Bill Bernbach was a man of his time.
Bill Bernbach was a man ahead of his time.
Much of “What Bill Bernbach said” is timeless.

From the Mad Men era Bill was an undoubted genius. Much of what he said still resonates and in some ways more so today in our complex and fragmented media world.

Take his simple aphorism. “Adapt your techniques to an idea, not an idea to your techniques”.

It was true then, but it's more pertinent today. As platforms and technologies evolve at pace it’s evident that many agencies and brands are falling foul of the technology or the technique trap. Think about it as the trap of investing time and creative energy in developing or designing a solution where the idea is defined by the technology or technique, ticks all the rational and functional boxes but lacks an emotional soul, appeal or personality.   
 
I am sure everyone can think of a brand or agency that has been seduced into having a Flashtastic web temple, or more recently maybe a mobile app, a facebook page or a twitter stream, that lack any real brand idea.  The traps are growing. Witness the hype around time and place applications like Gowalla and Foursquare, the allure of augmented reality or the temptation of RFID.

Traps exist to catch us out, to stop us or divert us from reaching our goal.

I would contend advertising's goal is much more than creating cold functional utility.

Our goal always has been and always will be to create emotive ideas that are underpinned by the principles of story-telling. Ideas that appeal on a deeper emotional level; are imbued with attitude, that drive desire, define identity and enable self expression. Now for a large part, brand utility has become core to what we do but it must be grounded in a clear brand promise, exude personality and can reinforce the brand story. Jess Greenwood from Contagious talks about starting with the consumer problem and not the platform. Great advice but we still need to ensure the idea is engaging, appealing and even entertaining. That demands story.

If we are in the business of what Henry Jenkins calls Transmedia storytelling then it's incumbent on us to be more demanding of our ideas. To ask questions of ourselves and our ideas.
What is the core idea?
What is our plot?
Who or what is the enemy?
Who is the main protagonist?
What are our themes?
How will the story play-out with a non-linear narrative?
How do we galvanize a network or engage communities in our stories? 
 
It’s hard and demands more rigor, collaboration and connected thinking.  

Had Bill been alive today he would have been at the heart of this and demanding that we just need to work and think harder.