Remarkable, Not Restrictive

Image credit: Luis Aguila - via Unsplash

With one week to go, before the new HFSS constraints kick in, Trouble Maker's founder and CCO discusses how it might be the best thing that ever happened for creativity in the sector.

Restrictions suck. We get it.

Creative ideas already have to battle budget cuts, legal teams, and multiple stakeholders. Now, the upcoming HFSS advertising restrictions are closing off even more of the playing field - especially for brands that, let’s be honest, aren’t exactly kale smoothies.

But what if restriction isn’t the end? What if it’s the beginning of your most remarkable work? Our 2025 Masterclass entitled 'Remarkable, Not Restrictive' which we delivered to over 25 brands, points to historical examples that suggest when constraints are applied, it can actually supercharge creativity.

Frustration Can Be Fuel

Sure, restrictions are annoying. But they’re also a rare kind of gift: clarity.

The best creative ideas are often born from constraint. Michelin couldn’t sell more tyres unless people wore them out, so they gave people a reason to drive long distances - by inventing a travel guide. P&G couldn’t directly reach their audience during work hours, so they invented the soap opera to slide into living rooms between chores. And the US government couldn’t talk down to its citizens about drink driving, so they co-created the term "designated driver" with Harvard University, which became common parlance through integration into TV shows in the 1980s via the American Writers Guild. 

Great examples, yes, but how can you emulate this type of creativity? Well, the starting point is acknowledging the impact of your restriction. These new barriers can bring about annoyance, frustration, anger even… you might be in denial initially, but it’s important to start opening yourself up to different ways of communicating.

The Five Stages of Grief Restriction

When you’re told you can’t advertise the way you used to, it stings. It’s normal to resist. But we’ve noticed brands tend to go through five stages in response to creative restrictions:

One: Stand Against (Denial)

Ignoring the problem. Forging ahead as if nothing had happened.

• Example: The 26% rise in junk food advertising this year is a blunt, blinkered and uncreative response to upcoming restrictions, and has already been flagged by the national media and protest groups. 

Two: Step Around

Battling stubbornly against the restrictions: Finding loopholes, tweaking pack shots, whispering brand names.

• Example: Stok’d cannabis were blacklisted by mainstream ad networks, so instead they advertised the community businesses that operated just next door. 

Three: Step Above 

Starting to think differently. Rising above category clichés with better thinking, not just workarounds. Focusing less on product and more on your brand role.

• Example: The clever clogs at Durex in Ecuador responded to constraints by creating the campaign “Cheaper than…” where they spotlighted the expensive baby equipment one would have to buy as a result of not using protection. ​

Four: Step Beyond

Creating new models: products, platforms, partnerships. Things that add value to your consumer and their experience of you and your category.

• Example: You can’t advertise and promote beer in Dubai, but you can promote a community space to socialise, hence Peroni’s creation of the Rex Bar.

Five: Step Back

Putting someone else in the spotlight. Reframing the conversation entirely. But in a way where everyone wins.

• Example: In an F1 world where beer sponsors are removed from liveries in some countries, we worked with Peroni to promote Ferrari's biggest asset, their fans, the Tifosi instead. And from this constraint a season-long, award winning partnership campaign was born.

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So, where are you right now? Be honest. The sooner you know, the sooner you can move forward.

Ask Better Questions

Most creative stagnation comes from asking the same questions and expecting a different answer. Restrictions force us to ask better ones. Here are three we’ve been using in our latest HFSS masterclass:

1. If you couldn’t advertise, and had to build something of utility around your product, what would that look like?

2. If you couldn’t advertise your product, and could only advertise what you stand for, what would that be? What’s your fight, your belief, your reason to exist beyond the flavour of your crisps?

3. If you couldn’t advertise yourself, but had the chance to shine a light on someone else, who would it be? Could a partnership, platform or patronage be your most powerful play?

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This Isn't a Ban. It's a Brief

So no, you can’t advertise your product on TV anymore, or online, or in traditional out of home, or via influencers, or well, through most channels. But you can still create culture. Build utility. Spark movements. Start a conversation that doesn’t end with a QR code.

Because here’s the kicker: advertising as we know it is already broken. Roughly 80% of ads don’t even earn enough attention to be remembered. So maybe, just maybe, these restrictions are less of a problem, and more of a liberation.

The brands that will win in the post-HFSS world aren’t the ones mourning what they’ve lost. They’re the ones already going through the five stages and asking how they can do things differently.

So go on. Step back. Step beyond. Step up.

Remarkable is still on the table. You just have to reach a little differently to grab it.