Are advertising creatives just not good enough?

When was the last time you saw a genuinely funny ad? Not an ad that was funny, but 30 seconds of something genuinely funny, as funny, say, as 30 seconds of Bill Bailey, Peter Kay, Seinfeld, or The Simpsons?

Can’t think of one? Me neither.

When did you last see an ad so emotional, or so poignant, or so honest that it moved you to tears? Okay, I’ll settle for, a smallish lump in your throat, when was the last time you saw an ad that did that? Never, of course because they don’t exist either.

What about a commercial with the drama, tension, visual brilliance, narrative drive, dramatic structure, or precise characterisation to rival Citizen Kane, The Insider, Toy Story (take your pick, 1 or 2), A Clockwork Orange, The Sopranos, The Wire, or The West Wing?

So what about copy then? Have you ever read a piece of copy that was as insightful, as wise, as illuminating or as revealing of the human condition as something written by McEwan, Roth, Heller, Steinbeck, Orwell or Hemingway?

As for radio, I think it’s best we past over the shameful content that clutters up the airwaves in the name of advertising and not even bother insulting Radio4’s understanding of the medium, by mentioning them in the same breath. (Damn, I just did.)

“Stop being stupid!” one or two of you might now be shouting. “What good is making the comparison between 30 seconds of film and 90mintes? 500 words and a 400-page novel?

Well, consider these.

“Go ahead make my day.”

“You can’t handle the truth.”

“Frankly my dear I don’t give a damn.”

“How am I funny?”

“I’ll make him an offer he can’t refuse.”

“You talkin’ to me?”

“I steal your milkshake.”

Each one a single line, delivered once, taking up seconds of the film and yet remembered forever.

Likewise, these scenes appear briefly and yet leave a lasting impression on the viewer.

And for those creatives who are screaming, “But that’s not our job! That’s not what we do!”  I say bollocks. That’s exactly what you try and do. You just fail at it. Time and time again.

You write funny sketches and call them commercials, but they’re not funny. Not properly funny.

You raise contributions for worthy charities with heartrendingly painful stories of abuse, neglect, natural disasters but you tell them badly.

You deal with death, birth, love – every aspect of life and yet you fail to connect and move your audiences.

While those remaining creatives stamping your feet as you bellow, ‘It’s not us, it’s the client’s fault!’

Novelist have publishers, Comedy programmes have commissioning editors. Filmmakers have producers, financiers and studios. Comedians have a live audience – They all have clients, and yet.

Yes, it’s only 30seconds. Yes, it’s only a single page of copy.  Yes, we have to sell a product. Yes, the client can sometimes be stupid. You’re absolutely right; they’re all legitimate obstacles.  What they’re not is a legitimate excuse for a lack of talent or plain laziness.
So why is this well-paid industry of hard working, passionate and smart people so…. so average?

I was once asked, ‘Am I in love with the idea of me being inside of art, or the art inside of me?’

Not much of an option, right? But I believe most, if not all ad creatives fall into the former.

They want to do something creative, they want to create something good, but they don’t really have the passion to create something great and so know they will starve. So they turn to the ad industry, the perfect home for the poor writer and the less courageous artist.

Because there’s a lower bar in town where they can become good, maybe even great ad creatives.

Am I being unnecessarily harsh?

I don’t think so. I’ve worked in some of the best creative departments in town and seldom did I find people who grafted at the craft aspect of their job.

They worked hard don’t get me wrong and they were passionate about doing ads, but they had very little interest in the real craft that underpins our work.

It normally extended no further than pouring over other ads, going to see the latest ‘hip’ film, visiting a gallery opening (only if free wine was promised) or just sitting with the art buyer/TV producer and asking to see who was the hottest photographer/director this month.

I can’t once remembering anyone studying their craft.

Take copy, most copywriters today have never written anything longer than a txt msg and have no interest in ridding themselves of this ignorance. Writing copy is viewed by and large as a punishment and a chore. No pleasure is gained from developing a well-crafted turn of phrase, the creation of an authentic voice or a well-thought out argument.

But for the novelist that is the job.

Take TV ad scripts, they are written once, twice, three times at most and nearly always begrudgingly by two people with no interest in character or structure or dialogue, beyond a belief that they’ll know when it’s right.

