Is really great work created quickly or slowly?

Really great copy and design is often created very quickly, in a creative volcanic burst. You may think it's the opposite -- that great work needs time to develop and ferment. The truth is that the developing and fermenting happens subconsciously, before the creating. Then the writing and designing happens, or should happen, quickly. Passionately.

A great example of this is the Beach Boys classic, "G-d Only Knows." It broke the mold. It made Paul McCartney in 1966 call it the greatest love song ever made. It even inspired the Beatles' Revolver album (McCartney tried to compose his version of "G-d Only Knows" in "Here, There, Everywhere," falling far short of the originality and goose-bump causing beauty of Brian Wilson's "G-d Only Knows.")

The point? Brian Wilson wrote one of the top 5 greatest rock songs of all time in only 30 minutes.

The lesson is great copy and design can and should be created quickly in a flow of passion and conviction. Then it will be read with passion and conviction. What takes time is the revision. In other words, the original creation should happen quickly, but you should take your time with the revisions, perfecting your concept. After the 30 minutes it took for Brian Wilson to write "G-d Only Knows," you can be sure he spent countless hours in the studio turning it into the timeless masterpiece it became.

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The Donovan Rule of changing your audience's perception of you

Your target audience's perception of your product or service is often permanent. In fact, it's one of the hardest things in the universe to change.

Which is why it's crucial to make sure you get it strategically right in the first place.

Donovan is a good example of this.

In the mid-sixties, Donovan was Great Britain's answer to Dylan. Like Dylan, Donovan sang Woody Guthrie songs while playing guitar and harmonica at the same time. But while Dylan stayed on the A-list for over four decades (and even won a Grammy for his 2006 album), Donovan's career basically ended when the sixties ended.

What happened?

With such albums as Sunshine Superman, Mellow Yellow and A Gift From A Flower To A Garden, Donovan became the poster-flower child of the sixties. He cemented that perception by dressing like a flower child and joining the Beatles in India to study with the Maharishi. And when the sixties ended and his audience embraced either the harder or more progressive sounds of the seventies, they left him behind. It was time to move on.

What Donovan really sold was his name. It was his brand. And it would always be too closely associated with Flower Power and the Summer of Love -- just like Cream and Jefferson Airplane. Only he didn't have the luxury of Eric Clapton who could leave the brand-name Cream behind -- or of Jefferson Airplane who could change its name to Jefferson Starship. The Donovan brand was the sixties. And this meant he would always be a nostalgia act. It was too late to re-invent himself.

The obvious lesson? We all need to be conscious of our audience's perception of us -- and avoid branding ourselves with a trend or fad. All trends and fads end, and we don't want our products or services ending with them.

Again, changing someone's perception is one of the hardest things for a marketer to do.

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Nothing new under the sun - Part II

Too many ads today don't have headlines because too many creative directors, copywriters and designers today feel that headlines are "old school." And when you evoke David Ogilvy's name and say every ad must have a headline, you get laughed at for being anachronistic.

Two facts. One, ads without headlines are nothing new (such as this Kellogg's ad from 1908). And two, headlines are a crucial part of a proven formula of grabbing your target audience's attention. Right now, it may not be so cool to create ads with headlines. But it is always cool to create ads with headlines that increase response rates.

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Why you can't proofread your own stuff

One simple reason. You're too close to it.

Let's say you created a piece and made some typos -- for example, some words have missing letters or there's no comma when there should be one. When you read it over, you're likely to miss the typos because your mind's eye still sees the missing letters and the AWOL comma. You know they should be there.

What you need is a fresh pair of eyes.

You need a proofreader.

The best person to proof your stuff is a professional proofreader. She's trained to catch the smallest mistakes. And the good ones will amaze you by catching things you didn't even know were there (though you were the one who created the piece in the first place). If hiring a professional proofreader isn't in the budget, ask a colleague or an administrative assistant to proof your piece. If you're as fortunate as I've been, you'll find some are just as good as the professional readers.

