26 advertising tips from Ogilvy’s “Copywriting Queen”!

I have recently become fascinated by Lin Guizhi, the former chief copy director of Ogilvy. She is incredibly low-key and rarely shows up in public, but I can often get a glimpse of her wisdom from the interviews or articles of her apprentices, Li Dan and Bai Xuedan.

I listened to her advertising program over the weekend and liked it twice as much as she did. I couldn't keep up with the latest updates, so I had to search the entire internet from yesterday morning to 3 a.m. today. I read all her previous interviews, all the articles she wrote on her public accounts , and all the articles with the keyword Lin Guizhi. I haven't started writing yet, but the fragments of her thoughts alone are nearly ten thousand words long.

Condensed and condensed again, here is a glimpse of her 5,000-word thoughts on advertising and the workplace. At the end, there is also her personal book list .

Whether you are a newcomer or a veteran, you will definitely be able to find professional nutrition suitable for your current stage from her insights. Because of the high information density, most of them are excerpts.

Lin Guizhi has been working in advertising for more than 30 years since she entered the industry in 1987. For reasons of advertising law , it is no exaggeration to say that she is the second most low-key Ogilvy copywriting queen in the domestic advertising circle.

Although she no longer works for Ogilvy and works more as a freelance creative in advertising, the label of Ogilvy's copywriting queen is still well-deserved for her. Song Zhiming, Chairman of WPP Group Greater China and Chairman of Ogilvy Greater China, commented that she "always shines with the outstanding qualities of a true Ogilvy person."

1

Brief, men's swimming trunks, also refers to underwear, which Hong Kong people call underpants. The advertising agency's Brief is equally divine. In addition to nurturing, procreating, and defending, Brief is also the source of ideas.

If one person writes a brief carefully, it can save many people's time. Creative people in advertising agencies often have to work overtime endlessly, often because of those "stinky pants".

2

If the product can meet meaningful needs, there is no need for further talk and effort. Any product that can bring positive meaning to people's lives does not require excessive advertising costs. The greater the significance, the lower the communication cost, and the media will naturally promote and report on you. If that’s not the case with your product, then it’s best to think about what meaning your product can bring to people’s lives.

3

There is only one real medium for all advertising, and that is people's brains. Be it television or mobile phones, no matter how fast the means change, they are just channels of communication, and only our brains are the unchanging medium.

4

Advertising taught me to read. Because of working in advertising, I learned that reading requires refining the characters, the relationships between the characters, the objects in the book, the scenes, and the plot. I need to wander between the lines, think deeply, analyze carefully, and look for the resonance and dissociation between them.

Reading requires you to find the bull's eye and see how the writer realizes his intention. Advertising is about setting your intention and doing your best to hit the bull's eye. Advertising is like reading, it must be refined.

5

The impact of advertising on me - I learned to see the world from a capitalist perspective.

6

Many people encounter difficulties at work and blame their poor performance; the actual situation is that they lack basic accumulation and mistakenly regard performance as the only mode of work.

The working mode of a copywriter is not only to write copies. The primary working mode of a copywriter is learning: mastering skills in related fields and learning knowledge in a vast world . Only in this way can we maintain accurate judgment in the ambiguous direction, make progress courageously, and let the dignity of work belong to ourselves.

We work in two modes: the first is the learning mode; the second is the performance mode .

Whether you work in advertising or not, no matter how high or low your position is, you must continue to learn at work; because learning is about salvation, and those who only activate the performance mode will eventually run out of ammunition and food.

7

Most people who work in advertising creativity and production spend only half a day creating, but spend half their lives revising.

8

Advertisements always hint to people, intentionally or unintentionally: you are not living a “good enough” life, you have the right to “have better”, you must be tired of what you already have, and you should “get even better”. The "good" portrayed by advertisements makes the innocent helpless, the helpless bored, and then arouses the desire to move forward from boredom.

"Not good enough" has pushed countless women into the abyss of self-ashamedness. They spend money and time to consume their own imaginary shortcomings, passionately and tragically altering themselves, bleaching themselves, and cutting themselves, risking their lives to fill their fictitious imperfections.

