The Requirements of Tone, Texture, and Composition in Advertising

The case against pretense, an assault on all senses, and a letter of appreciation for the people who keep our naming agency authentic.

Hey guys,

What.Is.Up. Literally. Tell me one thing good, because lately, it’s either All good or All horrendous. More than that, it is an individual struggle with the Self. Excuse me if I get a bit conceptual here but this has been a time for deep introspection, rather than nifty tips and concrete takeaways.

You see, the reductive demographic labels that drive our discourse (and our industry) are what we work against at our naming agency. I’ve never feared that ‘things’ would change by underdog spirit. If you believe your childhood shapes you, then you also have to believe in the Self as the only power to form You. If you understand the power of one idea, you’ll now see the true power of one idea, when it is singular in worship. That makes me nauseous when an idea should only be put on the conference room table if it has taken into account all the contextual concepts that came before what someone tells me is a ‘New Idea.’

See, I don’t believe anyone can have a new, entirely original idea. We’re always borrowing from what we have previously known, whether we are aware of these influences or not. It follows, then, that the more we expose ourselves to different ideas, tastes, and perspectives, the better we are able to have ideas that stand out seem new or original. We are each an accumulation of influences, and in collaboration, we can then multiply those influences, deepening self’s creative reservoir.

Back in the day, when your friend made you a mixtape, you understood she took the time to show you she truly knew You, felt for You, not judge You, but she never had to literally say: I’ve got You. And what I value today the most after all these consumer purchases? My ‘moved with me Trunk littered with all the random stickers collected along the way.’ It probably was an expensive rolling trunk, but it has more value to me than a table I found online because it is an extension of me. Back to the mixtape. How did we just know what it should feel like to be cared for? In this new era of communication done en masse, what we do at Rock Candy Media has never been more clear. In what others call Contextual Advertising, we go native. Your friend took the time to feel You and assembled a tape just for You, and with so much intent she wanted so badly to heal You. All communication should come from such a place of deep empathy.

And what everyone seems to be missing is that step before you even start The Creative Process that cannot be mass-produced unless it resonates 1:1. You need humility before you can point your finger. You need to put yourself in someone else’s shoes before you can write to and appeal to them. That takes a quality my contextual advertising and naming agency values more than intelligence. That quality is called vulnerability. When you are vulnerable, you come from a very human place. I call it ‘Childlike Wonder.’ In an adult, you know when you hear a song or smell a scent and it takes you back to a place that the power you have as an individual to feel is The Real Deal.

Well, that is why it is so important to know that the individual Self is nothing if it is not holding hands with the humble Self, and those two must allow all that is Vulnerable to thrive in our company culture. Do we give each other so much sh*t? Yes. Are we there to get schooled by others understanding they have the very real power to change one individual mind? Yes. Do we value our traditional means of education but value all the forms of education that followed after you had a sense of Self but never declared yourself an absolutist of any kind? Cool, then you’re allowed in Our House.

Actually, we let everyone in Our House because, dude, we want to learn from you. Every person diverse in thought and full in soul can stay in our house as we watch them reveal their Self. And the thing about performance-based Advertising? Our belief in the individual to respect others not because we either agree or disagree, but because their backgrounds were different from ours and we can learn their voice, because 9 times out of 10 we end up relating, which is different from agreeing. We don’t have to agree with you to work for you. What we do need is to understand your Why, as in Why You are here with Us. Once we know that, we know we can direct-sell for all the wealth you have in your mind about everything you are as a person in your respected industry.

Back to the mixtape: Everyone is one. One Mood, One Spirit, One Grief, One Hope, but every mixtape from a friend you keep because their intent was so pure in heart it’s not about the tape, man. And at our naming agency, one born of joint collaboration, we hold hands with all your dimensions to allow us to appeal to your prospect’s inner childlike wonder that will only work with what we call Soul, enough for them to say ‘Should I be using/buying/subscribing to something different?’

That intent means everything when hiring a branding and naming agency. When you invest your Self in seeing another, you know it takes time because each person has so many facets, rich personal histories with traditions and tastes born out of the lived experience. A naming or branding agency requires the patience to know the power of evolution in the Self, so rich in thought and diverse ideas, and so brave to ask a dumb question when necessary. The modern public relations industry was originally founded on principles developed by Freud, who fused psychology with mythology. Yes, there are commonalities between everyone’s human experience, but you’ll never be able to make a mixtape the whole world can enjoy. There’s no universal skeleton key unlocking the secret to getting anyone to buy whatever you’re selling.

Come on in you guys. The combined wonder is what makes each of our agency’s Principals’ perspectives so very important to me that I only have given surprise raises when I aim to show them they can change my mind, and why no one understands that a Concept is more valuable than an Idea. A Concept lacks ego and knows it needs texture, while an Idea only knows ego and wants to prove it is right. A Concept is workable and adaptable. We can add style, texture, and composition to complete the crafting of a campaign.

And now, the stakes have never been higher, in fighting to maintain the integrity of this house of Wonder. That house of Wonder knows that your Self has to feel how another Self feels to the extent that you can wander along with them to not only understand it but to want to learn just what it is that can make them feel better about their Self. Then, and only then, will you ever do right by a client. And guys, when I say what drives us is our want to prove the client they chose the right agency, I’ve never meant it more than I mean it now. Naked in Self and so rich in soul, which are the requirements of all that is childlike Wonder, and you can’t have a composition without all the inclusion of ideas and diversity of thoughts to get all the notes just right. And I’m so proud that by now it’s usually on our first try as a team because our individual Will to Know, has to combine with what we know about each partner to form the best resulting composition for our client.

Let’s start hearing every note the other didn’t, and let’s round it out and take it to a whole New Dimension based on all we knew before–collectivizing our knowledge, experience, and skills (to pay the bills)–so the only people we need are still those that keep challenging what we think to be true Today, so we can each know more Tomorrow. 

Shall we begin?