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Advertising: 11 Insights
from Creative Directors
by ROBIN LANDA
Now that I’m a parent, I look back with affection on a priceless scene in Carl Reiner’s
film, The Jerk. Navin R. Johnson, the main character in the film, decides he must leave the safety

of his loving family home to venture out into the world. He informs his father who understands;

and using alliteration, his father goes on to explain a critical difference to Navin—the difference

between a substance one avoids stepping in and Shinola brand shoe polish, a substance one

purposely applies to one’s shoes. The lesson is: if Navin is capable of distinguishing one

substance from the other, then Navin will be able to successfully make his way through the oh-

so-tricky world he is about to encounter.

As Navin’s father was doing (albeit rather briefly), all parents must. We have to teach our

children to navigate the world, teach them what to avoid, what to do with purpose, to be able to

distinguish and categorize, to recognize intention. “Honey, that’s a commercial. The people who

created that commercial are trying to persuade you to buy that toy.” “That’s right—a

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Robin Landa “Advertising: 11 Insights from Creative Directors”

commercial. Very good, sweetheart; you understand!”

By the time my daughter Hayley reached the ripe age of four, she could identify a TV

spot as such. Now, that ability to identify—to distinguish a commercial from a television

program, and thus avoid a sales pitch, is good news for folks such as Navin’s father and me, but

really, really bad news for advertisers. Though Hayley is precocious, her ability to recognize, to

identify television advertising isn’t a result of her keen intelligence (though I’d like to think so);

it’s because ninety-five percent of all advertising is formulaic. Most ads look and sound pretty

much the same—indistinct marketing messages. For marketing executives who need to think the

ads they are getting from agencies are indeed what they think ads should be, the familiar may

provide misguided security.

“That’s a Rembrandt.” “That’s Shinola.” “Oh, yes, that’s definitely an ad.” Knowing

what to expect, knowing food from foul, certainly must provide some emotional comfort. But, in

advertising it’s the kiss of invisibility; formulaic ads don’t grab anyone’s attention. Hearing the

same voice-over you hear in a dozen other commercials, seeing the same types of clips depicting

cars handling winding roads through scenic Californian landscape at twilight, seems to,

well...allow the audience to identify a TV spot as such, and then immediately proceed to tune it

out. Been there; seen that.

Guido Heffels, creative director of Heimat, Berlin, points out: “There is always

somebody who makes up rules: an ad must work in so-and-so-many seconds, a poster headline

shouldn’t be longer than five words. Funnily, it is precisely those things that move the world that

throw these kinds of rules out the window. These days the man on the street is so clever and

informed about advertising that you can usually only still reach him by charmingly ignoring his

communicative expectations: posters with headlines that are way too long, advertisements you

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Robin Landa “Advertising: 11 Insights from Creative Directors”

only understand after a quarter of an hour, but which are so interesting you gladly take the time

to read them. New and fresh always means unconventional.”

In Search of Guidance

When I was an aspiring art director, I wanted to make-ads-look-like-ads. That’s the

impulse of most every beginner. As soon as I realized only the ads that don’t look or sound like

ads are the ones that are noticed, I looked for every word of advice about creative advertising I

could find.

Defy convention. That was the first directive I learned about creative advertising. It was

from Bob Mitchell, then creative director at a top New York City advertising agency and now

best-selling novelist. Bob Mitchell emphasized using visual metaphors—with the aim of

seducing the viewer with a more poetic visual, as opposed to featuring product shots which alert

viewers that they are about to be sold something.

In order to get a viewer’s attention, one must present something of interest. When I

interviewed Bob Isherwood, worldwide creative director of Saatchi & Saatchi, and asked: “How

do you convince a client to take a chance on a daring ad concept?” part of his answer was: “The

risk for clients isn’t in being noticed. The risk is in being irrelevant and invisible.”

Of course, Bob Isherwood’s answer makes perfect sense. So, why is much of the

advertising produced so pedestrian? Many marketing executives must assume formulaic work

plays it safe. Concurring with Isherwood, creative director Doug Adkins, Hunt Adkins in

Minneapolis, points out the error in the ‘formulaic=safe’ assumption: “The ultimate risk is to do

something ordinary. You risk being invisible. You risk throwing all your marketing money into

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the dark oubliette of homogeneity. It is far safer to create something shockingly different,

something that grabs people by the brain stem and squeezes. The safe ad is the ad that no one has

done before and so has a much greater chance of being noticed the first time that it is seen. Risky

ads are for huge, monolithic companies that can afford to throw endless media dollars at a

problem in hopes of winning with sheer ubiquity—companies that would rather be invisible than

“risk” being criticized for doing something different.”

