More Than Art

I just re-read my last post and think I should elaborate or clarify one point.

When I mentioned the need for a campaign's intangible "atmosphere", I'm referring to a lot more than art direction or the literal look-and-feel. And when I say "pervade", I'm not simply talking about lots of impressions or a heavy ad frequency.

Pervasiveness throughout every possible aspect of the marketer's contact with the target audience is key.

Everything in, say, a horror movie conveys "scary" (except when it's dramatically more noticeable or necessary to lighten things up): the music is deep and spooky, the lighting is a little bit shadowy, things don't always appear in perfect focus, the costumes have a certain roughness to them, there are lots of subtle sound effects, and on and on...

Same with a light-hearted romantic comedy: the music is light and usually uses a familiar hum-able tune or two, everything is well-lit, the main characters are dressed immaculately and have perfect hair and clothes...

I should get the same feeling from a marketing effort. I might not even consciously notice most of the little details that are creating this "feeling", and maybe that's a sign of success.