Nothing happens until someone feels something. 

In the critically acclaimed show Mad Men, Jon Hamm plays Don Draper, a creative director on 1960s Madison Avenue. 

In Season 5, one of his creatives brings him a sketch of an ad. It centers on a couple of newlyweds. Draper rejects it. “We want that electric jolt to the body… what’s the difference between a husband knocking on a door and a sailor getting off a ship? About 10,000 volts.” 

That’s a secret great leaders and communicators know. 

There’s a difference between “I have an idea” and “I have a dream.” Between “let’s build better ICBMs” and “let’s go to the moon.” Between “a safe and prosperous nation” and “the shining city on a hill.” That difference is a matter of volts. 

The problem arises when everyone tries to amp up their volts in the same way at the same time. Then, we just desensitize our audience. We electrocute their emotions to death. As we’ve written before, when an advertising medium succeeds, everyone jumps on the bandwagon and then it gets oversaturated. It’s the proverbial serpent eating its own tail, and the same thing applies to creative advertising. 

We thought most of the SuperBowl ads this past Sunday were exhausting, samey, and boring. All hype and no substance. One ad stood out: the Disney ad. 

Why? Plain text. Heart-hitting language. Simple visuals. Low cognitive load. And, crucially, it’s different. Different from all the other flashy ads. One of Don’s quips is “stop writing for other writers.” It seemed like all the advertisers were advertising to show off to other advertisers (and were allergic to simplicity). Not Disney. 

As Don said in Season 1, “Technology is a glittering lure. But there’s the rare occasion when the public can be engaged on a level beyond flash. If they have a sentimental bond with a product.” 

The bond? “Nostalgia.”

That’s another thing the Disney ad got right. The ad referenced famous Disney-movie phrases like: “the Force will be with you… always”; “why’d it have to be snakes?”; “just keep swimming”; and “to infinity and beyond.” That’s where it got its 10,000 volts. 

Perhaps we need fewer glittering lures, and more sentimental bonds.