Why am I in advertising? To write hinglish lines? To make a living? To sell oil/soap/watches/beer/pcs? Because in advertising all you ever do is cavort on sunny beaches with semi clad models? (If only.)
The happy and liberating truth is that in spite of all the irritating ads you see on TV and in magazines advertising does have its saving graces.
The same profession that creates brain damaging jingles also has ads with lines like the following.
For The Economist: All great men like a think.
For The Economist again: Pass. Pass. Pass. Do your answers sound like a Brazilian football match?
And The Economist yet again: If you carry it around for show, sooner or later it will.
Timberland shoes: Paint our shoes? We’d rather dye.
Timberland again (this time with a picture of a Red Indian): We stole their land, their buffalo and their women. Then we went back for their shoes.
Nike: Michael Jordan – 1. Isaac Newton – 0.
Volkswagen’s air-cooled, radiator-less car: No radiator problems. No radiator.
Avis rent-a-car: When you’re only No.2, you try harder. Or else.
For the One Show advertising awards function: Announcing another evening of whining and dining.
The body copy for some of these ads is pretty brilliant too. Here are the last few lines for a typically chatty VW ad: A Volkswagen is actually shorter than other station wagons. (It’ll park in 4’ less space.) So next time, why not ask the man at the car wash for a discount. Don’t tell him we sent you.
Pick up any of the old One Show and D&AD books, The Copy Book, or The Art Direction Book and you’ll see so many examples of writing full of precision, skill and wit.
Equal if not more passion is brought to art direction. Alexandra Taylor (who has created a lot of powerful ads for British Army) does hundreds of layouts with hundreds of type face options before she chooses one. Then she works for days perfecting it. Steve Dunn (Leagas Delaney, London) also says he experiments on and on for days until he’s got the right look for an ad. It’s the same with all the good art directors. And it’s the same with commercials. The good craftsmen agonise over every little detail so they have something they can be proud of.
Check out the script writing in this old classic film for VW - We see a car floating on water. The voice over says: What makes the Volkswagen the most seaworthy car on the road? A sheet of metal seals the bottom. And the top is practically airtight. So a Volkswagen can definitely float. (At this point we see the car is sinking. The voice over continues.) But not indefinitely.
There is another great consolation. There are guys in this business who you will respect for their towering intelligence, talent and (consequently) stature. People like Bill Bernbach, David Abbott, Dan Weiden, Lee Clow, Tom McElligott, Frank Lowe, Neil French, Tim Delaney, Indra Sinha, Luke Sullivan, Steve Hayden and so many other quiet men in quiet suits who have brought dignity to advertising. And by extension, to my life.
Somewhere you work out that if men like them can belong to this club, it should be okay for a wastrel like me.
‘If you want to be a well-paid copywriter, please your client. If you want to be an award-winning copywriter, please yourself. If you want to be a great copywriter, please your reader.’
- Steve Hayden, Ogilvy
