"Words, words, words." –Shakespeare

   
     When you think about it, and I don't get the feeling that too many people think about it these days, repetition is one of the most important tools in advertising, which is to say one of the most important tools in rhetoric. Repetition of words and phrases can create a rhythm, even a hint of poetry. It sets up impact. It also helps to increase retention. Ask any preacher.

     You know this year's Grand Prix winner? It goes, "Dumb ways to die, so may dumb ways to die," and then one mo' time, "Dumb ways to die, so many dumb ways to die." In Apple's "Here's to the crazy ones," the word "crazy" is stated in the beginning and then repeated twice toward the end; it's why it ends so powerfully.
     You can repeat words or phrases consecutively – "Plop, plop, fizz, fizz;" and in rhetoric, that's called Epizeuxis. You can also repeat words but have them separated by other words, like "The Dyson is an extremely powerful vacuum cleaner; and also not a bad looking vacuum cleaner." That's called Conduplicatio.
     You can repeat words at the start of successive sentences or clauses. You can repeat them at the end of sentences. You can repeat words or phrases and then, to accentuate that you're talking about something unique, you can break the pattern – "It has bells. It has whistles. It has everything. Even though it was made with human hands." There are enough varieties of repetition and enough reasons to use them to fill a book of rhetoric. (Mine is called "Classical English Rhetoric," and it's a book I keep within arm's reach of my desk.)
     Recently, I saw a commercial for Benjamin Moore (http://bit.ly/11VvdGM) in which we hear these words:

     Where we come from matters.
     Where knowing your neighbor's name matters.
     Trees carved with your grandparent's initials matter.
     Drug stores that still make milkshakes with real ice cream matter.
     And 3-story buildings that count as skyscrapers matter.
     And because these things matter, we should take care of them and make them shiny again.
     So Benjamin Moor is going to repaint Main Streets across the country this year.
     Because Main Streets make us who we are.
     And that matters.

     While the service that Benjamin Moore is supplying is nice, it's the stating of a number of things that share the same quality, followed by a break in that pattern and then the heroic return to the original construction that makes it feel important.
     Perhaps it doesn't matter that the repetition of a word or phrase at the end of a series is called an Epistrophe, but to know that such a technique exists and to what effect it can be used can, often enough, lead to an idea. (I solemnly swear it's the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the linguistic truth.) Here, it's the beauty in the words that ends up being like the beauty of the subject, the copy placing us in the right atmosphere to appreciate the simple beauty of our small towns. The words are like the perfect paint.
     Are the visuals important? Color-wise, the visuals are essential, but the words carry the idea. Just imagine them without those words: "The horror! The horror!"