When pitching a campaign to a client, a creative team will typically show a series of three print ads. And, unless the concept is built on a purely visual execution, those three ads will have three different headlines. Somehow, three headlines are supposed to assure the client that the idea has legs – the ability to be extended over multiple ads in multiple mediums.
I don’t know where the concept of three ads being the holy grail of presentation fodder came from, although it is true that if you can’t come up with at least three ads your campaign is no campaign at all. But let’s face it, three lines does not equal having legs. At least not until our collective attention span shrinks another 200% or so.
When it comes to print campaigns with real legs, the first that springs to mind is the Absolut Vodka series created by TBWA in 1981. Featuring the iconic Absolut bottle and a simple two-word headline of “Absolut [fill in the blank],” the campaign racked up over 1,500 executions over the years. And probably just as many awards. Some would argue that it was more of an art director’s campaign, but I would disagree. Thinking up 1,500 different scenarios for that bottle would require more than one person or even one team. It’s one of those campaigns that is amazingly simple to understand, yet complex to execute. Just like most great advertising.
Today, I am posting my 800th tweet as @leeclowsbeard. (That’s 800 “crumbs of wisdom” as I don’t count tweets from the account’s early existence when I actually interacted with followers.) As Twitter goes, that is a rather small number of tweets. But, as I’ve mentioned before, this is no ordinary account. One tweet a day. Hopefully intelligent, interesting and worth sharing. Or at least not prone to making folks unfollow.
No, @leeclowsbeard is more like a long-running (or is that long-winded) print campaign. With 800 different headlines. On her “Hog Blog,” former ad wunderkind and current fascination expert Sally Hogshead relates how, as a junior writer given the task of crafting eight print ads for BMW Motorcycles, she wrote 800 headlines. Why? Because copywriting demigod Luke Sullivan had once told her to write 100 lines for every one she needed.
That’s a lot of headlines. And pretty good advice, really. But not a tack I could use for @leeclowsbeard. I couldn’t spend hours every day cranking out 100 lines just for the one tweet I would post. And can you imagine having tossed aside 79,200 lines? That’s crazy talk. So, after three years of inflicting my advertising theology upon the internet, how do I go about it? How do I keep this thing, to extend the metaphor, running?
Once again, the answer is simple to understand, yet complex to execute.
First, I attempt to settle on a topic. Copywriting, strategy, art direction, client relations, account management, general agency insanity, fear, risk, etc.
Second, I check my previous tweets to see what I’ve already written about the chosen topic. Subjects can, and should, be repeated. The actual wording should not.
Third, I write some lines. Not 100. Maybe five, maybe ten. I suppose having 15 more years of experience than Sally did back in her BWM days helps in keeping that number manageable.
Fourth, I hone. Play with word order. Explore different metaphors or idioms to play off of.
Fifth, I do a Google search to make sure I’m not copying something someone has already said in a highly similar fashion.
Sixth, I leave it alone. As most writers know, you have to leave your words to themselves for a while and then come back and see if they’re as good or bad and you had hoped or feared.
Seventh, I tweak as necessary. And then go back to what I originally had.
Eighth, I post.
Granted, the above steps rarely play out exactly as described. Usually, I’ll start down one path and veer off onto another. Or into a ditch. It happens. Often. And, as you might imagine, I have built up a rather long list of thoughts that have yet to be tweeted. Most never will as they are too close to something I’ve already done, or just not that interesting. But they do serve as good jumping-off points for new ideas. Yes, I’m a line and idea hoarder, but hard drive space is cheap.
People ask how long I plan on doing @leeclowsbeard. Honestly, I don’t know. I suppose when it feels like I’m straining too much or repeating myself. So probably any day now. Or maybe I’ll manage to hit a thousand sometime in February 2013. My original goal was 300 to 400, which seemed nigh impossible at the time. Especially when my longest-running print campaign before this had a dozen executions. But I suppose that just goes to show that when something has real legs, it can go further – and do much, much more – than you ever thought possible.
This bit of follicular whimsy certainly has.
Later,
Fox