9

There is only one key to a successful telephone conference proposal: knowing the other party's needs in advance, expressing what the other party is thinking clearly, or supporting the other party's point of view from another angle. Expecting the other party to accept a completely different point of view via a conference call is simply wishful thinking. On the one hand, humans are best at protecting themselves and defending against unnecessary attacks. On the other hand, thinking takes too much energy and is not in line with the national conditions of our country.

10

When a client chooses an advertising agency, it is like entering a restaurant; once you enter, you are handing over the power to have a meal.

As a customer, you must know what you want to eat, what you avoid, how much you are willing to pay, and then choose a restaurant.

First of all, you have to choose a good restaurant. If you are not sure about the quality of the restaurant, you might as well ask Dianping to see what people who have eaten there think of it. Once you order food in a restaurant, it’s settled. How the food is prepared and how it tastes is entirely up to the chef.

I have been in this industry for many years and have seen many customers who have a special liking for dish edge decorations. Often, they would cause the entire kitchen to be in a mess just for one or two celery leaves on the edge of the plate, and cry out for the chef to use professionalism to solve the problem. The chef was in a rush and overwhelmed, and the result was that the dish was not up to standard.

Some customers prefer to lie on the kitchen glass and give orders through the window. Subjective wishes are good, but objective laws will always take their course. When you enter a restaurant, the dishes are actually already 80% cooked. You can only specify when ordering whether you want it light or strong, spicy or slightly spicy, very spicy, or not spicy at all, just specify spicy or hot. If you feel your taste is light, there is soy sauce on the table. If you don’t like the taste of soy sauce, you can ask the waiter for some salt.

There are some other customers who have a different taste. They like to spend money to go into the restaurant and cook their own food, and then eat it themselves. The food naturally tastes good.

I am lucky that I have a good client, Yuan Pao Chu.

11

Traditional advertising will face more severe challenges. Companies must think about how to bring value to consumers that "goes beyond the selling point of the product" in order to achieve their "real business purpose."

12

Advertisements have become an uninvited guest in people's lives. Advertisers and advertisers must understand the following:

1) Since you are visiting someone for something, please get to know the other person first.

2) As a guest, please do not barge in rashly. You should appear at an appropriate time to avoid disturbing others.

3) Don’t make noise or make a fuss.

4) Do not litter fruit peels, spit, or create garbage.

5) Don’t sit there talking to yourself endlessly.

6) If the other party allows you to enter the room, do not let your buttocks face the other person's face when passing through the seat. In other words, there is no need to impose excessive information on others, so as not to backfire.

7) When visiting someone’s home, you must be polite and courteous. Please package the information you want to convey into a small gift that people will like.

13

One of the most inflammatory slogans of modern times: freedom from want (copyright: Roosevelt). Good slogans often have universal values ​​or meet the needs of the vast majority of people: everyone wants to be free from want. However, the world is always lacking; human needs will never end.

14

It is a wonderful thing to realize your self-worth by devoting yourself to a career. Unfortunately, the essence of advertising creativity is to speak for the advertiser. The final decision-making power of creativity does not lie with you, but is determined by the client's business decision or personal preference. It is almost impossible to realize my self-worth by being an advertising copywriter, and I have not done it yet.

15

I think everyone's life clock has a different rhythm: for some people a year is 365 days, for others a year is 730 days; a 40-year-old based on 365 days a year would only be 20 based on 730 days.

40 seems too old to be a beginner in copywriting, but 40 seems young to be a president; it is crucial to know your inner age; and the age of birth is more valid on documents.

16

I think anyone who writes for advertisers to promote products or services should be called a copywriter. The basic action of a writer is writing, and the basic action of a painter is painting. To only like to be a writer without loving writing, or to only dream of being a painter without practicing painting, is deceiving oneself. I now write two promotional articles for WeChat public accounts every week and benefit a lot from it. I don’t know whether I am a junior copywriter or a senior copywriter. I never care about these things and I don’t need others to define me.

17

Fashion is a permanent playground for individuals who want to stand out from the crowd and stand out from the crowd. For those who are not independent-minded enough, enhancing their self-worth through a fashionable appearance is the easiest and most convenient way.

Models in luxury goods advertisements often appear to be looking down on the world. They pretend to despise everything in order to get their way, but their subtext is just to elevate themselves and win the admiration of the world. What’s even more interesting is that this attitude of pretending to be contemptuous is called “having attitude”.