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Shun the asterisk

When communicating to your target audience, you want to get your message across clearly and quickly. The asterisk will stop you from achieving this. That's because the asterisk interrupts your readers from your message, makes them go to the bottom of the page to read something that's probably not a direct benefit to them anyway and then go back up to continue where they left off. This doesn't make for a quick and clear read. In fact, it often opens a door that says: "Run and don't look back."

So instead of using asterisks as footnotes, say what you need to say right in the body of the copy. It can be a parenthetical. And if it's not a benefit to your audience, try to turn it into one.

In other words, there's never a need to use asterisks in your sell or branding copy unless your legal department tells you to.

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How to get the right feedback from those you show your work to

Show someone your work and you're liable to get an "I like it" or "I don't like it." And nothing else. This response is appropriate if you're asking for an opinion on tobacco-flavored ice cream or the smell of your new hair gel. But it's a weak response if you're trying to find out if your piece really works (especially if you're too close to it to know if it really works).

So what should you do when you're trying to get some helpful, strategic feedback and instead you get only an "I like/don't like it" response? Simply dig deeper by asking these questions:

1. Did it grab your attention?
2. Was this persuasive to you?
3. Was the key selling message clear at a glance?
4. Was it easy (and even fun) to read?
5. Was it dynamic? Relevant? Tasteful? Human?

These are just a few suggestions. The point here is that sometimes you may need to ask more strategic questions from those you show your work to ... so you can get more strategic feedback and so your piece can be more effective.

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The Lennon & McCartney rule of creating great advertising

Here's a question I've wasted way too much time thinking about: What the heck happened to the songwriting skills of John Lennon and Paul McCartney after the Beatles broke up?

How could the same guys who wrote "Strawberry Fields" and "Hey Jude" also write such embarrassments as "Meat City" and "Let 'Em In"? Did they forget their craft? Was it drugs? The influence of non-songwriters Yoko and Linda?

It's none of the above. I strongly believe their songwriting skills as individuals devolved because they created their post-Beatle songs in a kind of vacuum. After they wrote their post-Beatle songs, those around them said it was great, and they ran to the studio to record "Instant Karma" and "Helen Wheels." But as Beatles, they had each other to bounce off their ideas. They challenged each other. Even their competitiveness inspired them to innovate and experiment. All that ended when the Beatles ended.

So what does this have to do with creating great advertising? Everything. Because creating great advertising works the same way; it requires having someone else with a talent for recognizing good work to bounce your ideas off of (it could be a co-worker, copywriter, creative director or art director to name a few). Sometimes you're too close to your ideas and concepts to see it strategically. You need another set of trusted eyes.

In other words, the Lennon & McCartney rule of creating great advertising is not to create in a vacuum.

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Nothing new under the sun

This 1957 ad could have been produced today (with digital imagery replacing the illustration). There's no headline to speak of and no copy -- just a catchy tagline. This kind of treatment could work to arouse awareness for a household name candy. But not for the many services and products today that are selling themselves short by sacrificing just a few lines of persuasive copy for award-winning creative.

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Illustration Agreement Rule

The image or illustration in your ad must agree with the headline next to it, right?

Not really.

Let me explain.

Let's say you're creating a magazine ad for a financial services company, and the headline is "Time to Swim with the Sharks." It might seem logical to choose a photo of a shark swimming in the ocean. The problem, then, is that potential prospects reading the magazine will flip right past the ad because they're not interested in sharks; they're interested in the services you sell.

So really, the illustration should agree with the products or services you’re selling, not with the headline copy. Going back to our example, the photo of your financial services ad should show your biggest selling message (perhaps the happy results of using your services), not a shark. What about the headline, "Time to Swim with Sharks" then? It should be dumped. It doesn't work. The headline, like the image, should broadcast your key selling message and not scary sea animals (unless that's what you're selling).

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