There’s an apocryphal story from the 1980s about Charles Saatchi being given a brief for a new creative campaign by an enthusiastic airline executive over coffee.

“We’ve got new wines on the first-class menu, two inches extra leg room in business class, new uniforms for our hosts, three new flight routes…”

As the executive continued, Charles Saatchi (allegedly) picked up a handful of sugar cubes from the bowl on the table and threw them at the unwitting client’s head. Some missed, some bounced off. The startled executive was taken aback to say the least and as he tried to regain his composure a single sugar cube came flying at him, which he deftly and easily caught.

Charles explained “If you throw too many messages at people, they’re not going to catch any of them. But one message, that works.”

It’s a great lesson to learn for anyone thinking about developing their brand. Brands are always more complex than just one sugar lump. They are patterns of associations, product attributes, customer experiences and feelings that have sometimes been developed over decades or even centuries.

But good luck with trying to communicate all that at the same time. When it comes to your brand or latest campaign, it’s always worth asking yourself “what’s the single most important sugar lump I want to throw?”

The resulting campaign Charles and his team created?

The World’s Favourite Airline.