excuse me while I kiss the sky
The Asch conformity experiments were a series of laboratory experiments by psychologist Solomon Asch in the 1950s.
The various experiments demonstrated the degree to which an individual's own opinions and behaviours can be influenced by those of a majority group
The Asch experiments informed the idea about social proof that we often use in advertising.
8 out of 10 cats and suchlike.
Essentially people will often do things that they see other people are doing.Especially similar others.
One experiment, easily replicable and with predictable results is the one in which one or more direct agents in a public space would point up into the sky, as though there is something to see.
Bystanders, or passive spectators if you prefer - will predictably stop to look up into the sky to see what the other are looking at.
My hunch is that some of this background was influential in the creation of this fantastic bit of digital outdoor created by Ogilvy for British Airways.
Who among us has not gazed up to the heavens at a climbing plane and not thought 'I wonder where that one is off to?'.
And then thought 'Wherever it's going, I wish I was on it'.
The lesson? It's easy to lose sight - amid all the huffing and puffing about what advertising does or does not do - of the simple fact that the fundamental, number one task advertising has to perform is to get noticed in the first place.
Gold Lion in Outdoor.
