I was cleaning out my emails this morning when I happened upon the missive I sent to my fellow creatives at Bernstein-Rein on my last day back in February 2005. Here’s the meat of that email, offered because I believe it all to still be true. My apologies for the inside jokes, but you’ll get the idea. Also, I need to buy more black clothing.Things to Remember When Creating an Ad (and Other Random Musings):
- Nobody wants to read/watch your ad; give them a reason to.
- You will constantly have to remind others that you don’t need to say the product in the first sentence of a TV spot. It’s 30 seconds. If you can’t hold someone’s attention for the 20 seconds it takes you to get to the product name, find some other line of work.
- A technique or look is no substitute for substance. Monkeys, however, are.
- When someone tells you, “We’ll really have to do a good job of casting for this one,” look him in the eye and respond, “Well, you know, that *is* actually our job.” Although I personally prefer something much more sarcastic.
- If a direct-mail person tells you you have to have an odd number of bullet points, use one per subhead. After all, you can’t argue with the science behind a 1% response rate.
- Never underestimate the intelligence of your audience. The subtleties of value-priced hemorrhoid cream are lost on few.
- The AE is not your CD/writer/art director/producer no matter what the Wal-Mart account people think.
- The next time someone tells you, “We’ve got to pick our battles,” ask them if they can even remember the last battle they picked.
- Ellipses are the devil’s handiwork and/or handmaiden (sorry, Shan).
- Assume you’re right until proven otherwise.
- It’s the little compromises that add up to a giant bucket of suck.
- Black is still slimming.
Later,
Fox