Consideren esto el Manual del Trainee de Europa del Norte. Rimas y Antonio de la agencia MILK VILNIUS nos permiten la posibilidad de publicar el documento que le dan a cada creativo que entra en su agencia (son pocos, solo 2 practicantes por año tienen la suerte de aprender ahí). Sin duda una agencia que está presente en cada edición de Archive, MILK es un ejemplo a seguir en su empuje creativo. Y qué mejor manera de seguirles el paso que haciéndoles una pequeña neurocirujía:

CREATIVITY 101

How to have ideas? How to think creatively? How to make a good ad? Those are questions that every Creative in Advertising receives a lot, and the answer is normally the same: I have no idea how. It seems to pop into my brain randomly.

But with time you realize that it does quite regularly; that, somehow, that randomness seems not to be that random.

We will try to explain here some of the techniques and ways to think that we use in Milk (and maybe in most of the agencies in the World). This doesn’t mean that, if you follow these steps, you’ll have brilliant ideas immediately. These steps will put you close to the point where the ideas happen. It will take you to the edge of the cliff so that you can make the jump. To reach the other side or not will depend on how good of a natural jumper you are. We can’t give you talent. We only can make it easier for you to show it.

Now, this is not meant to be the only way to think creatively. There are thousands of ways, and, most of the times, every creative person has his or her own way of thinking. But it takes time to find your personal one. So, until you find your own, use this one. Modify it all you want, take what you like more, use what you feel better for you. Feel free.

CREATIVE PROCESS:

The creative process starts when the creative team receives the brief. Since then, the first thing the creative team should do is:

1) UNDERSTAND THE BRIEF:

The brief may be just a piece of paper, but is product of a big strategic thinking. It is made for the creative teams to aim properly and not to just shoot ideas that won’t solve the client’s problem.

There is a stupid trend in some agencies to don’t care about the brief and to follow your “creative instincts”. Bullshit. They think like that because sometimes, in very particular occasions (maybe once in a thousand times) the idea that the creative team had is so good that, even if it’s out of brief, it will, anyways, work for the client. But that happens only if two things go together:

a)    If the brief wasn’t good enough.

b)   If the creative idea is absolutely brilliant.

So, when somebody throws the brief away even before trying to follow it, that means that, first, he or she are assuming that the hard work that the strategic people did is worthless and, second, that they WILL have a genius idea. If somebody thinks in that way, they don’t deserve to work in an advertising agency (at least not in this one.)

So, the first step is to understand the brief well. There are several things to see in the brief:

a)    The main message to communicate: This is, what should the people understand CLEARLY after seeing the ad.

b)   The target: To whom we are talking to. What is interesting for a 40 years old man from the village is not interesting for a 16 years old girl from Vilnius.

c)    The brand personality: This is, maybe, what most of the advertising agencies ignore. The brand is (or, at least, should be) like a person. It should have a personality, a way of saying things, a mood, etc. A bank will never talk in the same mood than a bubble gum. One is serious while the other is very playful. Some brands make people laugh, some make them cry, or think. Some of them are edgy, while some others are conservative. You should have this clear before even starting to think about any idea.  The brands have the personalities they need to have to be more appealing to the target.

d)   Reasons to believe in what we are going to communicate and several other facts that may be useful for us: sometimes the idea is right there, in the brief. Any fact can lead to an idea. If they say that your mobile phone has a better signal because there are more antennas installed around the country, maybe the ad will be about finding antennas everywhere, or how tired are the antenna installers.

In other words, read the brief several times and have it always next to you. Go to it several times. Make it your bible.

2) VISUALIZE THE KIND OF IDEA OR IDEAS YOU WOULD LIKE TO HAVE:

It’s easier to have an idea for a commercial when you have a model to follow. It doesn’t mean that you will copy the model. It means that you will see the model, make it yours and then do your own version.

What we suggest to do right after understanding the brief well is to try to remember any other ad, or piece of movie, or any other communication that matches the personality of the brand and could suit perfectly for what you want to say. This helps a lot to visualize how the ad, from your perspective, should look at the end.

You may start thinking now: so, we will copy another ad. No, that’s not true. One thing is to copy, and another is to get inspiration from something else. This is something you should have very clear:

THE MOST IMPORTANT TOOL FOR CREATIVITY IN ADVERTISING ARE OTHER ADS.

That’s why magazines and web pages that show the best ads around the world exist. That’s why a magazine like Shots can be successful even though you have to pay around 180 pounds for each number. Agencies pay everything they need to in order to provide their creative teams with inspiration. Web pages like Ads of the World, Coloribus, and magazines like Shots and Lürzer’s Archive are businesses that move millions, just because of this.

