Advertising, how to understand creativity?

When I had some free time, I reread the creative bible "Good Advice" and before I knew it, I finished reading it one by one. Pretty cool!

"Good Advice" was written by George Lewis, the prototype of the male protagonist of the American TV series "Mad Men" and the winner of the Lifetime Achievement Award at the Clio International Advertising Awards. He summarized 60 years of creative experience. He is a ruthless man and doesn't talk much, and he really doesn't talk much.

The entire expression is not pretentious, but direct and explosive, and every sentence hits the point. His words can give you insight into the secrets of creative life and accurately stimulate your creative potential!

As I was reading, I excerpted some points to share with you. Let's feel it first and then understand it.

1. The slogan I object to: "Watch out, George!"

Many years ago, on a dark, stormy night, God spoke to me in my crib: "Watch out, George!" My earliest memory is of my mother saying the same four words: "Watch out, George!" People kept repeating these four words to me sincerely, with good intentions, but they never had a deep understanding of my attitude towards life and work.

In the creative field, playing it safe is a recipe for homogeneity and mediocrity, and means your work will never be known.

It is better to be reckless than to be cautious. It is better to be bold and decisive than to play it safe. It's better to be seen and remembered than to be struck out. There is no middle ground.

2. Creativity is not created, but found.

Great advertising is all about big ideas, but I don’t try to “create” ideas because that would limit my work. I will go find them and capture them as they float towards me in the air.

Michelangelo once said that a statue is locked in marble and only the greatest sculptor can free it.

Plato defined creativity as images in the mind. I can't create that image in my head, but my mind helps me see it, and when it floats toward me, I can get close and grab it. So if you want to achieve something in a creative field, go see the world.

3. All creative ideas should reach people’s hearts within one billionth of a second.

The greatest advertisements, such as posters, packaging, magazine covers, book covers, trademarks, etc., should connect with people's brains and hearts in an instant and make people unforgettable. In 1960, I designed a minimalist ad for Kedilson cough syrup that ran in Life and Outlook magazines.

For the readers who opened that page at that time, it was a visual atomic bomb. This clever pre-feminist dialogue, between a couple who are woken by their child's cough, has become the talk of the advertising world. No product reveal, no logo, no explanation.

In the business world, it seems to be the norm that creative presentations are often long and boring, leaving people unable to get a word in, or even making them look stupid. Even as you read this, there are thousands of manifestations in the world that deviate from their essence and even make the audience nervous.

You have to understand: if you can't express your ideas concisely and powerfully, and if they can't reach people's hearts within a nanosecond, your idea is not a big idea.

4. Advertising, I replied, "It's poison gas!"

I once participated in a nationally televised interview discussing advertising with two CEOs of major advertising companies. The first question of the interview was: "Gentlemen, what is advertising?"

The big shot in a gray suit at the same table spent five minutes talking, explaining the characteristics of the market like a retired professor in a university classroom. Another expert strongly agreed with the former, saying it highly summarized the concept of advertising.

As I listened to these successful people chattering, I slumped in my chair, rolling my eyes in frustration. The host noticed me, turned around and asked, "What do you mean by that expression, George? Do you disagree with what these two gentlemen say?"

I leaned forward slightly and said, "I don't think they are in the same league as me." The host seemed very satisfied with the dramatic effect of the interview and asked me, "So what do you think advertising is?" I answered word by word, " Advertising is poison. It should make you cry, destroy your nervous system, and then break you down. " As the show was broadcast, my remarks soon made headlines in newspapers across the country: "Advertisers claim advertising is poison."

5. Crying doesn’t help!

The client will definitely be very picky and will reject your ideas over and over again. He will say that you are not doing it well, but he will not stop you from doing it well. You can fight back with better work, or simply find a better client. So stop complaining about unappreciative clients and ideas sitting in folders.

If an idea isn't sold, it's just not good enough. The accurate way to measure a person's achievements is to see what he has done. In my experience in life, there is no taste worse than sour grapes.

Stop crying! In the vastness of a creative career, you need to decide your own destiny and what you create.

6. For great ideas, allocate your time like this

1% — Inspiration

9% – Hard work

90% - Persuasiveness

I don't care how talented you are. You have to be creative and be able to bring your best ideas to life and make them convincing.

Then sell it (to the people around you, to your boss, to your clients, TV producers, etc.) and that’s what separates great creatives from good ones.

7. Picasso was right: "Art is a lie that states the truth."

Picasso's definition of art is very applicable to today's world. Nowadays, everything is market-oriented, and all products are constantly compared in price and quality.

In the world of advertising, the more exaggerated, the bolder, the more risky and radical, the more the product benefits, and the more likely the "lie" pointed out by Picasso is to become the truth.

Advertising makes cars drive better, food taste better, and perfume smell better. If you can't accept this, it may be difficult for you to understand the magic of advertising.

8. If you think your audience is stupid, then you will only create stupid works in your life.

People are actually very smart (a view not shared by most advertising companies). Whenever I hear some advertising tycoons speak in a tone that suggests they are superior and treat others as fools, I get angry and shocked and can't even listen.

Believe me, if you think your audience is stupid, you will only produce stupid works in your life.

On the contrary, I think people are very understanding of advertising. Their brains can quickly combine advertisements with marketing context, allowing them to make agile and quick judgments about advertisements. They can definitely get your big idea.

