What the Advertising World Can Learn from Ansel Adams

Many years ago a friend of mine decided to take a photographic walking tour during her visit to Yosemite National Park. Armed with her instamatic camera she began snapping photos as the tour guide pointed out scenic photo opportunities. Not long after the tour began her camera jammed. An older gentleman stopped to help her and fixed her camera. Unfortunately, the tour group had gone on far ahead of them. So, the older gentleman spent the remaining portion of the day with her, showing her the sites and helping her take photos.

The following day, my friend decides to visit the one-hour photo shop at Yosemite to get her pictures developed. Meanwhile, she decided to check the gift shop and began looking at coffee table books of Yosemite. She picked up one amazing pictorial display book by Ansel Adams and thumbed through the pages. Then, finally turning the back page over it revealed a picture of the photographer. To her surprise the man in the photo was the same man that helped her on the trail; for one afternoon, she had been tutored in photography by the great Ansel Adams.

She later explained to me that, “Those were the best pictures my instamatic camera ever took.” --- Cameras do not take pictures. Photographers take pictures. The camera is just the tool. An instamatic camera in the hands of a great master can create great works of art. An expensive camera in the hands of another less able person can create really bad pictures.

The buzz in the advertising industry seems to be about different platforms. What about cel phone delivered advertising? How should we handle advertising over the Internet? Angst over what should be done with all emerging platforms is rampant. What should we do?

Their concern should be more about content and message --- less about platform. The ad business continues to crank out advertising with messages that do not attract attention. The message about that brand does not have a hook that engages the viewer and leave them remembering the value proposition that ultimately leads to a sale.

Ansel Adams just needed an opportunity – an instamatic camera – to take a picture. His message was solid, regardless of the tools he used: a lesson to be learned. Keep it simple, with a message that grabs the customer and leaves them remembering why that message is critical to them and leads them to a purchase.