Be Move Obvious
In Vanuatu, prepping for a big hop to Indonesia
We’re constantly on the move, and we don’t have time to figure out what is what. If it’s not obvious, we just skip it.
Marketing messages can sometimes feel too abstract. The broader, more ambitious brand narrative is important, but if potential customers don’t know what you actually sell, it’s a problem.
As a strategist who’s written my fair share of overly abstract marketing concepts, I’m here to make the case for being more obvious.
Let’s jump into it
We want our brands to stand for more than just the products or services we sell. A cleaning product can make a home feel more welcoming, and a CRM platform can help build lasting relationships.
However, in pursuing these larger visions, we sometimes lose sight of our customers’ context and how our marketing messages actually land.
I have no idea what’s going on with these signs in Curaçao
The photo above captures just one store in someone’s journey. Imagine all the messages they encounter walking down the street, scrolling online or seeing content from thousands of other businesses.
When working with Yolélé, a West African fonio CPG/FMCG brand and ingredients supplier, we discovered that being obvious was an advantage at the Institute of Food Technologists (IFT) FIRST Expo.
The lesson is simple: in a world overloaded with marketing, being direct is a competitive edge. The brands that are accessible, transparent and easy to grasp get noticed.
A helpful resource
While we value clarity in marketing, we sometimes overlook the power of being obvious. Clarity ensures your message makes sense, but obviousness makes it instantly understandable.
This is why it’s helpful to consider these together. By understanding how clarity and obviousness intersect, we can craft marketing messages that resonate more deeply and land more effectively.
Clarity x Obviousness Diagram
Shaping messaging takes time and multiple iterations. By identifying where your current message sits on the grid above, you can make deliberate improvements rather than guessing at what’s wrong.
Too often we assume a message or campaign simply “doesn’t work.” But in reality, it rarely requires starting from scratch. More often it’s about keeping what works and adjusting the parts that don’t.
To evaluate where your message stands, ask yourself:
- Is my message immediately understandable without extra explanation?
- Would someone outside my industry instantly understand what we do?
- Does the message communicate both the what and the why?
- Am I relying too much on cleverness at the expense of clarity?
- If someone saw this once (e.g. on a busy street or in a crowded feed) would they remember it?
By asking these questions, you can determine whether your message is clear, obvious, both or neither, and more importantly what to do next.
Ultimately, clarity and obviousness aren’t creative constraints; they’re creative accelerators. The more direct your message, the more room you have to layer in emotion, story and brand personality.
The clearer and more obvious your message, the faster it connects and the longer it sticks
And there’s more
✏️ Join: Sign up for my next free webinar “How to Bootstrap Your Marketing” on Thursday 18 September.
📚 Read: AI First by Brotman and Sack is a good book to help you understand AI and its impact on brands and marketing.
🎧 Listen: Why Does Tipping Still Exist? Updated explores why US establishments differ from the EU in tipping practices.
📍 Visit: Vanuatu is home to 9 active volcanoes, where you can visit Tanna’s Mt Yasur if you want an up-close experience.