The Advertising Lessons of the Violinist

With the news that YouTube plans to offer pre-roll ads this summer, I fear for the looming onslaught of online video. It seems the advertisers are lazy, and need all this "new" to feel like the old way. Only then will they be comfortable enough to spend the money. And we get screwed.

Three minds points us to this story about a Washington Post experiment gone depressing. Violin virtuoso Joshua Bell engaged in a test of context, or at least our collective morning consciousness. One of the most incredible musicians in the world played some of the most fascinating classical pieces ever written, for free, in the DC Metro. He wore casual clothes, and left his case open for tips in normal street musician style, while he bowed his 3.5 million dollar Stradivarius.

Interview magazine once said his playing "does nothing less than tell human beings why they bother to live."

Yet, only 7 people of over a thousand even stopped. He only made a little over 32 dollars.

Why? Context. He was largely ignored because someone standing where he was, looking like he did, didn't deserve attention, no matter how well he performed.

So, as we work to preserve our same old context in these new video surroundings, maybe we should ask ourselves why. We should try a little harder to surprise and delight, not necessarily preserve and make more palatable.

Because the 30 second commercial, the newspaper ad, the billboard, the radio spot, you can make them just as good as Joshua Bell, but they'll still be ignored. You can't fight complacency with context. You'll just fail more quickly.

Below is the hidden camera video of the experiment.