OK,
so it’s only been my third week back teaching at The Creative Circus. Yeah, I’m supposed to be focused on
Copywriting. Acknowledged, student
work is student work and if it’s a good idea, but off strategy, it’s perfectly
acceptable to change the strategy to fit the work (as long as you never admit
it to any CD reviewing your book/never do it in the real world).
What’s
the big deal? Why did my drive
home mind music ignore a mix that included Los Lonely Boys, Jonathan (Nobody called Picasso Asshole) Richman,
Dropkick Murphys and George (He Stopped
Loving Her Today) Jones to keep repeating The Talking Heads’ Puzzling Evidence?
Granted,
my classes are mostly lower Qs (2-4 + smattering of 8 polishing final book
pieces), but here I am – teaching in one of the best portfolio schools (or any
kind of ad creative program) in the US – and every piece of copy I get is
written for the same Prospect.
Themselves.
True,
too many big, if-I-could-work-there-I’d-die-happy shops and their clients still
buy into old school “get ‘em when they’re young/they’re yours for life”
marketing. True again, CDs look
more for ideas than details in
student books. But once you get
there, not only are you expected to know what we do well enough to nail 80% of
your assignments – you’re also not likely to replace seasoned Gold Pencil writers
on accounts geared strictly to people like you.
Like
it or not, the fastest growing market segment in the US is what we used to call
Seniors (aka, Baby Boomers). More women your age than you’d expect
opt to be Stay at Home Moms. B2B
(Business to Business) is huge.
The Town & Country folks
are spending more money than all the other markets combined.
I
could go on and on, but here’s my point.
Go back to my September, 2010 Love
Poem entry. Read it three
times, at least. You want to be a
Kamikaze Copywriter? You want to
innovate, push beyond the expected, go where no creative team has ever gone
before? I’m all for that! But first, you absolutely must get your head out of your own _____, acknowledge,
get to know (inside and out) those other markets so when you sell Depends or
$2000 bottles of wine, your creative is taken to heart by the people who
actually buy them.
To
help, I’m going to give you the same assignment my classes will be getting this
week. One that works so well, a
brilliant NYC CD (and former Portfolio Center Kamikaze AD) who teaches at
Parsons gives it out to his students, too.
Go somewhere you would never, ever, in your
right – or wrong - mind go. Where
people you would never meet – maybe never want
to meet – hang out.* While you’re there, don’t just grab a
corner or barstool and watch. Interact. Talk. Get to
know them as people. Not just what
they wear what they drink how they dance.
Who are they inside? What’s important to them? What are their political leanings
(don’t argue – listen). What kind of food do they crave? What kind of art do they like – or do
they even like art. If they do, do they define it the same
way you do?
Whatever you do, do not tell them you’re an ad
student/aspiring copywriter/art director on a homework assignment. Go as one of them, even if
uninitiated. Find something you
actually like about these people (it
may be easier than you think).
Something you have (or almost have) in common.
When you’re done, go home and figure out what
kind of a product they’d love, but don't currently use. Write a Kamikaze Creative Work Plan
(Objective Based or Regular) for it and then do creative against it. Every time you think you have the
concept, go back and make sure it’s right for them. Not you. Not your parents. Not some parody of them you saw in a Brad
Pitt/Julia Lewis movie once.
Keep in mind those Will Farrell spots for Old
Milwaukee Beer. You’ve probably
seen them on YouTube. In one, he
makes fun of all the rush hour traffic that isn’t. In another, he talks about the views of rusted trampolines
from the railroad tracks. In all,
it’s clear he knows the people enough to make fun of them. Never once does he create as one with
them, with affection and respect.
Guess what. They didn’t sell zip Old Milwaukee Beer.
Not to beat you over the head with it, but here
it comes again. Everything – and I mean absolutely
everything – we do is for the Prospect.
Treat them with respect.
Treat them with affection.
Sell tons of beer.
One of my favorite TV campaigns is for Apple
Auto Sales, a Tote-the-Note** used car lot in Charlotte, NC. They cost under $500 to create, most of
that in a wig and a suit. Shot by
the local UHF station, the production values are well – let’s just say they’re
produced. All the “actors” work at
Apple. The guy who owns the place
wrote and concepted them. Look
them up on YouTube – Reverend Rob/Apple Auto Sales.
They’re funny. They’re informative.
They sell the heck out of Apple’s inventory whenever they run (usually
tax return time). The point is,
the campaign works because Apple absolutely groks
their market. Unlike Will Farrell,
they’re laughing with their prospect.
Never at him. They’ve been
running since the 1980s, when all three networks in Bible Belt Buckle Charlotte
pulled them their first week due to complaints. Since they got over that, everyone in the area’s seen them
about a gazillion times. Everyone
loves them. They still sell out
Apple’s lot.
The guy who wrote them – Reverend Rob himself –
is far from his prospect. He’s
college educated, owns his land, his building, his inventory and most likely, a
nice big house on the lake. He
didn’t write those spots for himself.
Neither did he do them to denigrate his customer base in any way. He knows his prospect. He likes
his prospect. He steps outside of his
world into theirs every time they run.
That’s what Kamikaze Creatives do for a
living. Get off your duff. Let go of your comfort zone. Get out there into the real world. Get to know – really know – people you don’t hang with. Maybe next assignment, you won’t still be
talking to yourself.
*True examples from previous students: AntiGun activists who hung out and took
lessons at a shooting range. GQ
worshipers at the local Saturday night dirt demolition track. Manly men getting Korean Nail joint pedicures. Intellectual white chicks hanging in Afro-American
biker bars. Atheists at tent
Revivals.
**Tote-the-Note
Lot: No banks no loan companies. We finance you ourselves. Just don’t forget to bring in your
payment every payday.
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