Hey Whipple, Squeeze This! summary

Sorry, but Mad Men just isn’t an accurate portrayal of work in advertising. It’s not all affairs and parties! The truth is, the whole process of creating ads can be extremely chaotic, and creating successful work takes serious effort.

Working in advertising means giving your best for every new client. But this can be challenging when each client is wildly different to the next. One day you might work for the financial sector and ponder market-indexed annuities, while the next you could be thinking about the difference between “kibble” and “bit” for a dog-food ad.

If you’re a creative working on an idea, you probably feel incredibly stressed from time to time, or perhaps all the time. Nevertheless, you’ve got to stay calm, even when you’re blocked. There are a bunch of tricks that can help you get into the flow again.

Like Nike says, sometimes it’s best to just do it. Without thinking about it, start writing something. Start by scrawling down, “This is an ad about . . .” Next, put down whatever comes to mind. You’ll be surprised how quickly you’ll discover the words you needed.

Seen any great ads on TV lately? The ones that impress us seem to tell surprising stories and present them immaculately, with great visual effects. Seems like pretty complicated work, right? But they often come from nothing more than clear and simple statements. How can we ourselves come up with these?

First, try to find one great adjective that represents the brand. Your audience has a limited attention span and is under constant bombardment with information, so it doesn’t have time to find out all that your brand stands for. Instead, it’s your job to make it clear to them from the outset. What you need is just one memorable word to make a lasting impression.

Decades ago, ads written for TV, magazines, radios and billboards could depend on the strength of their ideas for success. But now, with the internet and smartphones, advertisers are working in an entirely different world.

We’ve got information at our fingertips, and people aren’t willing to just sit in front of the TV and hear companies extol their products’ virtues. Ads have to be backed up by actions, as consumers can question company messages and find the truth online. Companies must operate the way their ads promise.

Most of us dodge the commercial breaks for a trip to the kitchen. So how can TV ads, or spots, grab the attention of their viewers?

By telling the story in a powerful and visual way. The Suffex Safer Roads Partnership achieved this with an ad that went viral online within weeks.

With only audio at your disposal and just enough time for a few sentences, radio ads require a yet another kind of creative thinking. The challenge to grab people’s attention is even tougher – but still achievable!

Radio ads can still create images in peoples’ heads by setting the scene with background sound. For example, if the ad takes place in a restaurant, the buzz of people chatting, the clatter of dishes stacking and the clinking of cutlery will be enough to set a vivid scene.