Creativity in Advertising is Overrated

You see a lot of crap during 40 years as an ad writer.You see big, steaming piles of predictable ads written by amateurs who assume the audience is required to listen.You see frozen piles of heartless ads that speak to ideas rather than to people.You see the scattered shrapnel of ads written by highly creative but trigger-happy typists who don’t understand the necessity of strategy.Amateur ad writers believe in creativity. Accomplished ad writers believe in strategy.Good ad copy flows from strategy.Strategy flows from whatever is in the pantry of the advertiser.You must begin by prowling through that pantry. Take inventory of all the unused story elements you will find hiding there.Bad strategy is usually the result of someone’s ego.A business owner wants to hire you. When you meet with that person, you realize that they want to be perceived in a certain way. They usually call this fantasy their “brand essence,” and if you do not indulge them in their fantasy, they will accuse you of not understanding their brand.They want you to continue doing what they have done in the past, but make it work this time. If you disagree with their strategy, they will say, “You don’t understand who we are.”You will say, “No, that is not who you are. That’s just who you want to be. But you don’t have the ingredients to bake that cake.”This is always an unproductive argument, so when a business owner who wants to hire you says, “This is what I want you to do and this is how I want you to do it,” the best answer is to say, “It sounds to me like you’ve got things under control. Great idea! Follow your dream. God be with you. Stay in touch! Goodbye.”If you employ the same strategy they have used in the past, it’s not going to work any better than it did in the past.You will be tempted to do what your prospective client is asking you to do. “After all, it’s their company, right?”Your reason for thinking these thoughts will be that you need the money. But if you do what your prospective client tells you to do, this is what will happen:Your ad campaign will underperform.Your client will blame you.You will be fired.You will have a record of failure.You will lose confidence in yourself.Find your money elsewhere.Before you accept a client, ask yourself, “Am I willing to give this person a place in my life?”Consider that question carefully, because your client will certainly occupy your thoughts. Will you look forward to speaking with them, or will you dread it?Even the best clients will occasionally ask you to do something that you believe is a bad idea. This is when you will need to do the opposite of what I told you a moment ago. When you have accepted the job, you can no longer say, “It sounds to me like you’ve got things under control. Great idea. Follow your dream. God be with you. Stay in touch. Goodbye.”You have given this client a place in your life. You have accepted the role of being their ad writer. You have an ongoing relationship. This is when you have to remember that they did not hire you to be CEO.Tell them that you will definitely do what they say.Then tell them why you think it is a bad idea.When they have heard you, and understood you, and asked that you do it anyway, make it a point of honor to figure out how to make their bad idea work.Take ownership of the idea. Put everything you have into it. Be proud that you were able to make it work.When you have an ongoing relationship, you no longer have the option to say, “You’re on your own.”Most ads are not written to persuade. They are written not to offend.The power of an ad can be measured by the strength of the backlash against it.Backlash doesn’t mean the ad is good; it means only that the ad is powerful. Really bad ads will generate negative backlash.But so will the really good ones.This backlash can come from:the clientemployees, friends, or advisors of the clienta small but vocal group of people who have willfully misinterpreted your message so that they can jump onto their little soapbox and proclaim their favorite grievance with thunder and lightning and outrage.Being offended makes people feel superior and important.I am not saying that your goal should be to offend. I am saying only that you cannot say anything powerful without someone being offended.Most ads are critiqued, questioned, altered, and watered down so that no one can possibly be offended. This is why most ads are limp and ineffective.Which frightens you most: ads that don’t work, or criticism for ads that do?Roy H. 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