Brutal Simplicity of Thought

Brutal Simplicity of Thought

This book, Brutal Simplicity of Thought, brutally reveals the weaknesses, and strengths, of brutal simplicity of thought. The book is a compilation of some 50 ideas, claimed to be brutally simple ideas, which it argues have changed the world.

In his introduction Maurice Saatchi says ‘Simplicity is a test… It forces exactitude or it annihilates.’ The book’s website adds: ‘Simple ideas enter the brain quicker and stay there longer.’ The opening of that sentence must surely be true, but I’m not sure about the ending. Still, it is an attractive notion.

Each example asks a provocative question, such as: ‘How did two wheels emancipate women?’ And answers that a brutally simple thought – in this case the bicycle – did the trick. Some of the examples are quite entertaining (Q: How do you keep your private parts private? A: A zip). Others would make excellent pub-quiz questions (Q: How did an Irish Pointer discover Velcro? A: An engineer called George de Mestral spotted burdock seeds getting caught in his dog’s coat, and hey presto! Velcro).

But if you examine most of the examples more closely they fall apart. The first is a truly brutal insult to the suffragettes, and ignorantly ignores a brutal fracas called the First World War. The latter two are far from simple thoughts. I never cease to be impressed by how clever both zips and Velcro are – and I’ll bet a portfolio of M&C Saatchi shares to Bernie Madoff’s Ponzi investment scheme (now that was a brutally simple idea) that Maurice Saatchi could not have invented either zips or Velcro if he lived to be 1001. And nor could I.

Everyone in marketing must applaud simplicity of thought. But in marketing, as in life, many things are brutally complicated. And insisting they are simple can go disastrously wrong. The book’s thesis is that with brutal simplicity of thought, nothing is impossible. ‘Nothing is impossible’ has been the Saatchi brothers’ marching song, because it sounds inspirational. But it led them into trying to buy the Midland Bank, and into buying the Ted Bates agency.

Both moves were disastrous. Simplicity of thought – not the brutality bit – is a highly desirable discipline in marketing. But it does not make the impossible possible.

Brutal Simplicity of Thought: How It Changed the World, preface by Lord Saatchi

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