Creative that actually works.

So this was interesting piece of essaying that came across my Facebook the other day. it's called "The Psychology of Passive Barriers: Why Your Friends Don’t Save Money, Eat Healthier, or Clean Their Garages". Allow me to sum up:

> The difference between what people KNOW they should do and what they DO is large.

> The reasons they keep from doing things are called barriers, either active or passive.

> Active barriers are physical things, like freezing your credit card in a block of ice to keep you from using it.

> Passive barriers are more insidious: they're perceived extra efforts that affect your behavior. For example, the author cites that researchers discovered that a great way to promote protected-sex behaviors is to get women to carry condoms in their purses. Many women refuse to do this, because of the passive barrier that they don't want to be perceived at slutty.

Here's where we can use creative advertising.

Perhaps people don't use your product because they're faced with a passive barrier. Maybe they don't want to switch to your bank because of the effort involved in changing their checks and account numbers. But as advertisers, we can come up with new ways to remove those barriers. Let's make it as easy as possible to solve the consumer's passive barrier problems before they meet them. Ostensibly, we can remove any excuse they have for not using the product.

We're not here to scream messages to people. We're here to solve their problems.