Yes, Average is killing us.
Not in the meh, mid kind of way.
In the planet’s-on-fire, democracy’s-on-life-support, sea-level’s-in-your-living-room kind of way.
And not only because of evil masterminds, bond villains, or shadowy elites in hoodies… but also because of average minds. The latter bering the most dangerous.
The mildly indifferent.
The conveniently neutral.
The everyman with mid opinions.
The people who say “I’m not political” while doomscrolling in silence, refreshing like neutrality is a moral stance.
I get it:
We all want to belong.
It’s a universal insight.
We are mammals.
The herd is our protection.
It’s our home.
It’s the idea behind every Christmas ad.
It’s biology.
It’s survival.
Really?
Is it survival or our resignation letter?
Is it survival or our path to oblivion?
Here’s a moment to pause…
To reflect…
And to excuse my dramatism.
Sometimes I enjoy it almost as much as sarcasm. Almost.
So, back to the game:
My point is that everything has a price.
And belonging to average has a very high one.
The price of ending up with nowhere left to belong.
The price of belonging to the species that ended it all once and for good.
And the worst part?
Average feels normal.
Comfy.
Like a lukewarm bath filled with lukewarm opinions.
Safe from extremes.
Safe from progress.
Safe from ever being wrong or right (which equals wrong).
The everyman rewards fitting in, and standing out is risky.
Being brilliant is only cool once you’ve already made it.
Genius gets watered down until it can be printed on a tote bag.
Preferably beige. Preferably ironic.
In fact, in advertising, we embrace that averageness.
That’s where the key insight hides.
That’s what we build many of our campaigns on.
And that’s what makes most business scalable.
So yes, average is profitable.
Big time.
Short term.
Last time.
Average is killing us.
And business, frankly, is booming.
As of now, some will die rich.
Others will die average.
All dead.
But that hasn’t happened yet.
We can still turn things around.
(cue epic music you secretly hate but secretly love)
Especially those working in advertising.
Brands come to us asking what to say, what to do.
They want us to reach millions with our messages.
To sell. Sure.
But also…
We’ve got a unique opportunity to turn things around.
Instead of using average as the ultimate target truth,
we can turn it into the target’s starting point.
Yes, we live in an average world, statistically speaking.
Yes, Average is killing us.
But we won’t let it.
People can stay average.
But also have the potential to grow, change, evolve.
And those in advertising we have the unique power change that.
The power to kill average.
Kill it day after day.
Striving and going further everyday.
Raising average standards higher and higher.
You know, same as we’re doing with sea levels but on purpose and for good.
So, let’s push it until there is no average left.
That’s my call to action.
And I know, that’s what all admen say.
But hey, that’s exactly why I say it.
After all, that’s who I am:
I’m the Average Adman,
and I despise average.
Talking of which, I’ve got tote bags, a clothes line and a full store about it.
