… not how insightful the strategic thinking was.

… not how expensive the production was.

… not how attractive the models were.

… not how famous the voiceover was.

… not how terrific the product was.

… not how funny the commercial was.

… not how long it took the art director to kern the type.

… not how graceful the copywriter’s sentences were.

… not how targeted the media buy was.

The one attribute all great ads share is the audience didn’t see them coming.

So they didn’t get out of the way.

They stood sat or laid there with open eyes & open hearts & unguarded souls.

And took the full shot.

Everything else–the insightful thinking, the humor, the deft sentence, the beautiful type.

All good.

But useless if the audience sees it coming.