last week started really well with a trip to adam & eve to meet
james read, one of their young planners. i was particularly interested in
finding out about how to create a strategy for a brand; how you come up with an
end line from a vague brief. james talked to us about the hunches that lead to
his propositions and how it’s important that he backs up his research with
social knowledge. he explained about establishing a brand model, summing up
exactly what the brand is about, researching the brand’s competitors and about
tapping into a cultural movement, as ben & jerry did with their back to the
roots culture. james linked us up with this simon selik ted talk and advised us
to check out the royal mail media centre to access the mintel reports. i really enjoyed meeting james and i'm very keen to get a placement at adam &eve.
later in the week rick keisewetter ran a two day comedy workshop for
us where we made with the funnies. rick, who’s a copywriter and comedian,
explained to us that it’s hard being chinese, because he’s japanese... we
learnt about joke structure; the set up and punch of a story but the main thing
that we learnt, which applies to both comedy and advertising is the importance
of editing. less is more. through doing a lot of writing and reading aloud we
discovered how you can make a phrase much punchier and funnier by cutting it,
often almost in half, to fantastic effect.
a little snippet from my set:
“This was followed by Dad giving me ‘the talk’ over dinner, using
Monopoly he explained about passing go and not picking up my £200 as Mum
cringed into her Shepherd’s Pie.”
rick was really engaging and patient. it was a helpful way of
learning the importance of concise communication as well as having a laugh and
getting to know my classmates better.
i also finished reading dave trott’s ‘creative mischief’ last week.
i really enjoyed it, it was accessible, informative and i recommend it to
anyone and everyone (for what my review’s worth). some of the main points that
i’ve taken from it are:
• purchase decisions are made on desire and permission.
• don’t be right, be interesting.
• people buy a product for what it does but they buy a brand for what
it says.
• the difference between scepticism and cynicism (and all this time i
thought i was a cynic).
• “like” is a feeling, not a thought.
• there is a need for emotion and reason within advertising; no grit,
no pearl!
• the brief should be the floor, not the ceiling.
read it.
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