We're not poets, we are salesmen.

An enlightening interview with David Abbott

This was posted a few weeks back on the Sell! Sell! Blog. It's the kind of stuff that I read and get so excited to live in a world where making ads is a viable profession. The advice (from the great David Abbott) spits in the face of a lot of advice we encounter everyday.

Is craft important? Enormously so.

Is it the most important thing? There are more than a few people who would say, "No."

And looking through some of my favorite ads from history I'm beginning to agree with those people. Where there is an idea that transcends craft and style it becomes great. An ad is truly brilliant when it has to power to make you stop and let it sell you something.

At very least I implore you to read the article. It should put some new (old) ideas into your head. Even if it does not fundamentally change your outlook on the ads you make.

It's important to make something you're proud of. Even more important is making that thing sell.

Note: If you haven't heard of David Abbott you've heard of his work. Think "iconic Economist ads". Yeah, that guy. Learn more here. 

The easiest way to test copy.

We recently had a rather large party in the parking lot of my fraternity house.

As social chair (party planner) it was my job to set up the party and make sure we were not breaking University rules.

For risk management reasons, not worth delving into here, we need to submit a guest list before the event.

So, part of my responsibility is to collect the names of all the guests the people in the house invite.

Not an overly difficult task but getting this information from 70 other "college dudes" can test even the most patient man's patience.

To keep reminding people of my need for names I would periodically send out emails over the email server.

Each one had a different subject line because I wanted to see what kind of response I would get.

The first was merely "Island" (the name of the party) and the request was in the body of the email.

I received 7 emails back.

The next was "Invites. Email them to me even if you haven't used all 4. Thanks bros."

I received 21 emails back. Improvement!

The last email I sent (two days before the list was due) read "Invites. Yours. I need them."

35 people emailed me back.

Even more interesting I received emails from people who had already given me the names of their invites.

While the proximity to the date of the party for the last email was closer I think there were multiple things at work.

First, the email server labels the email from me to the individual, not the group.

This made people think I was emailing them individually because they had not submitted names.

Second, the line was very direct.

The first two emails were polite requests the last was a command.

Third, after harassing people multiple times they eventually caved.

Doing things like this with such as large group is a great way to learn about how your copy works best.

You can discover what makes people tick and what falls flat.

If you think of how many emails you send in a day it seems like a no-brainer to use the subject line to hone your headline writing skills.

Please don't go off and spam a bunch of people but if you have a situation like this you should exploit it.

You can bring lessons from anything in your life into your work.

Play around with it and see what kind of response from people.

It can't hurt and it'll probably help.

note: The party went very well. Thank you for asking.

Maya Angelou and My Car

I drive a '99 Toyota Corolla.

It was given to me by my grandmother on my 16th birthday.

This car is in such great shape that it may be around after gasoline has run out.

But that's not the most amazing thing about it.

My friends fondly, or perhaps not so fondly for those in the back seat, refer to it as "the field mouse".

Because my car fits pretty much anywhere.

It goes places cars simply aren't meant to go.

Barricades that bar other cars to entry are just wide enough for my car to fit through.

Parking spots too small for most cars accomodate my car perfectly.

(though that is also thanks to the great turning radius)

Needless to say my car is breaking - or bending at the very least - the rules of what cars should do.

I also have a propensity to do this.

To finagle my way into places I should quite be.

For instance I got a floor seat at the Maya Angelou lecture at my university.

This lecture was held in the athletic center on campus.

It was free and open to all students.

But we were instructed to sit on the bleachers.

well that didn't sit quite right with me.

I wanted a good comfortable seat with a back.

So five minutes in to the lecture there I was with my own floor seat.

I didn't pay for this seat, and I didn't steal one from the paying customers. 

What I did do was know where they kept the folding chairs for the athletic teams.

I grabbed one of these and set it up in one of the back rows of floor seats.

When some people hear these stories they say it's unfair.

Or, "If everyone did that there would be no room to move around on the floor."

Tht's true, but not everyone is doing it.

The same goes for advertising.

