In between

"The different layouts look good, but we'd like the backgrounds a bit in between the shade of grey in the second picture and the shade of grey in the third picture". 

"We've heard the different propositions for the music and we had a slightly different kind of music in mind, something in between these two...".

A photographer I work with sometimes, Jean Francois de Witte, once told me that whenever you propose two photographs that to a client they'll always ask for a third version, with a color that is something 'in between'. Maybe it's selective perception, but since that meeting I start to see all kinds of examples where clients want a third version that is something in between.

In my opinion effective advertising should be either so annoying that people want to throw their TV screen out of the window or so good that viewers watch the commercial again on YouTube. In other words, it should get noticed. I personally don't find it very rewarding to go for an annoying commercial, so my goal is always to be effective in a positive way.

But if I look at an average commercial break, it seems that advertisers don't seem to know which direction to go. Especially in times of crisis a lot of advertising is middle of the road, something in between. Sure, they let the crazy creatives at the agencies make a little joke. As long  as they don't make something that people are going to talk about. Can you imagine... And even if the concept is good from the start, clients will give it the 'in between treatment' so it will fade away. Like camouflage in the endless bushes of middle of the road advertising.