4Ps B&M's Monojit Lahiri evokes the spirit of 3 of the greatest masters of their craft... and lays it on the line!
If advertising is truly a business of ideas, then the creative process – which really means ideating – must be hounded, invoked, ruthlessly pursued and celebrated every day, right? Boy, is that a tough call? The (late) distinguished writer Dorothy Parker once described creativity as that magical fusion “of a disciplined eye and wild mind!” Point is – how disciplined… and how wild?!
To most creative people (in adbiz and outside) the moments that are easily the most painful, traumatic and nerve-wracking are the start-up! Beginning is always a nightmare! Invariably this curtain-raiser (or what colourful, flamboyant creative hot-shot George Louis calls foreplay!) is filled with a zillion nervous, useless, irrelevant (sometimes even superstitious) rituals! That last ciggie must be smoked. That last cup of coffee has to be consumed. That last call has to be made. The windows have to be closed, opened or adjusted. The chair must be placed just-so for inspiration and comfort (whichever came first!). The comp must be dusted and re-dusted. This tortuous game of procrastination carries on and on until someone blows the whistle (Publisher? Client?) to signal: Buddy, your time starts NOW!!
Chillingly familiar, right? In this kind of a scenario, everyone has their own method of tackling this bugaboo. It would be interesting to do a checkout on how the legends and gurus and Dada’s tackled it, right? Let’s start with the acknowledged Big Daddy of the creative revolution on Madison Avenue, the one n’ only Bill Bernbach! Pragmatic and unromantic as it may sound, the creator of timeless masterpieces like ‘We’re number 2, so we try harder’ believed that that the most important inspiration while writing an ad “is the product itself! I can’t say that often enough. Looking for ways to make the people want it… that is crucial.” He was also very critical of questions like what makes a good writer. “I don’t know! You can’t be mathematical and precise in this calling. This attitude leads to a dangerous worship of research where the primary preoccupation seems to be the load of facts got… and not how provocatively and engagingly we present those facts to bored & uninterested consumers.”
Up next is the great Leo Burnett. While he totally endorsed Bernbach’s view on “saturating oneself with product knowledge,” he took it further. “I believe in solid, in-depth interviews of people I am trying to sell to. I try to get a picture in my mind of the kind of people they are, how they plan to use the product, what motivates their purchase-pattern and triggers their interest-area?”
Burnett then moves on to reveal a fascinating secret that even intrigued the likes of David Ogilvy… a great big folder tucked away in the lower left-hand corner of his work-desk, called the corny language dossier! “It’s like this. Whenever I hear a phrase in conversation – or any place – which strikes me as being particularly apt in colourfully expressing an idea, bringing it to life or accentuating the smell of it, I quickly scribble it down and shove it in the folder. Then, about 3 or 4 times in the year, I run through all the stuff, chuck out a lot of it and retain those that seem relevant to the kind of work we’re doing. I write a memo to inform the creative group and staff about this. So my ear is always tuned for putting usual things in unusual settings/relationships that – both – get attention and aptly communicate the big, core idea. I also have another bulging file. I call it ads worth saving and it’s an on-going thing, been with me for some 25 years! I go through them too. Extremely rejuvenating, both …”
Who better to round-off this amazing tell-all discourse than the legendary David Ogilvy. What did he do to make his stuff rock? “I try and loosen up if I’ve got to write some ad or get some ideas, otherwise there is a likelihood of feeling sterile and un-inventive. Many people – and I am one of them – are more productive and fertile when they’ve had a little to drink. I find if I drink 2 or 3 Brandies or a good bottle of Claret, I am far better able to write. I’ve also found the Oxford Dictionary of Quotations, a useful start-up for ideas.”
He then warms up to present a fascinating insight. “The posture that I take when I finally close the door and have to write an ad is this: I always pretend that I am sitting beside a woman at a dinner party and she ask me for advice about which product she should buy, why and where she should buy it. So then, I write down what I would say to her! I try to make it interesting, engaging and personal – I don’t write for the crowd; rather from one human being to another in the second person, singular. And I try not to bore the woman to death by trying to make it as real and personal as possible. Incidentally, I have a theory that the best ads come from personal experience. My best ones certainly have. They have a sense of conviction, passion, validity and power of persuasion that is unquestionable…”
Right guys, got it? Thus spake the legendary gurus. Now, suitably inspired, get back to work. What? Starting problems? Oh God!
