What makes us humans talk about one thing more than another?

Terrygate has been running for a while now, but I think it’s fair to say all planners and buyers would like their client’s ad campaigns to be “talked about”. People often discuss TV programmes the day after they aired (rant or rave). We’ve got endless research on this subject and in the main, we’ve found the shows that are talked about most are the ones that tackle hard hitting subjects – ones that make you think. Earlier this year, the top of the pile was C4′s Kevin McCloud: Slumming It, closely followed by Sky’s Ross Kemp in the Middle East and C4′s film on Mo Mowlem. It’s not just documentaries, but new series like Shameless and 24 also scoring highly.

But what about TV advertising? What is the secret ingredient to getting your advertising talked about? Being new isn’t enough. Unusual and memorable creative work is a start, extensive PR and social media activity can certainly help and clever media thinking is mandatory. But there doesn’t appear to be a science to it.

That’s what makes this subject so exciting.With your help, we want to explore it further. At this year’s Plannertarium, we will be meeting up with a number of media agency people to debate this challenge. We’ve invited a varied list of speakers, including Tess Alps from Thinkbox, Ian Armstrong from Honda, James Herring, a PR specialist and Steve Henry, the founder of one of the most influential creative agencies, HHCL, that developed legendary ad campaigns for Tango, AA, Ronseal and Pot Noodle to name a few. 

Some of my favourite examples from the last few years include the Honda live ad, the Cadburys Gorilla campaign and T-Mobile’s Liverpool Street dance ad. There are loads of other examples, but what’s the common link that maximises the “talkability” factor? It isn’t humour.

I think it’s originality.

Pure Genius.Is there a magic mix to getting it right?