Media agencies should break traditional advertising rules to foster innovation and positive change, EssenceMediacom chief strategy officer Sophie Price and national head of planning Jack Graham said on stage at MFA Ex.
When the duo asked the audience who considers themselves a rule breaker, only 20-30% raised a hand.
"If we all follow those same rules, the opportunity for growth is diminished. If everybody wants to do the same thing, we all become decidedly average," Graham argued.
Specsavers' Audiology campaign is one example where breaking the rules can create cut-through.
"The rule with the audiology is always on lots of TV, newspapers and targeting older people. But in 2023, Specsavers broke those rules to get new audiences to check their ears," Graham said.
Last year, Specsavers UK partnered with Rick Astley to re-record his iconic song 'Never going to give you up', changing the lyrics to what the public had been mishearing for years.
For example, 'never going to run around with dessert spoons' instead of 'never going to run around and desert you'.
The rewritten song was released as a radio and social media ad, causing an absolute Twitter meltdown.
"So by breaking those rules and changing the game of how they put their messaging out for audiology, they had a really strong way to capture attention with a tagline of miss hearing is normal, just check your ears,” Graham said.
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