96 ways to survive and thrive in an advertising creative department, by Ogilvy veteran David Fowler.
The crucial moment in a pitch begins at the end: the Q & A. This is when the client probes your team to see what you’re really all about. So you just wing it, right? Wrong. Assign someone on your team to compile a list of questions the clients might pose, then rehearse how the […]
Don’t abandon handwriting. A physical touch brings something special to your words. The connection between your hand and the page via a tiny strand of ink imparts something that is somehow closer to your heart. It might seem slow. Or weird. But slow and weird might be just what you need to get your ideas […]
The most important part of any video or television commercial is its conclusion, the last five seconds. That’s the part that resolves, explains, summarizes or excuses everything that came before. If you’re not clear about the last five seconds, you’re not clear about anything. Eventually, the story has to end. Do you know how? Try […]
When all else fails, just start writing. Push back against the idea of not having any ideas. Write headline after headline after headline. Page upon page. Try writing the first paragraph. Try writing a page of theme lines. Write the set-up speech for the idea you don’t have yet By beginning the process of writing, […]
When presenting work, tell your clients what they’re going to see before you show them. Set their expectations so they’re not wondering where your presentation is going. If you have three ideas, say so. If you’re covering various media, say so. If you have something extra or unexpected, say so. “T0day, we’d like to show […]
Maybe you just need to take a walk. Push away from that blinking cursor. On a larger scale, maybe your job, city, life have gone stale. Just saying. While there are many arguments in favor of staying at one agency, don’t be afraid to go elsewhere. You will build a network of friends and colleagues. […]
Define the problem in your head, as best you can, then just chew on it for a few days. Never let it rest. Keep it perking at some low level of your mind. Keep a pad and a pen in your pocket. Your brain is the ultimate tool. You carry it everywhere. You can use […]
If you’re not sure about an idea, noodle it out and put it away. Return to it the next morning. I don’t know what happens overnight, but more good ideas become dumb ones as a result of darkness. Go away and look at it fresh tomorrow.
Everybody wants to have their idea validated by someone else. But be careful about wagging it all around the office in search of approval. Pick a couple of people whose opinions you trust and show it to them. They’ll give you a read on it, and may have comments that make it better. If your […]
Trying to read the creative director’s mind may be the thing that’s holding you back. The truth may be that your fearless leader has no idea what to do, which is why you’re being hauled in to help solve the problem. Do what you think is right, then present it. The discussion around your efforts […]
When the muses are singing to you, when the ideas are pulling you along, don’t get up and go shoot hoops. Don’t go play eight ball on that pool table set up for creative people to waste their time on. Don’t go out and fog up your head with a couple of beers. Sit down […]
If you want to tell a story about your product, remember that marketing operates on a mere handful of story lines, retold in hundreds of new ways. Same with literature, cinema, opera and so forth.Which story line will you use? Well, how about “conflict”? A problem occurs, your product solves it. That’s as old as […]
If you’re working with a partner and nothing is happening, split up and work independently, returning at a specific time. (It’s important to have a deadline.) When you get back together, be willing to adopt your partner’s ideas as your own. Just because the big idea didn’t fly out of your own head, or didn’t […]
It’s not just having ideas. It’s making sense of what you have. Here’s a simple, analog way. You need a wall, a pad of paper, a big marker and sticky notes. You don’t need a laptop. Using sketch paper, tape each of your theme lines or concept statements horizontally across the wall. Then, beneath each, […]
When you don’t have an idea, maybe you should ask around and see if anybody else has one. But don’t spend all day jawing with other creative people. Start with the producers. They know filmmakers, talent and music. Art buyers may know a photographer or illustrator with a great idea and no place to sell […]
Having a great idea can seem overwhelming. Pretty soon, you’re paralyzed. So create a bad idea. Then, use your bad idea as a premise to make better ones. You’ll shift the problem from “How can I have a great idea?” to “How can I make this miserable thing better?” Once in a while, a truly […]
Stop trying to create a brand. Instead, simply reveal an appropriate portion of the brand. The brand already exists. It’s already at work in the lives and hearts of people. Maybe they’ve just overlooked an aspect of it. Unless it’s a new product, don’t go off and create anything. Just illuminate a corner of the […]
