One of the great writers of our industry, Ernie Schneck, wrote a tributary post to another great writer of our industry Mark Fenske. I encourage you all to read it: "Mark Fenske Doesn't Live Here Anymore." Another great writer of our industry, Jim Durfee, told me to:
"Never stop caring." I encourage you all to do so. View Fenske's personal website here: "Mark Fenske Dot Com."
"14 Anti-Laws Of Advertising" AKA "Nobody Knows Nothing" by Mark Fenske
1. Nobody ever did a good ad by writing to a strategy.
When your gut tells you you've got something that touches you, then write the strategy.
2. More is Less.
The companies that do the most advertising are the ones that believe in advertising the least.
3. We are not salesmen, we are craftsmen of what may be the most powerful art form on earth.
I can look at a Rauschenberg and say, "Well, that's interesting and I do get a feeling from it, but I'm not sure how it relates to me." But with advertising, you know what it's about.
4. A good ad has no discernible strategy.
Recently, a critic said about the Nissan campaign: "Where's the strategy?" That shows a lack of understanding of how advertising works.
5. The worst person to present creative work to a client is the creative who did.
When you go in to present your own ideas to a client, the client doesn't see you as a writer or art director -- he sees a car salesman. Get the president of your agency to present your work. Don't go to the meetings.
“To attract, hold and be loved by an audience, you must be preoccupied with what preoccupies them.”
6. The consumer isn't just smart, he's a genius.
Even clients get it. Clients are human beings until they walk into a marketing meeting.
7. Imitation is not flattery.
Stop ripping shit off. - I added this.
8. A reasoning mind can be your greatest enemy.
A reasoning mind seeks to arrive at an answer by ruling out opinions until there is only one left, and that is the answer. The problem is that you end up with the same answer that everyone else has already thought of. The audience will respond to it as they would to a joke whose punchline they already know. You cannot "logic" your way into someone's heart.
"It takes magic, ludicrous, fancy, blind-flying and something hidden from 99.7% of the people on earth to bring an audience what they don’t know."
9. Skip the plant tour.
Stay as ignorant as the audience. Otherwise you'll be as useless as the client. Clients know too much about their own products to be able to write a good ad; all they can do is shill. When you know too much you always have the answer. You sound like an infomercial.
10. There's not that much difference between a creative at Wieden & Kennedy and one at Ayer.
I've been in both places. There's not that much difference in the way people think.
11. Clients don't hate good work.
However, there are only two times in a product's life cycle when clients buy great work. Right at the beginning, when they don't know anything yet. And right at the end, when the product can see its own reflection in the toilet bowl.
“The first mistake most ad-makers fall into is they try to come up with ideas that their partner likes.”
12. The longer you work for a client, the harder it gets.
Of all the reasons to admire Wieden & Kennedy and their work for Nike, I'll bet the least understood is how difficult it is to still be doing it at such a high level after 10 years. Imagine the terror involved when Jim Riswold has to sit down in front of a blank sheet of paper and try to top everything he's done before.
13. The most difficult job in advertising is not writing ads, it's buying them.
Nothing I've ever done has taught me this more than hiring an architect to build a house. Suddenly, I'm the client. Suddenly, I'm being presented to. Suddenly, I have to look at sketches to try to figure out what I'm being sold -- with no idea of what the finished product will look like.
14. Do not learn to compromise.
If someone who matters doesn't like what you do, drop it. Do something else. Don't change a thing. Don't become a swerver.
If you're a company looking to create an original integrated marketing campaign to expand brand awareness and scale contact Kevin Amter. His nationally awarded work for T-Moble and dozens of other Fortune 500 brands will strategically move your company in a winning direction.
SOURCE LINKS:
(1) Mark Fenske Doesn't Live Here Anymore.