Therefore, it’s back to that first astute directive from Bob Mitchell—“Defy

Convention”— which made me eager to gather more advertising insights from every creative

director I ever worked for, interviewed, or met. It’s been a career-long pursuit. Recently, when I

conducted research for Advertising By Design and the third edition of Graphic Design Solutions,

I collected yet more wisdom from venerated and generous creative directors; herein are some

from my cherished collection. You’ve already heard Doug Adkins, Guido Heffels, Bob

Ishwerwood, and Bob Mitchell incisively weigh in. So read on—and may this be the beginning

of your own collection of advertising wisdom. Navin’s father would be proud.

INSIGHT #1Endear.

When I interviewed Stan Richards, principal, The Richards Group in Dallas, I asked Mr.

Richards about using humor in advertising. He replied: “Look at the process that one goes

through in selling anything: Suppose I’m a car salesperson. I want you to like me. If you like me,

then there’s a way we can do business. So everything we do has to be endearing. That’s a

component in every piece of communication. Sometimes it’s a laugh. Sometimes it’s a smile.

You want to strike a bond with the potential consumer.”

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To endear a brand or cause to the audience, viewers should become emotionally engaged

from seeing or hearing the ad. As creative director Paul Renner, Wieden + Kennedy in New

York, writes in Advertising By Design: “Make people feel something. If you do that, they will

remember you. And they may even buy the blender you are trying to sell to them.”

INSIGHT #2Emphasize One Functional Benefit.

Yogurt is good for your bones; it’s good for your immune system. Most yogurt brands are

a convenient, nutritious fast meal. Many people now find yogurt more than palatable. There are a

lot of ways to pitch yogurt; and, if you pitch all that I’ve just mentioned, it would be

overwhelming.

As Edward Boches, chief creative officer at Mullen in Wenham, Massachusetts, councils:

“Print, like all advertising, needs to be first and foremost simple. One idea. It can be visual,

verbal, or the result of how you juxtapose the two. Ideally it shows you something or conveys a

thought that makes you look at something, even if it’s a basic truth, in a way you’ve never seen it

before.”

INSIGHT #3Don’t Make It Sound like A Sales Pitch.

“Sounds like advertising.” That is just one of the many illuminating shorthand critique

signs hung in Sal DeVito’s classroom. Sal DeVito, creative director and partner of DeVitoVerdi

in New York, uses those signs to critique students’ ads in his course, at the School of Visual Arts

in New York.

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When advertising does look and sound like advertising, whether in print, on TV, radio or

screen-based, it is usually an unappealing sales pitch. “What does advertising sound like?” you

may be thinking. (I’d bet that you already know since, most likely, you immediately zone out

when you hear or read an ordinary ad.) Basically, it is fake sounding. On TV and radio, warning

signs include jingle-house generated music, same old actors’ voice-overs, inane talking heads,

formulaic beginning / middle / end narratives, stereotyped characters and situations (much like

sitcoms or soaps), voices barking sales at you, among many other shopworn formulas. In print,

the tip offs include hyperbole, trite copy, and corny copy (that is not ironic), among other

prescribed ingredients.

And if that’s not argument enough for you, think about this: the consumer’s ‘I’m-about-

to-be-sold-something’ alert antenna goes up—instantaneously—when he or she sees a formulaic

ad, and the viewer goes on the defensive. Everything comes back to Bob Mitchell’s directive

about defying convention.

INSIGHT #4Design differently.

It’s not enough to avoid creating an ad that sounds like a sales pitch, you have to avoid

designing a sales pitch, too. What does an ordinary sales pitch look like? On TV, the warning

signs include formulaic lighting, predictable narratives, client-mandated product shots

interrupting the narrative, and homogenized / sanitized actors, among many other hackneyed

recipes. In print, the tip offs include: huge logos, products as main visuals, non-descript models,

stock imagery that looks like it could be used for a variety of other ads, common layout

arrangements, crammed layouts, and trendy fonts.

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If you offer your audience a visual surprise, you are much more likely to grab their

attention.

Edward Boches further advises: “You get attention by saying or showing something

that’s never been said or seen. Or by surprising someone. Or stunning them with beauty. Never

forget that the first job of every ad in every category is to get your attention. If it doesn’t do that,

nothing else matters. Therefore you have to take into consideration everything from what the

consumer is used to looking at, to where will the ad run, to what are the competitors doing,

before you can decide what will be fresh, new, different.”

INSIGHT #5Use a mnemonic.

I had the honor of interviewing the legendary graphic designer and advertising creative

director George Lois, for my book Graphic Design Solutions, 3e. Lois created some of the most

powerful magazine covers of all time for Esquire. Lois also created the famous “I want my

MTV™” campaign and the Wolfschmidt Vodka print campaign, among many other remarkable

works (http://www.georgelois.com).

