Remember the Windex ad about the birds tricking the man relaxing on the patio? It goes like this: "In the ad, the birds are in a tree watching a man relax on his patio. They decide to play a prank by ringing the front door bell. When the homeowner goes to answer the door, the birds fly to the back of the house and close the door. The glass is so clean that the homeowner walks right into it, leaving the birds and consumers chuckling."
It was voted the most well-liked commercial by consumers for the year, according to the 2006 results of Ad Track, USA TODAY's weekly survey of consumer reaction to advertising.
With the extraordinary amount of ad clutter everywhere today, it is getting increasingly difficult to break through it to reach people with your message. But 
this commercial gives the easy-to-understand reasons for the success behind it, and why we must remember this in our campaigns.
The two key components of its success? Simplicity and humor.
We've talked about these two important ingredients to marketing success before, but it's good to look at highly successful marketing messages that resonate with consumers that prove it.
Humor pretty much speaks for itself. Simplicity is something that is hard to grasp by marketers. How many times have you watched some type of ad that when you're done watching it, you have no idea what it was saying to you? I know it happens to me all the time.
The Windex commercial is simple to understand. The product cleans windows so well that it looks like the windows not even there. It takes hardly a thought to comprehend the simple, but powerful message.
The major thing to keep in mind is that while you can offer a fantastic creation, you can't forget about what your message is. The two must go hand-in-hand. Many fantastically created commercials leave you without knowing what they were trying to say. We can't make that mistake.
Simplicity and humor are marketing twins of success. Remember them when thinking of any campaign you may be launching.
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