To most creative people (in adbiz and outside) the moments that are easily the most painful, traumatic and nerve-wracking are the start-up! Beginning is always a nightmare! Invariably this curtain-raiser (or what colourful, flamboyant creative hot-shot George Louis calls foreplay!) is filled with a zillion nervous, useless, irrelevant (sometimes even superstitious) rituals! That last ciggie must be smoked. That last cup of coffee has to be consumed. That last call has to be made. The windows have to be closed, opened or adjusted. The chair must be placed just-so for inspiration and comfort (whichever came first!). The comp must be dusted and re-dusted. This tortuous game of procrastination carries on and on until someone blows the whistle (Publisher? Client?) to signal: Buddy, your time starts NOW!!
Chillingly familiar, right? In this kind of a scenario, everyone has their own method of tackling this bugaboo. It would be interesting to do a checkout on how the legends and gurus and Dada’s tackled it, right? Let’s start with the acknowledged Big Daddy of the creative revolution on Madison Avenue, the one n’ only Bill Bernbach! Pragmatic and unromantic as it may sound, the creator of timeless masterpieces like ‘We’re number 2, so we try harder’ believed that that the most important inspiration while writing an ad “is the product itself! I can’t say that often enough. Looking for ways to make the people want it… that is crucial.” He was also very critical of questions like what makes a good writer. “I don’t know! You can’t be mathematical and precise in this calling. This attitude leads to a dangerous worship of research where the primary preoccupation seems to be the load of facts got… and not how provocatively and engagingly we present those facts to bored & uninterested consumers.”
Up next is the great Leo Burnett. While he totally endorsed Bernbach’s view on “saturating oneself with product knowledge,” he took it further. “I believe in solid, in-depth interviews of people I am trying to sell to. I try to get a picture in my mind of the kind of people they are, how they plan to use the product, what motivates their purchase-pattern and triggers their interest-area?”
Burnett then moves on to reveal a fascinating secret that even intrigued the likes of David Ogilvy… a great big folder tucked away in the lower left-hand corner of his work-desk, called the corny language dossier! “It’s like this. Whenever I hear a phrase in conversation – or any place – which strikes me as being particularly apt in colourfully expressing an idea, bringing it to life or accentuating the smell of it, I quickly scribble it down and shove it in the folder. Then, about 3 or 4 times in the year, I run through all the stuff, chuck out a lot of it and retain those that seem relevant to the kind of work we’re doing. I write a memo to inform the creative group and staff about this. So my ear is always tuned for putting usual things in unusual settings/relationships that – both – get attention and aptly communicate the big, core idea. I also have another bulging file. I call it ads worth saving and it’s an on-going thing, been with me for some 25 years! I go through them too. Extremely rejuvenating, both …”
Who better to round-off this amazing tell-all discourse than the legendary David Ogilvy. What did he do to make his stuff rock? “I try and loosen up if I’ve got to write some ad or get some ideas, otherwise there is a likelihood of feeling sterile and un-inventive. Many people – and I am one of them – are more productive and fertile when they’ve had a little to drink. I find if I drink 2 or 3 Brandies or a good bottle of Claret, I am far better able to write. I’ve also found the Oxford Dictionary of Quotations, a useful start-up for ideas.”
He then warms up to present a fascinating insight. “The posture that I take when I finally close the door and have to write an ad is this: I always pretend that I am sitting beside a woman at a dinner party and she ask me for advice about which product she should buy, why and where she should buy it. So then, I write down what I would say to her! I try to make it interesting, engaging and personal – I don’t write for the crowd; rather from one human being to another in the second person, singular. And I try not to bore the woman to death by trying to make it as real and personal as possible. Incidentally, I have a theory that the best ads come from personal experience. My best ones certainly have. They have a sense of conviction, passion, validity and power of persuasion that is unquestionable…”
Right guys, got it? Thus spake the legendary gurus. Now, suitably inspired, get back to work. What? Starting problems? Oh God!
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