Here’s a useful quote from the legendary copywriter Howard Gossage: “When baiting a mousetrap with cheese, be sure to leave room for the mouse.” In other words, make sure your concept allows for your viewer’s thought and participation, and don’t spoil the experience by explaining too much.
This Energizer battery campaign does a brilliant job of putting Gossage’s advice into action. In each ad, we see kids getting into potentially disastrous forms of mischief, and we see the warning NEVER LET THEIR TOYS DIE. But in each case, part of the story is left untold. We don’t see or hear about the moment when the child’s toy stopped working, driving him or her to find another source of amusement. That part is left completely to our imagination, and the role we play — that is, filling in the blank — is what makes the campaign so funny and engaging. If the ads had attempted to explain any more, we would have rolled our eyes and felt mildly insulted, the way we do when someone thinks we need to have a joke explained to us. Fortunately, though, DDB Johannesburg left out anything that wasn’t absolutely vital to the communication, and this campaign went on to win the 2008 Grand Prix for Press at Cannes.