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Agencies & clients beware: The modern world is not an excuse for creating...
Copywriting is not about the print ad anymore and hasn’t been for some time. But that doesn’t make the skill set any less important. You don’t have a website without words; try building a wire without...
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Fear driven behavior in Adland likely killed a man and has (and will) hurt so...
An account strategist for Ogilvy & Mather in the Philippines died at his workplace, sick from pneumonia but apparently unwilling (or unable) to leave. I don’t want to comment on this particular...
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Slavishly “reporting” on every dumbass Tweet creates a dumbass world.
Have you noticed news publishers rapidly escalating their reporting of Tweets by anyone and everyone in the public eye? Be it a C-list celebrity or the President of the United States (the same thing...
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Here’s to the secular & sophomoric rituals of St. Patrick’s Day.
One of my all-time favorite episodes of the Simpson’s is about St. Patrick’s Day. The whole town of Springfield gets drunk and stupid. More so than usual. Everyone is stumbling, puking and fighting....
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Roasting that deeply annoying “Real People” Chevy campaign.
The best thing about this mildly amusing parody of those “Real People/Chevy” commercials, which have been running endlessly on TV, is that it proves I’m not the only one who loathes the source...
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With only occasional and benign zombies, The Walking Dead has sadly become...
“I have a gun in my hand but all I really want to do is talk.” Sometime during this season (7) of AMC’s hit series, The Walking Dead the show toppled over its own hubris and died. “Jumped the Shark”...
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More input and less output. Under the guise of strategy, have slick talkers...
“Awesome strategy, Ted! Next week’s meeting is gonna be killer.” Recently, I read an essay from an anonymous source in our industry that stuck with me. (I did not save the link. My bad.) But the gist...
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There is no end to madness and shame. And our feeding frenzy only adds to the...
Pepsi. United. Spicer. Look at your feeds. Your friend’s and your family’s. Hell, look at mine. These three fails have dominated EVERYTHING the past few days, one following the other, aftershocks in a...
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The hustle and flow of freelance. Ready to rumble.
Hit me up: https://steffanwork.wordpress.com/ Gods of Advertising In absence of full time employment, I’ve been working my tail off. If this sounds contradictory it is not. As any freelance writer will...
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One time copywriter, full time sartorialist, Tom Coleman digs into the...
Back when I first started out as a copywriter for the Leo Burnett Company in Chicago, I had been on the job only a few months when a new copywriter was hired into our creative group. Tom Coleman came...
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Silverback Creative Director ready to make things happen. Again.
In over ten years of keeping this blog, the last two weeks have been the longest time I’ve gone without writing a post. I am not naïve or prideful enough to think that anyone missed me. But to my...
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The brand manifesto. Why copywriters love writing them and clients dig...
Crazy good… For the past few days, even longer, I have been working on a manifesto for one of our clients. Actually, I’ve been working on two. Even more actually, I’ve been working on manifestos for...
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From songs to slogans, hacking the English language for creative effect.
Do you know where you’re going to? That’s the signature line from the Theme from Mahogany by Diana Ross. A lovely number, back in the day it was a sensation. But that line. Well, as tuneful at it is...
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Dos Equis’ famously “interesting” ad campaign retired, along with its agency....
Adios amigo. Dos Equis’ “The Most Interesting Man in the World” is a thing of the past. For whatever reason (one provocative theory is here), last year its agency replaced the iconic character with a...
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The infamous “ad-like object.” Reviewing unborn creative ideas is as painful...
I can’t see the logo… We were previewing numerous campaign ideas today, tacked up in the wall, comprising the usual bits: potential tag lines, assorted copy, found images and various “ad-like...
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Mon Dieu! In Cannes of all places, Publicis’ chief decrees no more award shows.
One Lion is apparently enough. The great irony from the Cannes International Festival of Advertising is that by far the biggest story coming from this famously bloated bacchanal is that the new leader...
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A sober look at the Cannes Lions and award shows in general.
A story of Lions and Excess… The Cannes International Festival of Advertising is finis. All over Adland people are back at their shops tweaking layouts, creating and debating Power Points and churning...
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Given the good it can accomplish, why does taking a pay cut seem so unorthodox?
Last week the acclaimed actress, Emma Stone made headlines with her revelation that certain male co-stars had taken significant pay cuts in order to achieve parity with her own salary. It’s a nice...
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Actually seeing your words: a brief meditation on copywriting.
One develops habits as a copywriter. For instance, I need to see what words look like in a layout to truly assess them properly. The art directors were right: a block of copy is a visual. It needs to...
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Sad but true: Democrats come up with lame turd for a tagline.
Even this is better… How Hillary Clinton and the Democrats lost to the man-thing we now have in office is a case study on screwing up. The reasons vary depending on whom you ask and how honest they...
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