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As I Was Going to Write an Ad… 

We’ll start this article looking at an old riddle, because it could unlock some secrets

to create better marketing messages in today’s crowded advertising market. Let’s go… 

As I was going to St Ives, 

I met a man with seven wives, 

Each wife had seven sacks, 

Each sack had seven cats, 

Each cat had seven kits: 

Kits, cats, sacks, and wives, 

How many were there going to St Ives? 

………………….

If you haven’t heard it before, give it a few reads to get the gist. If you have, you probably know the answer.

Though even that is disputed as people have differing ideas of what we’re being told in the scenario.  

If you’d rather someone else did the thinking – and the reading

– here’s Samuel L Jackson and Bruce Willis in Die Hard With a Vengeance bringing it to life as only they can

(NSFW language, so be careful) 

 [INSERT – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bO8M71WHH5E] 

The Answer is Right There 

So the answer is one, right? The narrator was going to St Ives. Maybe, maybe not.

We don’t know where the man with seven wives was going because we’re not explicitly given the information.

They may be going to St Ives as well, having met the narrator at an inn for all we know.

And we don’t know the intended answer as it doesn’t seem to have been recorded anywhere. 

But it seems likely the answer is meant to be one. The man, his wives, the sacks, cats and kits are all presented to confuse and mislead us away from what is a pretty simple answer.

The answer is deliberately muddied and obscured, so we start taking and using all the information presented.  

There used to be a similar question about the direction of smoke from an electric train if the train is heading north with six carriages at 110 miles per hour and the wind is blowing due south-east.

None of it matters because electric trains don’t produce smoke (not like steam trains anyway). 

But Ads Aren’t Riddles 

And this where advertising comes in.  

We’re so used to it now, but advertisers often feel the need to cram EVERYTHING in. And by doing so, they often obscure the key message of the ad

– the one thing consumers should take away when hearing or seeing it.  

It could be a tool retailer talking to tradies who lists every type of tool they stock as though literal tradies aren’t familiar with the literal tools of their trade.

Or it could be a shopping centre who will tell you how conveniently located they are.

Not if you live on the other side of the city! Some will even tell you about the ‘428 easy car parks’ they have on site, like it matters. 

This isn’t important.

It’s all just extra information that’s either self-evident, not true for a huge amount of the audience, or completely irrelevant

– you don’t need 428 car parks, you need one. 

Time to Review? 

Too many advertisers fill their messaging with kits, cats, sacks, and wives; and by doing it they weaken the message they’re attempting to get across.

Next time you have the radio on listen for the waste people pack into their messaging. It’s so common we’re all used to it.  

But hopefully it gives you the inspiration to review any ads you’re working on.

Do you need to say everything you feel like you need to say, or are you just obscuring how many are going to St Ives,

and making it harder for potential customers to find a reason to remember you?  

Written:  Wade Howland 2024