Why separating oneself out from the crowd is a fundamental part of advertising.

I finished my last note from the Toppled Bollard with the wistful thought that sometimes just being silly can separate oneself out from the crowd.

And there is no doubt that separating oneself out from the crowd is essential in advertising because if the recipient of your advertising doesn’t see your company and your product as different then he or she will probably go and buy from someone else.

By way of example, perhaps I may report what happened to me last night when I asked a lady to dance.

"I'm just a beginner," she said. "I've only done a few lessons and never been to an actual dance before."

I told her not to worry and that the number of deaths that resulted from dancing with me were normally no more that three or four a year.

"But it is all amazing," she said, ignoring my warning. "I had no idea that it would be this exciting. And this must be happening all over the country."

"It just shows that half the world doesn’t know how the other three quarters live," I said, but even then she still kept dancing with me.

Such silly little phrases, I know, but such is my habit when asking for a dance. Yet many of the men who go to the jive clubs I attend hardly seem to have conversational abilities above the level of a grunt - and some not even that, for their approach in asking for a dance is to stick out a hand and pull the lady onto the dancefloor.

And it has struck me that this is the equivalent of saying to one’s reader in an advertisement, “Here it is, buy it”.

A trifle more finesse goes a long way both on the dance floor and in the world of advertising.