Now, look at how scripts are approached. Before they’re even written, characters are given extensive back-stories. Interestingly the only creative I know how did this was John Webster.

And screenplays aren’t just written; they’re rewritten - going through many drafts with numerous writers. Sometimes they’re then given to script doctors to polish, writers who will work to a tight brief  - make it funnier, make character X more believable, add more suspense, tighten the structure etc.

And yes, too many cooks can spoil the broth, but only if there’s no one present able to control them. The bigger point is that these are writers who love the craft of writing.

The emergence in recent years in the quality of US TV has in part been created by writers surrounding themselves with better writers, playing to each other’s strengths and sharing ownership.

When was the last time, a creative director took work away from the team who created it and gave it to a better art director to design it?

And why not?  Just because you are gifted with a rich imagination and are able to make fresh connections that then appear blindingly obvious to others when presented to them, it is no guarantee you can string a cohesive argument together, especially when you don’t really see it as an important part of your job.

Instead adland has created the notion, you create it, you own it, from start to finish. Maybe this made sense when writers saw agencies as a day job to finance the early drafts of their novel. Or when art directors saw advertising as a means to getting on a film set.

But today’s advertising creatives are exactly what they want to be - ad creatives. People with such a myopic view that they truly believe the worst crime in their world is copying another ad regardless of whether or not it was done 30 years ago on another Continent, yet think nothing of stealing wholesale from a photographer, film maker, artist they saw the other weekend.

I leave the last words to my personal favourite ad man, Howard Luck Gossage.

“How often so you have to read a book, a news story, or see a movie or play? If it’s interesting, once is not enough; if it is dull, once is plenty”

What a great way to measure our work, but no, instead we substitute the truly memorable for heavy repetition, making it impossible to avoid our work.

And we have invented a new standard where we caveat everything with, for an ad.
It’s funny, for an ad.  It’s well written, for an ad. It’s hard hitting, for an ad.

For an ad is our universal get out clause for simply not being good enough. And we’re no longer fooling anyone.

Comments

[John]

Not dipped into this blog for a long time now, but extremely glad I did: this is a superb post.

Finally, someone else who's noticed just how complacent the creative industry is. I've been gibbering away about this in my own way for ages - people think I'm a heretic!

Can I come and write for you one day, Simon?

[simon]

Realmewritelongcopy - thanks for your kind words, I wonder though. What makes you think it's your work/idea in the first place? I'm reminded of David Chase, when told by James Gandolfini, 'My character wouldn't say that.' Simply replied, 'Whose character?' I can't help thinking that us creatives believing we have the right to own the work we produce holds the industry back. I think I feel a post coming on, when I know what it is I want to say.

Golublog - I would have to disagree with you, I think it is very much due to a lack of trying. I don't think many creatives care anywhere near enough. I thought it very interesting to hear that Juan Cabral didn't just write the Gorilla script but wrote a complete treatment and storyboard before presenting the idea to anyone.

[golublog]

I think you raise a very good point. There's a vast difference between the advertising we could create, and what we do create. Yes, any form of communication should move people, make people laugh, cry and think. But somehow the ambition to do that for a product isn't as compelling as to do it as expression of your own creative voice. I don't think the results are for a lack of trying, something just gets lost along the way.

[Realmenwritelongcopy]

Hi Simon
You obviously did some thinking while you were on your holidays! Very good post.
I hung my head in shame as I read it. It’s just so easy to make excuses for poor work. I must admit, it played on my mind a bit last week and I thought about commenting even before you lured me in by feigning interest in my opinion.
Also, I love the idea of handing a job over to another creative who is better at a certain aspect of the job. Or rather I hate the idea. But can you imagine the reaction it would provoke? Once we’d got over the sense of pompous outrage, I mean. The idea that an idea I’d come up with might be handed over to someone else to work up because they’re better at the craft would be fearsomely motivating.

[Vic]

Excellent post, I could not agree more. Especially about the craft/writing part.
One of my favourite Gossage quotes is "People read what interests them, sometimes it's an ad". There are rarely any ads these days that would qualify as 'interesting'.
Most creatives just give up early on trying to communicate something interesting, and just resort to pure entertainment with a line tagged on the end.
I'm convinced that one of the main reasons why there aren't many great ads that actually communicate something these days, is that the quality of people isn't there.