last night i said to a friend of mine, "i live in a world where a skinny art boy an a slightly bigger copywriter wrote an international concept where people at present ask the old spice guy to PROPOSE TO THEIR GIRLFRIEND... FOR THEM. i...can't get my client to say 'no purchase necessary' in a promotion. wondrous"
he responded: "colonialism"
he is indeed the master of the short tongue.
i'm a copywriter, which basically means i write all those captions under the pretty graphics. that's what i do. sometimes i like to think i am capable of actual thought, but really what i am is a caption correspondent trying to get my clients to understand that there is in deed life on other planets.
now this is not naivety; almost ten years in advertising tells you - GET OVER IT! but:
when my client shrieks at the idea of creating targeting material
when my client gives me a half assed brief targeting THE WRONG... TARGET
when my client says they want a rootsy jingle when it's clearly not their audience
when you present a budget and they complain and cry over the figures
when they tell you to do an ad "like the one [competitor] did" cause they like it
when a client can kill your idea because "people" are afraid of brown chickens
when a client vetoes an idea because the man on the street doesn't know what zebras are
when you have to give the excuse of "just trying to shock you out of your comfort zone" having presented a glorious idea but... "older people don't know how to use cell phones"...
when they tell you be creative but what they really mean is - "please stick with what DOMREP (Dominican Republic) sent us (or Puerto Rico)
AND THE OLD SPICE TEAM CREATES A COMMERCIAL THAT ENDS WITH "I'M ON A HORSE" you sort of wonder - why do i bother.
i say again. i am not naive. this crap happens to other creatives ALL OVER THE WORLD. this is not a unique situation. this is (of course) a depressing one. still WAY COOL KUDOS to the creative team of old spice. well done you.
thankfully.... i'm writing my comic books and (as a friend said) - my opus.
i have spoken [thunder rolls]
pax
tracy j h
he responded: "colonialism"
he is indeed the master of the short tongue.
i'm a copywriter, which basically means i write all those captions under the pretty graphics. that's what i do. sometimes i like to think i am capable of actual thought, but really what i am is a caption correspondent trying to get my clients to understand that there is in deed life on other planets.
now this is not naivety; almost ten years in advertising tells you - GET OVER IT! but:
when my client shrieks at the idea of creating targeting material
when my client gives me a half assed brief targeting THE WRONG... TARGET
when my client says they want a rootsy jingle when it's clearly not their audience
when you present a budget and they complain and cry over the figures
when they tell you to do an ad "like the one [competitor] did" cause they like it
when a client can kill your idea because "people" are afraid of brown chickens
when a client vetoes an idea because the man on the street doesn't know what zebras are
when you have to give the excuse of "just trying to shock you out of your comfort zone" having presented a glorious idea but... "older people don't know how to use cell phones"...
when they tell you be creative but what they really mean is - "please stick with what DOMREP (Dominican Republic) sent us (or Puerto Rico)
AND THE OLD SPICE TEAM CREATES A COMMERCIAL THAT ENDS WITH "I'M ON A HORSE" you sort of wonder - why do i bother.
i say again. i am not naive. this crap happens to other creatives ALL OVER THE WORLD. this is not a unique situation. this is (of course) a depressing one. still WAY COOL KUDOS to the creative team of old spice. well done you.
thankfully.... i'm writing my comic books and (as a friend said) - my opus.
i have spoken [thunder rolls]
pax
tracy j h
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