When you’re trying to define a company, don’t just look at the physical, obvious products they make. Look at the effect those products or services have on the people who use them. RedBull doesn’t just give you energy. It gives you wings. Apple doesn’t make technology. They make design that just works. What does the […]
When the brief or the strategy isn’t great, offer to sit down and discuss it. The strategies that lead to brilliant creative usually seem simple. Maybe the one you’re looking at is too complicated. Maybe the insight within is lost. Think of Apple’s “Behind the Mac.” Such a simple three-word strategy. Such an insightful three-word […]
An idea is like love. The more you need it, the less you can find it. The more desperate your search, the more scarce it becomes. Stop. Settle down and listen to the thing. It will tell you what it wants to be. Maybe if you walked around the block, you could hear it more […]
It is infinitely helpful to realize that in creative endeavors, as in life, there is no grand road map that everyone is privy to except you. We are all muddling forward, through the fog. Sometimes, having a big idea means that you’ll be the one to lead everyone through the fog. Are you willing to […]
Think about your theme. Then, write lines that reflect it in different, shorter ways, double-spaced on a page. When the page is full, delete all the lines you hate. Pick the best line from that batch and start over. Write another page, then delete the lines you hate. Only keep the lines you don’t hate. […]
Everyone struggles when asked to define a company or product using just a handful of words. Some people call these phrases tag lines. Some call them slogans. Theme line is the best description, because it reminds you that beneath your line lies a theme. The term also has a shred of dignity. What is a […]
The real trouble starts when you’ve fallen in love with an idea and had it rejected. You feel you’re being treated unfairly, that your genius is tragically unrecognized and your boss is a hack. All this may be true. There are some ideas worth fighting for, and this may be one of them. But don’t […]
When you need an idea get out of the office and out of your own mind. Sit at a coffee shop and strike up a conversation. Take the bus and sit beside someone interesting. Walk to Times Square or anyplace you find tourists. They’re always willing to talk. You’ll be amazed how many people will […]
David Ogilvy once said that, in the end, making an ad comes down to one person shutting the door and just putting it down on paper. Okay, so there are no more offices. Or doors. Or paper. Or David Ogilvy. You get the point. Sometimes you gotta go DIY. Cease with all the co-creating, hot-housing, […]
I’ve worked in creative departments across the country as a freelance writer and creative director. Along the way, I made a list of survival tips. Here you go.
Think of yourself as an app. An app must furnish information, create entertainment, or have utility. If you do all (most) of that then you have created value. Creating value is what you’re paid to do. OpenTable is a perfect example. It’s an app furnishing information (reservation times) that lets you reserve a table (utility) […]
There’s one thing you must always have on hand: a decent suit or a nice dress. You’ll get a call to meet with a client. You’ll need to go to a funeral. Your company will host a table at a formal event and you’ll be invited. Even if you can’t imagine why you’d need it, […]
One of my favorite writers, George Tannenbaum, advises a colleague who dreams of the perfect job: Note to a disconsolate friend. Getting the ideal job. The perfect job. The job you’ve always wanted. Very few people get that. Almost no one gets it on their timetable. I am not playing centerfield for the Yankees. […]
Making advertising is about having ideas on behalf of others for money on deadline. But it’s the deadline where most of us go blank in the eyes. The deadline implies that there’s not enough time, and that idea scares the hell out of creative people. Moving yourself, and others, past the paralyzing fear of not getting it […]
A brand is the way a person feels about a product or service. It’s created not by advertising, but by a set of experiences. Think of a brand like an art museum. How you feel about the pictures is what makes them matter. Otherwise, it’s just a room of sailcloth stretched on frames. When you get lost […]
When you’re facing a client, your body language says a lot. The same applies when you’re in a job interview. I’m not an expert but here’s what I look for, and avoid. Crossed arms mean you’re shut down. Leaning back means you’re not interested. Hands clasped behind your head says you’re arrogant, and already have […]
There’s only one thing more cliched than creative people wailing about the account team. And that’s the creative people wailing about the clients. But the smart, longterm thinkers amongst the creative intelligentsia play it another way. They recognize that clients don’t exist to buy what you want to sell. They’re there because they need to […]
If story is what you’re trying to do, Pixar’s 22 Rules of Storytelling is a brilliant road map.
