Students: Don’t say you have an insight when you don’t. And don’t say you have a big idea, even when you do.
5th edition comes out January 2016.
I’ve seen a pattern in student books over the years. The first of these two common mistakes is in the set-up, in a section students commonly title “the insight.”
Most of time these read something like “People buy this product (for example) because it’s the quickest way to clean the sink.” This however is not an insight, only an observation of what the product does.
Insights are rarely — if ever — about products or benefits, but about people; about people and all the nooks and crannies of our behavior and all the silly things we humans do related to some product, category, or service.
I’ll just throw out one example of an insight, this one from one of my own students, Brian M. In a campaign for Weber grills his insight was how guys (mostly guys, anyway) often stand behind the guy at the grill and give him advice on the correct way to grill a piece of meat. He called it “back-seat grilling” and in my book, that’s an insight. I’ve seen this behavior happen, but didn’t realize it’s really a thing until Brian pointed it out.
The other error happens when a student introduces a campaign with the title, “the big idea.” My advice is not to call anything in your book a big idea and let the person who’s reviewing your work decide whether it’s big or not. I’d probably go with something like “the idea” or “the work.”
That’s all for now. Look for tons more student advice when the 5th edition of Hey Whipple comes out in January. Ciao.
Speaking at Brand Week in Istanbul Thursday.
Happy to be in the line-up for Brand Week, Turkey’s main advertising event for the year. I’ll be speaking on a process I use for creating long-lasting storytelling platforms. No, you can’t codify creativity, yet time after time, I see my students using this fairly simple technique to uncover the truth behind a brand, the conflicts and tensions inherent in a brand, and combine them to create a storytelling platform – an idea that creates ideas. See you in Istanbul this Thursday at 2pm.
Oh, am I the first guy ever from America to make a joke about how I’m going to Turkey for Thanksgiving? I am, right? The first?
Site Redesign Keeps Area Blogger Offline for Months. (Remaining Follower, Nancy. B., Looks Forward to New Design.)
5th edition comes out January 2016.
Hello again, Nancy C., of Hackensack, New Jersey.
Thanks for your patience. As you — my remaining reader — know, it is a cardinal sin for bloggers to go any length of time without a new post. A blog can fall off the public’s radar. Audiences tend to move on.
But not you, Nancy. Again, my profound thanks.
Today’s posting, in fact, has been customized entirely for you, Nancy B., of Hackensack, New Jersey.
Fifth edition of Hey Whipple to release in January 2016 (at Hackensack Barnes & Noble outlet, 187 Riverside Square Mall, just across from cemetery.)
The long-awaited fifth edition of the popular advertising book will release on January 16, 2016, Nancy. It will be available at the Barnes & Noble just down from your house – you know, at the Riverside Mall.
Of particular interest to you, Nancy, is the fifth edition’s contributing author, Edward Boches. Edward’s vast experience and expertise in all things social, digital and interactive bring great new content to the book, now in its 16th year of print.
During his 31 years at agencies like Mullen and Hill Holiday, Edward went from being an enthusiastic early adopter of digital, to thought leader and recognized expert. Today Edward is a professor at Boston University’s College of Communication, passing his wisdom onto a new generation.
Nancy, you probably already know about Edward’s popular blog, “Creativity Unbound.” It continues to attract new followers (as do many blogs that regularly publish good content and don’t drop off the edge of the earth every time the author’s phone rings).
I will be posting again soon. Welcome back, Nancy.
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Luke Sullivan
Author, speaker, and ad veteran available to recharge, reinvigorate, and refocus marketing, advertising, and branding firms.
I give a hugely energetic series of presentations on innovation, creativity, branding, and marketing. I spent 32 years in the trenches of advertising (at agencies like Martin, GSD&M, and Fallon) and I’ve put everything I learned into my book, Hey Whipple, Squeeze This. But for me nothing beats taking the message out and speaking to living breathing audiences at clients, agencies, and conferences. You can book me on the button below.