Lois’ passion and unique talent infuses his work. That passion and talent are his alone.

But, he did offer this advice to me. Lois affirmed that if you “blend a mnemonic visual with a

mnemonic phrase, and if it’s a big idea, it can be a piece of communication that is impossible to

ignore, and remain forever memorable, for decades to come.”

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INSIGHT #6Be a Storyteller.

If you can manage to engage someone with your brand, cause, or group as an intriguing

being whose behavior is of interest, who has a past, present and future (with an emphasis on the

future), then you are a brand storyteller. Certainly, brand storytelling needs to jive with the brand

strategy, and give it a hook. A good story, a fully realized entity with a vivid spirit, always

provides an intriguing voyage.

And as Richard Palatini, senior vice president/creative director of Gianettino & Meredith

Advertising in Short Hills, New Jersey, advises: “Brand storytelling is a wonderfully effective

technique, providing marketers with the ability to gain preference with people and build strong,

long-term relationships. It’s most effective when it engages a person in a shared experience. If a

tagline can be considered the ‘title’ of a brand novel, then products can exist as ‘characters’,

headlines as chapter headings. The ability of a brand and a person to cohabit in an experiential

narrative builds interpersonal relationships that transcend the marketing artifice and its goals.

Truly successful brand storytelling is equal parts honesty, humanity, consistency, and above all,

relevancy to the wants, needs and self-image of the individual.”

INSIGHT #7Respect your audience.

As an assignment, I asked my students to find or write a joke and then design it on a

page. The directive was: no negative stereotypes about religion, ethnicity, race, age, or gender

could be employed. The class protested in unison: “The assignment is impossible. Get real!” they

implored. I insisted they could find or write jokes that didn’t degrade others. Read essays and

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jokes by Bill Cosby, Ellen DeGeneres, Jerry Seinfeld, and Paul Reiser, I directed. It was a very

interesting lesson for my students who did manage to write or find funny material about politics,

everyday occurrences, and human behavior.

The only way to operate fruitfully in this world is to respect others. And the only way to

distance advertising from its lingering smell of hucksterism is to create socially responsible

solutions for brands, causes and groups, nothing less. No negative stereotypes. No slurs. No

talking down to the audience.

When I interviewed creative director John Butler, of Butler, Shine & Stern in Sausalito,

California, I asked: “What’s your philosophy about advertising?” John Butler replied with this

pearl, “It has to be likeable. It has to inform and inspire. It has to have some emotional hook to it

that makes consumers interact with it. It can’t talk down to the consumer. There’s a great

quote—although I can’t remember who said it—but it’s hanging on my door: “He who writes the

stories defines the culture.” I think that pretty much sums it up. We are given a voice, and we

have to be responsible in how we use that voice.”

INSIGHT #8 Make a real connection.

“We also need to be held responsible for where our brand’s voice lives. In this media-

centric world we live in, one would think we’d be surrounded by all this amazing,

groundbreaking work. It’s the contrary actually (I am never more reminded of this than when I

am looking at new hire books). I see a ton of cool media outlets, but the messages are unclear or

there is no idea behind it at all. It just lives in a cool space. It is not good enough to just plaster

your website on an egg, or write a branded content TV show for the iPod™ anymore. People

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expect that now. Media isn’t the IDEA. It certainly is the way the idea will live out there in

public. But we shouldn’t disrespect our audience by invading their space, and, then not make a

real connection with them. That is a missed opportunity. I mean, if your website is on my egg

every morning, it better be for a damn good reason. As advertising shows up anywhere and

everywhere, people will eventually tune it all out,” creative director Paul Renner advises.

As technological changes bring yet more media carriers into the mix, choosing media for

good reasons—whether it is to make an emotional connection, to be relevant to one’s target

audience or to avoid ad creep—entails choosing wisely.

INSIGHT #9Every User Interaction is a Brand Experience.

When I set out to write Designing Brand Experiences, I knew I wanted to emphasize the

brand as an experience; it is not just the brand identity that needs to be effective, it is all that

comprises a brand—the environmental design, the advertising (conventional and

unconventional), the tagline, promotional design—every brand “form of expression” contributes

to the consumer’s total brand experience.

Guido Heffels cautions: “A good campaign is always more than just a series of

advertisements, no matter what they’re like. A campaign is a clever, convincing underlying idea

that can have many forms of expression. If I always have the feeling that the same company is

talking to me, then at the end of the day it doesn’t matter what the promotional tools look like.

This, of course, clearly contradicts everything the corporate design agencies spell out to us on a

daily basis, and clients are also difficult to convince of this.”