There’s a classic New Yorker cartoon (Marisa Acocella) showing two singles standing at a bar and the guy saying: “Copywriting is too ‘writing.'” That’s the classic dilemma of advertising writers who want to be taken seriously. The truth is, writing of any sort is a noble craft…but advertising writing is not literature. Deal with it. […]
Advertising as storytelling is not a new idea. Take a look at this ancient classic from advertising guru Hal Riney. It’s a story (girding for winter) played by two phony characters who are selling you a completely inauthentic (made up) product. It’s not a searing view into the soul and purpose of your brand. It’s baloney […]
You’ve heard it before. This meeting is going to be the meeting of all meetings. The one where the veil will be lifted, the balance swung to either great victory or into the abyss of failure. Yeah, right. This may indeed be the meeting that will break the camel’s back, but more than likely it […]
In the rush to create, the pressure often mounts to meet a deadline (right) and follow all the rules and guidelines (right.) That is not the same thing as creating something wonderful or effective (good.) Don’t lose the path toward something wonderful in the rush and pressure to be right and on time. Don’t let […]
Eventually, you and your clients will release the project to a director, photographer, editor, illustrator, etc. At this point, you must say to that person: “Go make your art.” That’s what you’ve hired them to do. They’re an expert at the craft. You’ve selected them from thousands of other people. Now, let them make something […]
Sometimes, you can be a lone creative genius. Sometimes you are another seat warmer around a table with different people who have different skills. You’ve got PR people, talent agents, designers, social people, technologists, media people, and maybe a few vendors from the media world as well. Yeah, it’s lonely in there. Watch the game […]
You’re waiting on a brief. Everything is in flux. Nobody knows nothing and panic runs in the streets. You know what you do? Start. Do not, I repeat, do not, get caught up in the swell of anguish and moaning. The reason that sort of thing gets so much momentum is because it’s easier than […]
You have to check in on this letter every year or two, just to remind yourself that it only takes a couple of paragraphs to make a great brief. Mick Jagger understand how to direct Andy Warhol for the cover of “Sticky Fingers,” perhaps the greatest rock album ever. He tells him what he needs. […]
Sometimes you just need to wait. To watch. To do nothing. The art of managing your career sometimes comes down to what you don’t do. Give the game a little time to come to you. The true fielder lets the path of the ball become his own path, thereby comprehending the ball and dissipating the […]
Ours is an advertising era determined to rename simple ideas with mystical names. Most of this is horseshit intended to intimidate the competition and make clients think you’re smarter than they are. Nobody buys it. You just look silly and pretentious. First, nobody lies awake wishing for a ‘relationship’ with a ‘brand.’ Nobody […]
Your team arrives at the pitch location, and is ushered into the room. Now what? First, how is the room arranged? Where’s the best position to speak from? If the pitch is on your home turf, use place cards so everyone sits where you want them…not wherever they want. Two: check the shades. Is […]
A pitch may seem like an exercise to see who can best solve a client’s advertising problem. It’s not. It’s about proving that you’re the right partner. Don’t sell advertising. Sell your agency. Even if you don’t crack the perfect campaign, the client may still choose you because he likes your people, your ideas, your […]
Emotions within the agency will run high in new business pitches and before key presentations. The hours are long, uncertainty reigns, mind reading and second guessing drive the machine. You also find new people around the table, ones who have never worked together before. So the familiar social order is upside down, replaced by turf […]