Tuesday, April 5, 2011

Quiet, please.

Last night was a big night in American sports. One university where athletes don't graduate or go class was playing another university where athletes don't graduate or go to class. This entire conflagration was funded--since these are public universities--by taxpayer dollars at a time when we don't otherwise have the financial wherewithal to buy a pack of Chiclets.

Here's what impresses me about sports. How little experts know and in how many convoluted ways they can express what they know so it sounds like they say a lot. They say things like, "We have to shut them down defensively, get them out of their game and run our fast-break and hit our shots."

Deconstruct that and you get "We have to keep them from scoring and score ourselves."

That's basically the level of discourse you get when you hear people discussing sports. And it's basically the level of discourse you get when you hear people discussing advertising.

"Did you select the best takes?""Have you included all the copy points?"

Pursuant to my previous point on chatter it all leads me to a very simple conclusion. 90% of all agency conversation is unnecessary. It is noise that fills what otherwise would be uncomfortable quiet.

I wonder if you could make money starting an agency called "Silence"?

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