Don’t say it. Show it.

We recommend Suzanne Pope’s Tumblr, “Ad Teachings.” She discusses the ins and outs of advertising, with a number of compelling examples of ads that cut through the media clutter.

In this post, she discusses the difference between a good brief and a good ad. She argues that a good ad is not simply a brief rendered on a page or on screen, and that telling consumers what emotion you want them to feel probably will result in terrible advertising.

Rather, the point should be to actually make them feel what you want them to feel.

It sounds obvious, but is not easy to do, for some of the reasons she discusses. In the ad above, Harley-Davidson doesn’t tell people explicitly that they are a Rebel brand. Instead, they show it.