At the beginning, you will find inspiration basically in other ads. And don’t be ashamed of it: we all do. With time, and once you master the way of structuring an ad, you will manage to “steal” some element from a movie, or from any other artistic (or not) manifestation.

3) RECOGNIZE THE ELEMENTS YOU CAN PLAY WITH: 

There is a whole universe of elements you can play with for creating an ad. You can make a list of things, for example (mentally or on paper), that you can show in the ad to make your point. You can also make a list of consequences of using the product or not using it. You can also have a list of behaviours of people having the product, or not having it, or people who envies the consequences of somebody else having the product... and, like that, you can go ad infinitum. 

Sometimes the ideas come by mixing these elements, or by mixing an element of your list with an element that has nothing to do with the product. 

You can also play around: you can make a list of elements that have absolutely nothing to do with the product and see what would happen if you transform them in some way to be closer to the product. Or what will happen if they are in contact with the product... etc. 

This step comes not necessarily before the next one. Sometimes comes at the same time, or you make your lists according to what technique you’re going to apply.

4) APPLY THE “CREATIVE TECHNIQUES”:

Maybe you already heard about all these famous “creative techniques” for making good ads. Well, even though they are considered already “formulas”, most of the ads are done using them.

It’s difficult to imagine a copywriter or art director that doesn’t know how to apply the basic creative techniques. Some creative people say that they never wanted to use them because they wanted to “escape the formulas”. Well, we have something to say about this: 

IT’S IMPOSSIBLE TO ESCAPE A FORMULA IF YOU DON’T KNOW THE FORMULA FIRST.

You can win Cannes applying the formula. There’s nothing bad in applying it. You can apply the formula in a very original and fresh way. And, one day, when you know the formulas perfectly well and you already applied them thousands of times, then you will be able to escape them, little by little. When you know them so well, you get to know where the door with the “exit” sign is.

Now, which are these techniques? There are lots of them. We’ll put here a few:

-Exaggeration: You exaggerate the feature of the product in a very obvious way, so that everybody understands it’s a joke, but also remember clearly the feature of the product.

For example:

-Extreme consequences: This is something like a second level of exaggeration. You exaggerate the consequences of the feature of your product, not the feature per se. So, you show what would happen if somebody has the product (or if somebody doesn’t have it) in an exaggerated way.

For example:

-Go literal: show literally what you’re saying in your copy.

For example:

-Allegory: An allegory is technically a metaphor, but a big one. When the whole ad is a metaphor of something else, it becomes an allegory. It’s normally used to show how having or using the product feels.

For example:

-Personification: When you make a character that represents an abstract concept or something that you can’t touch.

For example:

-Twisting the cliché: First you find a cliché, something that everybody has in his or her minds, that is familiar to the target. Then, you make a subtle twist to it, in order to make clear the message you want to communicate.

For example:

-Proving the insight: First you find an insight that nobody noticed before, something very human, a reflex or a typical behaviour that nobody pointed out before. Then you just prove it by showing these behaviours that everybody will be able to recognize, so that you make your point.

For example:

-Communicating a philosophy of life: You find a cause, a philosophy of life that suits perfectly the message that the product wants to say.

For example:

-Showing the problem: You point out the problem of not having used the product to convince the people not to make the same mistake.

For example:

-Preparing for the product: When you show the preparation that the consumer should have to do in order to receive the extreme consequences of the product.

For example:

-Creating a product or service instead of an ad: Sometimes you can create a totally new product or service to point out the feature of the product.

For example:

http://adsoftheworld.com/media/ambient/suzuki_gas_station

5) SHOW AND COMMENT YOUR IDEAS WITH OTHERS:

This step may be one of the main differences between good creative teams and bad ones. A creative team who doesn’t like to show their ideas to others have, basically, these reasons:

a)    They feel that the other creative teams will make them feel bad if the ideas are not good enough.

b)   They feel that the other creative teams may suggest changes to the ideas to make them better, so that they will have to share the credits of the ad with them.

c)    They want to show the Creative Director how good is the idea they had all by themselves, without any help.

Of course, this is stupid. In first place, a creative person has to be ready to receive critics. Creative people should be open-minded, and that includes being open-minded enough to accept their mistakes and work on them.

In second place, the ads only receive prizes if they are done in the best way possible. So, if a creative person doesn’t want to accept any suggestion of other teams in order to keep his or her name alone in the credits, it’s very likely that the ad won’t win any prize, so there will not be anything to be proud about. The creative team is not the only people who make the ad. There are dozens of them, from strategic planners to producers and directors. A creative person that doesn’t know how to work as part of a team is not a good creative professional.

