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Hey, Whipple, Squeeze This: The Classic Guide to Creating Great Ads -- Contents -- Preface -- Introduction: On Being The
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English Year 2014
Table of contents :
Hey, Whipple, Squeeze This: The Classic Guide to Creating Great Ads --
Contents --
Preface --
Introduction: On Being The Second-Smartest Person in The Room --
1: A Brief History of Why Everybody Hates Advertising: And why you should try to get a job there --
The 1950s: When Even X-Acto Blades Were Dull. --
``What?! We Don'T Have to Suck?!´´ --
The Empire Strikes Back. --
Portrait of the Artist As a Young Hack. --
2: The Creative Process: Or, Why it's impossible to explain what we do to our parents --
Why Nobody Ever Chooses Brand X. --
Staring At Your Partner'S Shoes. --
Why the Creative Process Is Exactly Like Washing a Pig. --
``The Sudden Cessation of Stupidity.´´ --
It'S All About the Benjamins. --
Brand = Adjective --
Simple = Good --
3: Ready Fire! Aim: Or, What to say comes before how to say --
Remember, You Have Two Problems to Solve: The Clients and Yours --
Before You Put Pen to Paper. --
Examine the current positioning of the product or brand. --
Try the competitor's product. --
Develop a deep understanding of the client's business. --
On the other hand, there's value in staying stupid. --
Get to know the client's customers as well as you can. --
Listen to customers talk. --
Ask yourself what would make you want the product. --
Imagine a day in the life of your customer. --
Imagine the buying process. --
Study the client's previous work. --
Look at the competitors' advertising. --
Read the awards books --
study the sites. --
A Few Words on Authenticity. --
Some tactics on communicating true authenticity. --
The Final Strategy. --
The best creative people are closet strategists. --
Make sure what you have to say matters. --
Insist on a tight strategy. --
The final strategy should be simple. --
The difference between strategy and tactics. --
4: The Sudden Cessation of Stupidity: How to get ideas-the broad strokes. Get Something, Anything, on Paper. --
First, say it straight. Then say it great. --
Restate the strategy and put some spin on it. --
Put the pill inside the bologna, not next to it. --
Stare at a picture that has the emotion of the ad you want to create. --
Let your subconscious mind do it. --
Try writing down words from the product's category. --
``Embrace the suck.´´ --
Allow yourself to come up with terrible ideas. --
Allow your partner to come up with terrible ideas. --
Share your ideas with your partner, especially the kinda dumb, half-formed ones. --
Spend some time away from your partner, thinking on your own. --
Tack the best ideas on the wall. Look for patterns. --
Come up with a lot of ideas. Cover the wall. --
Quick sketches of your ideas are all you need during the creative process. --
Write. Don't talk. Write. --
Write hot. Edit cold. --
Once you get on a streak, ride it. --
Never be the ``devil's advocate.´´ --
Can you use the physical environment as a medium? --
``Do I Have to Draw You a Picture?´´ --
``Do I want to write a letter or send a postcard?´´ --
Can the solution be entirely visual? --
Coax an interesting visual out of your product. --
Get the visual clichés out of your system right away. --
Avoid style --
focus on substance. --
Show, don't tell. --
Saying isn't the same as being. --
Move back and forth between wide-open, blue-sky thinking and critical analysis. --
Think it through before you do the ol' exaggeration thing. --
Consider the opposite of your product. --
Interpret the problem using different mental processes. --
Put on different thinking caps. --
Pose the problem as a question. --
Don't be afraid to ask what seems-at first-to be an astonishingly dumb question. --
Avoid the formula of saying one thing and showing another. --
Whenever you can, go for an absolute. --
Metaphors must've been invented for advertising. ``Wit invites participation.´´ --
The wisdom of knock-knock jokes. --
Don't set out to be funny. Set out to be interesting. --
Learn to recognize big ideas when you have them. --
Big ideas transcend strategy. --
Don't keep running after you catch the bus. --
5: Write When You Get Work: Completing an idea-some finer touches --
95 Percent of All Advertising Is Poorly Written-Don'T Add to the Pile. --
On writing brand manifestos. --
Get puns out of your system right away. --
Don't just start writing headlines willy-nilly. Break it down: Do willy first, then move on to nilly. --
If the idea needs a headline, write 100. --
Save the operative part of the headline for the very end. --
Never use fake names in a headline. (Or copy. Or anywhere else, for that matter.) --
