by Luke Sullivan | Feb 4, 2013 | Advertising, Commentary, General Crankiness
Everybody’s got their faves from the commercials on the Super Bowl. But let’s talk about the bottom feeders. (Okay, fine. As for favorites, mine happened to end up pretty far down the list of the infamous USA Today Ad Meter: the spot for Oreos (“Whispering in the...
by Luke Sullivan | Dec 18, 2012 | Advertising, Commentary, General Crankiness
TO: Luke Sullivan, Creative Director FROM: Communications Manager Please move the 56th pixel on the 233rd row about a 64th of a inch to the left. Also, the dot in the “I” should come down one font size, but not the lower vertical slash of the i, just the little dot on...
by Luke Sullivan | Nov 4, 2012 | Advertising, Commentary, Creativity, General Crankiness
Several years ago, I wrote an article for Adweek about the addiction some clients have to promotions at the expense of their branding. “Should we throw out promotions and go cold turkey?” I asked. “Of course not. In the retail world, promotions are an essential part...
by Luke Sullivan | Oct 24, 2012 | Advertising, General Crankiness
Most of us grow up with pretty finely tuned bullshit detectors. The thing is, this technology is getting better every day. In fact, over the years, I think bullshit-detection technology has more than kept pace with computer technology, to the degree that kids today...
by Luke Sullivan | Aug 13, 2012 | Advertising, Commentary, General Crankiness
Over the course of my 33 years in advertising, I must’ve been handed a hundred “program ads” to write – you know, the kind of ad a company runs in an event program to express support for, say, the dizzying Everest of achievement of the local curling squad. As a junior...
by Luke Sullivan | Apr 30, 2012 | Advertising, Commentary, General Crankiness
In my book Hey Whipple, Squeeze This, I propose that creativity is exactly like washing a pig. Because it’s messy. It has no rules. No clear beginning, middle, or end. It’s kind of a pain in the ass, and when you’re done you’re not sure if the pig is really clean or...