying nothing at all.

Wishing you meaningful connections in your work and friendships.

P.S. The photo above is by photographer Andrey Pavlov.

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