The last thing you want to do is do exactly what you're told.

Or fit in where you are supposed to fit in.

Because advertising, and getting in to advertising, is about sticking out.

Tthe things that you do that are vastly different from everyone else are the things that will get you noticed.

And that's exactly what you should strive for.

As Dave Trott tweeted at me, after an embarassing gaffe on my part, "It's more important to be interesting than to be right."

How to get hired.

Don't look for advice.

Strange advice coming from a blog that provides -erhm - advice to aspiring creatives.

But it is painfully true.

From what I can see it's becoming the prevailing logic among the best CDs out there.

They feel people who are trying to break in to the ad industry are becoming too risk adverse.

People are playing it remarkably safe.

Which is anything but remarkable.

People are asking to fit in.

When they should be demanding to stand out.

All the best advice I've seen about books strays far from specifics.

Much like formula ads no one is going to enjoy a formula book.

There is no "top ten ways to a surefire book".

There's no best practices.

Because there shouldn't be.

If your book isn't built on originality and creativity there a good chance your work won't be either.

So stop asking for advice.

Stop asking for permission.

Make something you're proud of.

And affect someone in a positive way.

It'll give you the best chance of getting hired.

Note: While I was drafting this Dave Trott released "How to get Laid" on his blog. It's very good and also illustrates my point.

Weekly Linkly

I try to read a lot every week. With this reading comes the starring and archiving of articles that I find interesting.

Figured you might like to see them too so I'm launching the new series "Weekly Linkly". Once a week I'll post the stuff I found really interesting from the previous week.

(I realize this week is artlice heavy. I'll try to have some video fun in the following weeks.)

You can probably do more.

What you need to do is hit this link and hop over to Angela Natividad's post about Ramon DeLeon.

Marketing 2.0 in Paris: An impromptu interview with #RamonWOW

You need to watch the video and read the entire post. Yes it is long but it is so worth it.

Doesn't listening to him make you incredibly happy? Inspired?

It did for me.

Ramon does so much to grow and sustain his business in the social sphere that it makes my head spin. He is constantly reaching out to customers, engaging them and getting them to post content for him.

His work ethic and tenacity are incredible and he makes me wonder if I am putting in enough.

No matter how thin you are stretched you should be asking yourself what more can you do. What more can you do with your book, your work, or yourself to become the most desirable (therefore most hire-able) person you know?

Ramon sees something he thinks might be beneficial and explores and exploits it to the fullest. If he can do it for pizza and his business you should have no trouble doing something to make yourself stand out.

This doesn't mean latch on to the newest thing. But ask yourself if there is a way to exploit it using your interests. That's when anything becomes truly beneficial.

Just ask two questions:

  1. What can I do to get myself noticed?
  2. What can I do to improve the quality of my work?

The rest should fall into place after that.

edit: Ramon even took the time to comment on the post written about him. How many people on earth do that?!

Don't be an Individual. Seriously, guys. I mean it.

I'm no Mr. Rogers - the whole sweater getup isn't my style - but this video is one of my favorite examples of remembering that people who are individuals tend to do memorable things.

It's been nestled at the back of my mind since my friend showed it to me while I was preparing to give my own commencement speech. The speech is not only perfectly delivered it is also hauntingly true.

Because Nick* understands and articulates what is so great and what is so terrible about being individual. He shows what putting yourself slightly outside norms can do.

It reminds me a lot of the struggle to get in to advertising. (duh, you say. That's the point of this blog)

There are going to be times that you feel disconnected from other people. It comes with the territory of being creative.

Your thoughts might be a little off kilter. Your thought process can put you outside the ingroup. And while you work on your first, second, third, umpteenth book you're going to put in hours of work that make others question your sanity.

This doesn't mean you're not going to have friends or fit in with people. You might be tremendously social and a great conversationaliist. But there will be times where you feel different and that's not a bad thing.

Because you can fit in and do very little. Or you can be an individual and do something spectacular.

*Of BriTANicK fame. If you haven't seen their videos check out this, this and this.