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INSIGHT #10 Hype is so 19th century.

“Bullshit” is another one of Sal DeVito’s infamous critique categories. Advertising copy,

along with the entire brand message, needs to be believable. It’s very hard to believe hyperbole.

‘The best.’ ‘Amazing.’ ‘Life changing.’ When a TV spot claims that a fast food salad will make

you feel like a queen (and that’s from an actual TV spot for a leading brand), that’s (ridiculous)

hype. Those claims are enough to make anyone, other than a neophyte, suspicious.

What hype translates into is brand bullshit: the advertising is unconstrained by the reality

of the brand. (In his book, On Bullshit, Harry G. Frankfurt, Professor of Philosophy Emeritus at

Princeton University, explores the general phenomenon of bullshit, and points out the

undermining ramifications of it.) Hype is different than lying, which is illegal in advertising, and

can be spotted by watchdog groups or federal regulators. Puffery, hyperbole, or just illogical

cause and effect, just doesn’t sound believable.

INSIGHT #11 Make the logic of your argument inescapable.

In contrast to hype, there is the use of authentic information and logic.

Talk about what your brand actually is and make that characteristic endearing or relevant.

About using logical arguments in advertising, Frank Fleizach, senior vice president /

creative director at McCann, and Jim Perretti, director and owner of Perretti Productions, former

creative team partners offer this: “Your ad must not only have graphic stopping power, it must

have conceptual stopping power. You must assume your consumer is on his way to purchase

your competitor’s product. If your ad can’t at least give him pause to stop and consider your

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product, you haven’t done your job. Years ago, at Scali, McCabe, Sloves an ad was done for

Pioneer Electronics that read: “A Lot of $600 Receivers Sound as Good as this One.

Unfortunately for Them, This One Sells for $300.” Whether you’re on your way to spend $300

or $600, how can you not take a look at it?”

In Closing

And I will leave you, dear reader, with this pithy bit of advice from Doug Adkins: “There

was a Gallup poll done some years ago in which people were asked to rank various professions

in order of perceived integrity. Out of the twenty-eight professions included in the poll

advertising came in second to last, narrowly edging out—you guessed it—lawyers. I for one find

it disturbing that in order to move up the integrity food chain I need to start selling used cars. The

point being, of course, that people don’t trust advertising. They are predisposed not to believe us,

which is utterly shocking considering how wonderfully honest most advertising is. Humor is the

best tool we have to get past people’s well-earned cynicism for one brief moment, giving us an

opportunity to share our message with them. Back when there were three channels on your

rabbit-eared black-and-white television you could irritate people into submission. Now you must

reward them for spending precious seconds of their life with you. It is a pain, I know, but it must

be done.”

• All quotes used with permission. Great thanks to Doug Adkins, Edward Boches,

John Butler, Sal DeVito, Frank Fleizach, Guido Heffels, Bob Isherwood, George Lois, Bob

Mitchell, Rich Palatini, Jim Perretti, Paul Renner, and Stan Richards. And warm thanks to

Christopher Navetta and Nancy Novick.

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• For in-depth reading on branding, advertising, graphic design, and creativity,

please browse my books available on www.amazon.com/landa or visit www.robinlanda.com

© 2006 Robin Landa. All Rights Reserved.


The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal.

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ROBIN LANDA

Robin Landa is a branding consultant and

creativity strategist. Apart from running her own

marketing firm—robinlanda.com—she holds the rank of

Distinguished Professor in the Department of Design at

Kean University of New Jersey. Robin has lectured at

professional conferences extensively, including at the

HOW International Design Conference, the College Art Association, and the Graphic Artists

Guild.

Robin Landa is the author of 11 books about art and design, including Designing Brand

Experiences and Graphic Design Solutions (Thomson), Advertising by Design (John Wiley &

Sons), and Thinking Creatively (North Light Books). She co-authored Visual Workout:

Creativity Workbook (Thomson) with Rose Gonnella and Creative Jolt and Creative Jolt

Inspirations (North Light Books) with Rose and Denise M. Anderson. Robin’s article on ethics

in design, “No Exit for Designers,” was featured in Print magazine’s European Design

Annual/Cold Eye column. Her articles have been featured in HOW magazine and Icograda.

Robin’s newest book—2D: Visual Basics for Designers—will be published in September

2006. The book is co-authored with Rose Gonnella and Steven Brower.

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Also by ROBIN LANDA


Branding: 10 Truths Behind Successful Brands

2D: Visual Basics for Designers

Graphic Design Solutions, 3e

Designing Brand Experiences

Advertising By Design

Thinking Creatively

Visual Workout

Creative Jolt

Creative Jolt Inspirations

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