Don't let the headline flex any muscles when the visual is doing the heavy lifting. --
When it's just a headline, it'd better be a pretty good headline. --
Certain headlines are currently checked out. You may use them when they are returned. --
Writing Body Copy. --
Writing well, rule #1: Write well. --
Write like you'd talk if you were the brand. --
At the same time, remember to write like you talk. --
Pretend you're writing a letter. --
Don't have a ``pre-ramble.´´ --
Five rules for effective speechwriting from Winston Churchill. --
``It's not fair to inflict your own style on a strategy.´´ --
Eschew obfuscation. --
Once you lay your sentences down, spackle between the joints. --
Break your copy into as many short paragraphs as you can. --
When you're done writing the copy, read it aloud. --
When you're done writing your body copy, go back and cut it by a third. --
Proofread your own work. --
If you have to have one, make your tagline an anthem. --
A Few Notes on Design and One on Thinning the Herd. --
Something has to dominate the ad. --
Avoid trends in execution. --
Own something visual. Be objective. --
Kill off the weak sister. --
Always, always show babies or puppies. --
6: The Virtues of Simplicity: Or, Why it's hard to pound in a nail sideways --
Make Sure the Fuse on Your Idea Isn'T Too Short or Too Long. --
Simple has stopping power. --
Simple is bigger. --
Simple is easier to remember. --
Simple breaks through clutter. --
Keep paring away until you have the essence of your ad. --
A Few Words About Outdoor (Three Would Be Ideal, Actually.) --
Billboards, banner ads, posters, 15-second TV-they all force you to be simple. --
Outdoor is a great place to get outrageous. --
Your outdoor must delight people. --
7: Stupid, Rong, Naughty, and Viral: Getting noticed, getting talked about --
The Art of Being Rong® --
``The reverse side also has a reverse side.´´ --
Question the brief, the media, question everything. --
Try doing something counterintuitive with the medium. --
Does it really have to be an ad? If so, does it have to be a flat page? --
Do not sit down to do an ad. Sit down to do something interesting. --
Instead of doing an ad, change the product, or make a new one. --
The Strategic Invincibility of Stupid. --
The highest form of rong-stupid. --
Working way out past the edge. --
``Love, Honor, and Obey Your Hunches.´´ --
Build a Small, Cozy Fire With the Rule Books. Start With This One. --
8: Why Is the Bad Guy Always More Interesting?: Storytelling, conflict, and platforms --
Platforms: the Mother of Stories. --
Campaigns vs. platforms. --
Platforms are ideas that create ideas. --
Think of a campaign as a movie and a platform as a Hollywood franchise. --
Two signs you have a platform: it fits on a Post-It note, and it starts talking to you and won't shut up. --
Truth + conflict = platform --
9: Zen and the Art of Tastee-Puft: Or, Managing time, energy, panic, and your creative mind --
What to Do When You'Re Stuck. First of all, being stuck is a good sign. Seriously. --
If you're stuck, relax. --
Leave the office and go work somewhere else. --
What does the ad want to say? --
Get off the stinkin' computer. --
Go to the store where they sell the stuff. --
Go to a bookstore and study books on your subject. --
Read an old Far Side collection by Gary Larson. --
Ask your creative director for help. --
Get more product information. --
Go into it knowing there's a chance you could fail. --
It helps to work on several projects at once. --
Don't burn up energy trying to make something work. --
Be patient. --
Learn to enjoy the process, not just the finished piece. --
Remember, you aren't saving lives. --
10: Digital Isn't a Medium, It's a Way of Life: Ads, media, content, and customers- they've all gone digital --
We Are So Not in Kansas Anymore. --
It's not about making ``digital advertising.´´ It's about making advertising for a digital world. --
Funny, It Doesn'T Look Like Advertising. --
Red Bull gives users a rush online. --
Dove produces a mini-documentary. --
The Swedish Institute gives away its Twitter feed. --
Century 21 hijacks the finale of Breaking Bad. --
Lowe's starts running six-second commercials. --
Ice Bucket Challenge raises 100 million. Media Investment: 0.00. --
Digital advertising can be building things out of connected devices. --
11: Change the Mindset, Change the Brief, Change the Team --
``We Have Met the Enemy and It Is Us´´ (Actually, It'S the Brief). --
The Post-Bill-Bernbach Creative Team. --
Partner With Creative People Who Aren'T in the Advertising Business. --
Combine Art, Copy, and Technology. --
It'S No Longer About ``The Dude With the Idea.´´ --
Unite Storytellers and Systems Thinkers. --
``Keep the Team to Two Pizzas.´´ --
Fewer Generals, More Soldiers. --
Shut Up and Write.
