"Ideas rooted in human behaviour can work in any time length"

Our creative industry is at a zeitgeist moment. We’re finding ourselves in an ‘always on’ culture where the most successful brands are the most responsive ones. Many people live their digital lives consuming bite-sized content. As a result, we’re seeing shorter pieces of online content. Just this year, we’ve seen the introduction of two new social video tools, Vine (6 seconds) and most recently, Instagram video (15 seconds). If people can capture and share the world’s moments simply and beautifully, why shouldn’t marketers?

If a brand has a strong purpose and role in people’s lives, it can most certainly communicate its message in 10 seconds.

In fact, the ‘Power of 10’, if you will, has been a sweet spot for years. More than a decade ago, Leo Burnett created a campaign for McDonald’s 99p hamburgers, ‘Plumber’, ‘Estate Agent’ and ‘Alan Hansen’. This was one of the most awarded TV campaigns in the world, winning a Gold Cannes Lion, D&AD Silver Pencil, Clio Grand Prix and is in the Clio Hall of Fame. When ideas are rooted in human behaviour, they can work in any time length. The secret is to write to a time length. Not cut down a film to fit a time length. If a story lasts 10 seconds, write a 10 seconds story. Distillation is the key that unlocks the door. Also interestingly, we created the world's shortest commercial to advertise the new Guinness Book of Records annual – a ‘one second’ commercial for the Guinness Book of Records (it is actually in the book, as the world’s quickest spot). Again, this elegant story was written to a time length.

We live in an era where creativity is king. Whether it’s a 0:30 seconds TV spot or a 0:10 seconds online video, content that’s interesting, engaging and rewarding will fare immensely well. If a brand has a strong purpose and the idea is centred on people, creativity will continue to thrive.

As told to Srabana Lahiri