Forget the bland and be creative

As Neil Perkin says (MW June 12), consumers want to be entertained by advertising and they’re miffed that they’re not. A big chunk of those same consumers magically transform from business-to-consumer to business-to-business targets somewhere between their homes and offices, and if the poor quality of consumer advertising annoys them, the excruciatingly dull B2B stuff must drive them nuts.

But don’t blame the creatives. The most creative thing they do these days is try to figure out ways of getting round those pesky brand guidelines so their bright idea does not get totally lost among those “thou shalts” and “thou shalt nots”. Usually without success.

Bland [sic] guidelines or a return to the highly entertaining B2B advertising that we’re the best in the world at producing?

You can’t have both.

Peter Allen

Creative director

Agency Inc

Kingston upon Thames, Surrey