While developing a packaging concept for a high-end manufacturer, we encountered some feedback from a friend of the client who recommended we take an alternate approach. His advice was, literally, “dumb it down.” The product was a gourmet food item (chocolate) for a discriminating, college-educated audience. The argument was based on a perception of the across-the-board, ever-dwindling intelligence of the American public — the same argument we’ve all heard for years.
I didn’t buy the argument or the conclusion, and, thankfully, neither did the client. The interaction left me thinking how people think about their audiences and the impact — known and unknown – that ‘dumbing it down’ has on communications.
Obviously, ‘dumbing it down’ doesn’t emerge out of a place of respect. What happens when an organization thinking of its audience in this way makes it a habit? Is there a point where trying to think as a dim bulb becomes indistinguishable from being a dim bulb?
I think you are what you eat. The choice of respecting your audience’s intelligence brings with it a choice to be authentic, meaningful, and relevant. It burdens you with the increasingly non-trivial task of cutting through the deluge of competing messages confronting your audience’s ever diminishing attention. Organizations that rise up to ask and answer those challenging questions enjoy a significant advantage over those that don’t.
While a strategy of requiring serious thought from your audience is not always viable, I don’t really want to live in a world where it’s never an option.
As any company would, we’ve encountered successes and setbacks in our ten-year evolution. Perhaps our biggest lasting success has emerged from being picky about the jobs and partnerships we’ve taken on, with our best work happening when we form a partnership with our client and continually challenge ourselves to do better. ‘Dumbing it down’ will never really be a part of this equation.