And when the creative message is strong enough, the expression is powerful enough, and especially when it is presented in a humane and warm way, people will always respond.

9. The secret to successful and effective advertising is not to create sophisticated copy and pictures

The idea is to create new associations between familiar words and pictures .

In the 1960s, I shocked vodka lovers and the advertising world by putting an end to the boring Life magazine ads that showed a bunch of couples toasting on a rooftop.

In week 1, I had a loving bottle of Wolfe Chemist accost a tomato (in my day, tomatoes were the definition of sex appeal).

A week later, the masculine bottle expressed its love to an orange, but was questioned: "Who was the tomato with you last week?" Within a few weeks, the Wolfe Chemist bottle approached lemons, limes, olives and even onions.

Familiar words and images take on a whole new (and more “sexual”) association. The secret to creativity? Make the old new again!

10. Say no to “collective chaos”

If you think about it, most of the decisive, groundbreaking ideas are produced by just one, two or three brains. Groupthink often brings creativity to a standstill. Also, the more people on a team who have ideas, the longer it takes to make a decision.

My experience as a mass communicator and cultural provocateur is that group thinking and decision-making largely results in “group screw-ups.”

11. Excellent advertising requires two core driving forces

1. A slogan that is unforgettable!

2. A key visual that is unforgettable!

An unforgettable key visual, coupled with a vivid and memorable slogan, can reach people's hearts within a billionth of a second.

People often think of “imagery” as being only visual, but it’s actually much more than that: it can be a haunting symbol, a scene from a popular folk tale, or a representative painting.

Imagery needs to be expressed in words or images, and ideally both! In the following TV commercial, I took the most masculine superstars of the 1960s and had them put on childish expressions and cry out, "I want my McBo (a brand of oatmeal)." This is a combination of straightforward text and images, but American kids love it.

12. Creativity makes the world go round

When former New York City Mayor Edward M. Cooper was running for re-election and was running out of money, he asked me to help raise money. This requires enough creativity, and I did it - I used my creativity to make Guo Dehua ask for help!

Even the brilliant Guo Dehua doesn't dare to ask for money from his sponsors without any explanation. I planned a fundraising dinner for him. The invitation to the dinner was a folded card with the two sides folded asymmetrically, revealing only Guo Dehua's friendly smile and shoulders.

But when the invitees unfold the card, they will see a penniless mayoral candidate who takes out his empty pockets and asks for alms from his donors.

This invitation letter immediately became a hot topic and received an enthusiastic response. On the day of the dinner, many wealthy capitalists with big bellies were invited to the hotel. I placed a life-size standee at the entrance so that the “mayor” with empty pockets could personally greet the guests.

In the end, the donors not only donated generously, but were also in high spirits, competing to imitate the mayor's actions all night long! The funds were raised, the debts were paid off, and even his competitors had to admire Guo Dehua's courage and wisdom.

Be creative—there are plenty of ways to squeeze a (fat) cat dry.

13. Changing the name makes a big difference!

If a revolutionary product has a weak and unambitious name, give it a great one! At the end of 2010, I took on an advertisement for an eyewear brand. Those glasses were a great invention. You could focus by adjusting the device on the horizontal beam, so you could see books, computer screens, and even distant mountains and other objects more clearly, miraculously restoring your vision when you were young.

Its inventor and his marketing team named it (literally) the "true focus lens." After hearing the introduction to this outstanding product, I bluntly told the client that the name was too weak, unrememberable, and unsellable.

For better advertising effect, I insist on changing the name after the product is already on the market. Three days later, I came up with the brand name "Super Focus", with a striking logo and slogan " Super Focus, see the world clearly, near and far ".

I also invited five celebrity spokespersons to appear in the TV commercial, and at the end of the commercial, the celebrities shouted out the slogan: "A clearer world, all in Super Focus." With the help of this brand name and nationwide television advertising, the brand's sales have exploded and it has even been used by NASA and the International Space Station!

Remember: You have to understand branding better than your clients do (that’s why they hired you).

14. Sometimes the only way to solve a serious problem, perhaps shockingly, is to simply tell the truth.

In 1959, a "Think Small" ad helped a Volkswagen car gain market share in a Jewish town in New York. Before this, all car advertisements were the same, dreamy and exaggerated, using only exaggerated words and overly refined pictures to highlight the brand. Only a fool would buy a car this small and ugly.

But once the “Think Small” campaign came out, Volkswagen became unstoppable. The copy simply states the fact that small cars have low fuel consumption, and the poster only shows a small "Beetle" car on the dark black and white picture. It is simple and direct, and far more impactful and convincing than those fancy advertisements.

This advertisement designed by Hengmei Advertising Company continued to run for several years. Its copywriting strategy was so solid that every advertisement copy of Hengmei Advertising Company continued its essence. The advertised range is longer than the car itself.

Sometimes the big ideas are hidden in the facts.

The above are some of George Lewis’ views excerpted this time!

A little bit of arrogance, absolute self-confidence, and some madness make it worth savoring.

Mr. George is definitely the kind of person who is fanatical about creativity to the point of being paranoid and unorthodox. He has a talent that shines like a diamond, is a madman on Madison Avenue, and has been subverting things all his life.

A media asked him: "What do you think is the trend in the advertising industry this year?"

His answer was always the same: "Don't fucking ask me, you'll know when I create it."

How crazy! This is what arrogance is!

Author: Mumu Laozei

Source: mumuseo