“See that man over there?” he whispered to his companion.
“Yes,” said the latter, looking disinterestedly in the direction indicated.
“Well, that is Obvious Adams.”
“Is that so?” And he almost turned in his chair this time to get a good look at the most-talked-of man in the advertising business.
“Ordinary-looking man, isn’t he?”
“Yes, to look at him you would never think he was the famous Obvious Adams of the biggest advertising agency in NewYork. And to tell the truth, I can’t see why he is such a little tin god in the business world.”
“I’ve heard him speak two or three times at the Adleague meetings, but he never said anything that we didn’t know already. He seems to have a lot of people buffaloed, though. I confess he was a disappointment to me.”
This was the start of Robert Updegraff’s short story about Obvious Adams, a short story that ran in The Saturday Evening Post in 1916.
Adams was raised poor and worked in a store. He eventually went to night school, and decided he wanted to work in advertising.
He was a simple guy, but managed to get a job with the Oswald Advertising Agency filing papers.
But Adams had a knack for seeing things that other people couldn’t.
In a world of flashy copywriting and bells and whistles business ideas, Adams could cut right through, and bring “obvious” and effective ideas that worked.
“It’s that everlasting obviousness in Adams that I banked on. He doesn’t get carried away from the facts; he just looks them squarely in the face and then proceeds to analyze, and that is half of the battle.”
Soon Obvious Adams became so good at copywriting, ad layouts and business, that he became the most successful man in advertising.
Here are 5 Lessons from Adams that you can able to apply in your business or ideas
Look for non-complicated solutions. In one example, the agency was trying to sell hats. They were running full length images of men wearing suits with hats on. Adams took some scissors to the image, and cut it down until you could only see a big smiling face, with the hat. Sell the hat, not the man. It takes work to simplify.
Check your idea aligns with human nature. Are you marketing “where” people are already looking? Is the message you’re saying actually relevant?
Test it out on paper. Adams would draw up ideas on the back of a menu. Test your idea on paper, a whiteboard, or with others on social media. Check to see if it resonates before you go all in.
Does it really “click” in our minds? Think of big political campaigns, or powerful company slogans: “Just do it,” or “10,000 songs in your pocket.” Often good ideas match a story that works well in our mind already, and “clicks” rather than needing an explanation.
Is it good timing? Is it in the right place? You can be too early, or too late with an idea and it’ll fall flat. Or, you can be at the right time, but in the wrong place (customer segment, location…)
Uptegraff wrote Obvious Adams over 100 years ago, but the lessons have only gotten more relevant.
It’s easier than ever now to hide in complexities, vague concepts or intellectualised ideas…
But if you can break things down so they are clear and “obvious,” you might find more success.
Pretty obvious though, right?