18

If you hope to achieve something, the most important thing is to concentrate on blocking out distractions from the outside world, and be calm and clear-minded, only then will you be able to achieve something. The essence of advertising is superficiality and superficiality. It is not easy to break away from inertia. Dive in, the most beautiful scenery is in the deepest sea.

19

Under the premise of maximizing personal feelings, today's advertising is no longer about consumer promises, but focuses on consumer experience.

Experience is the direct feeling of things by the senses, such as the "silky smoothness" of Dove chocolate. Experience is the emotional touch people have on things, like McDonald ’s “I just like it”. Experience is people's perception and thinking about things. For example, Louis Vuitton said, "Travel is a process of self-discovery, and life is a journey."

Consumer experience is the sensory perception, emotional touch, perception and thinking that consumers have about products or services.

20

I insist that advertising is advertising and music is music. Music should maintain its own quality and not become a fast food due to advertisements.

twenty one

"A Dream of Red Mansions" says that once a woman gets married, she will become a mess, a bit like the relationship between an advertising company and its clients.

All advertising companies do this, they use their strongest team and show their best side during a pitch. Once they get the customers, they gradually become unkempt and their true colors are revealed. After a long time, they tend to give up on themselves.

Seeing that the advertising company was going from bad to worse, the client regretted not thinking it through and rushed into marriage. The contract has been signed and the money has been paid in batches. It is too late to withdraw the money. I feel upset but have nowhere to vent, so I will inevitably make some inexplicable requests.

twenty two

If we cannot realize our inner calling in the business world, then at least we should create works that are worthy of ourselves.

twenty three

Large advertising companies all have a transportation department. Around noon, the transportation department starts to get busy. Those who cannot be explained by phone , WeChat or email will come for an interview. The problems are inseparable: the time is too short to complete the task, and you have to find a way out if there is not enough manpower; there is too much work to handle, and you have to absorb it internally if there is no money to outsource. It’s still the same after so many years. These problems have never been solved. As time goes by, the tiger will go and the wolf will come. Life will not stop, and the fight will not end.

The transportation department of an advertising company is responsible for cost control, resource allocation, and time control. The housekeeper not only has no power, but does not even have a symbolic outfit.

twenty four

The top priority of the business department is to understand the boss's mind and digest and purify it.

25

The most important thing about advertising is whether your positioning is in place. If you are a good person, work will not be tiring. The words are well-spoken and the look is brilliant. With proper management, nothing can be left undone. Do the job well, it doesn’t matter whether you do it or not. Please take your seats.

26

Brother Qi’s understanding of advertising far exceeds that of many executives of advertising companies.

Brother Qi said that the advertisement for iced tea is a scene where people are running down the street spraying water on the ground, a skateboard band adding ice cubes, boys and girls having sex, and drinking that stuff in big gulps.

Off-road vehicles are on the top of the mountain, commercial vehicles are on the roof of the building, and all the car commercials are about the road. The drivers are driving and laughing, looking smug, with a bunch of nonsense narration.

The cosmetics are applied on the big face, with geometric patterns, a mirror, and occasionally a maze with a girl in it.

Advertisements for telecommunications , banks, and life insurance can borrow from each other. The front ones are the same, family, white-collar workers, and students, just change the label and it will be done.

When white-collar workers are not in the office, they are in a cafe; when college students are not in the dormitory, they are playing basketball on the roadside. Successful people are either on the top of a mountain or on the top of a building. The picture must be viewed from a looking up perspective.

To make a car advertisement, you only need to slightly modify the shoe advertisement, and to make a shoe advertisement, you only need to swap the car advertisement. The advertisements for off-road vehicles can refer to those for sports shoes, and the advertisements for leather shoes can refer to those for commercial vehicles.

Some creative ideas can be used in all walks of life, such as symphony orchestra plus conductor, suitable for high-end real estate, headache, back pain, arthritis, electrical appliances, suits, instant noodles, and sanitary napkins.

A good creative person should be like a high-class stripper, the moon in the water, the flower in the mist, sometimes visible and sometimes not, never allowing you to see it all at a glance. There is some room for you, sir, please come back next time.

Source: Advertising Common Sense