RAW School: Leigh Reyes on Subtraction (The Joy of Violence)

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PHILIPPINES, NOVEMBER 10, 2010 – adobo walks into Lowe’s receiving area for RAW School, with young creatives seated comfortably on the floor, an illustration of a chair flashed on the screen. Leigh Reyes, Lowe Philippines’ executive creative director asks, “What happens when you remove the part where you sit? What can you use it for?” A very pregnant pause followed right after.

The Joy of Violence is found not in how much you show, but in how much you withhold. Reyes encourages the young ones to add subtraction to the formula in multiplying creativity. In an hour, a person does an average of 37 things. Multi-tasking? Not quite. What actually happens is that the lobe in our brain responsible for focusing on the activities we do (yes, we’re going a bit more into science for a while) can only take one activity at a time. In telling a story, subtraction allows for more imagination.

Subtraction, as Reyes put it, may be applied in several ways. For instance, the commercial for Sussex Safer Roads has a simple message, “Wear your seat belt.” The thing is, they did it without a car and without a seatbelt but perfectly got their point across.

The Xbox commercial for Halo 3 also delivered by subtracting the violent explosions and just left the viewer with, well, a piano rendition of what is supposed to cause a slight squeeze in the heart after the trailer. 

Leigh adds, “If there’s one part you have to subtract from in an ad, begin with the copy. It’s something a lot of ads have too much of.” She shows an ad for Wonderbra’s charity, CAP48.

The woman said, look into her eyes. True, you cannot help but do otherwise.

As the rain stops pouring outside and brains start hurting in unusual places, she ends saying that the perfect form of subtraction is when an ad makes you feel everything without showing you anything.

That’s the challenge. Any takers?