And, finally, the Creative Director will appreciate much more somebody who facilitates the improvement of the ideas than somebody who becomes an obstacle for the agency.

The more opinions you get and the more you trust your colleagues, the better the ad will be at the end, and the better your relationship with the rest of the people will be. And that’s one of the main keys for working as a team and for being well appreciated in an agency.

6) BE OPEN-MINDED:

Break rules, don’t be afraid to look inside the dark side, don’t hesitate to explore where you never explored before. Forget the things you like and the things you don’t like. Maybe your target likes what you don’t like. Try everything. Never say no before trying.

That’s the best way to have ideas: don’t close your door to any area. You can get ideas from Mathematics, from Botanic, from Sex, from Ikebana... from everything. Use it, give it a chance and, once you see that it doesn’t work, then say no and keep trying other things.

That’s why, for advertising, most of the times is better to see life, to go out, to explore new things, to get some new hobbies, study new things, read a lot... in other words: BE VERY CURIOUS. Just like a kid who asks “what is that?” all the time.

Even if from the first step you planned to have some kind of ad at the end of the process, don’t be afraid to change everything if you feel a hint of an idea somewhere else. Try it, comment it, ask everyone. In helps a lot.

7) GET FINISHED IDEAS:

When the deadline approaches and you have to present your ideas to the Creative Director, make sure that you have finished ideas, not just hints. A hint can be commented after presenting the ideas you have finished.

By this we mean: have completed scripts, if it’s a radio or a TV idea, with final copy, dialogues (if you need them) and concrete situations. If it’s a print idea you can have a sketch of the visual or, at least, a written description of it, with a clear copy at the end.

If you’re not sure about the copy, you can present alternatives, the same with all the other elements of the idea. That shows that you really worked on it.

Even if you present your finalized ideas and the Creative Director changes everything, at least it will feel that he’s fixing your idea and not having one himself. In that way everybody (including you) will feel that you worked and produced something useful.

8) MAKE AN INTELLIGENT PRESENTATION:

When you present your ideas to the Creative Director, first make a very brief explanation of the logic that took you to that idea. Justify it. The Creative Director can foresee a mistake from that logic and maybe save the idea by fixing the logic, or have another one from there. In other words: it’s useful.

After presenting the ideas, the Creative Director may have some comments, or start killing some of them. If you don’t agree, make sure you say it, but justifying why. If your only justification is: “For me is good” or “I like it”, then you already lost.

9) BE READY TO KILL YOUR BABIES:

The most difficult part of being a creative professional is to face the dead of one of your ideas. It can be killed by the Creative Director, or by the client, or by the circumstances (a change of strategy, for example, or a cut in the budget). So, after you have those ideas which you love and that you work your ass off for, you’ll have to be open-minded enough to accept any change, cut or death of them.

A good creative professional is the one who comes out with good ideas every time. An excellent creative professional is the one who, after having great ideas, is able to see how they are killed and, still, can get new ones or modify the ones he has with the same passion than at the beginning and without losing time crying for his or her loss.

You must not only be open-minded to have ideas. You must be open-minded also to accept critics and to let your babies die. That may be even more important than having great ideas, basically because that will make you learn more and be a better professional.

THE MOST IMPORTANT THING OF ALL IS ATTITUDE

You can have talent, you can be a genius and you can have the best ideas in the World. But if you don’t have the right attitude, you are useless for Advertising.

To have the right attitude means not to tolerate mediocrity, especially your own. You will have to push others to work better and not to be mediocre, and they won’t like it. You will have to know how to choose people to work with, and you will choose always the one who is not mediocre. Mediocrity kills ads, so it’s our enemy, because ads are our life and our love.

To hate mediocrity means to try to be better each time, and for that you need to be intelligent. And to be intelligent means to listen and learn from people who know more than you about advertising. You may not totally agree with them, you may think in a different way, and you are free to express your opinion and to discuss your point of view, but if somebody who knows more than you (aka your Creative Director) tells you that your idea is not interesting enough, then you must be clever enough to believe in him.

The right attitude also implies to keep the positive mood in the agency. Better ideas come from a better environment, and to inspire others is as important as to be inspired yourself. We practically live in the agency. The proportion of hours we see our colleagues is much bigger than the proportion of time we see our family. So, treat them as your family too.

Finally, the right attitude is what will make you realize that there’s nothing impossible, that we may be in a small country and our budgets can be nothing compared with the big ones, but we can, definitely, make World class advertising from here, just by having good ideas and by working in the right way. Somebody said once: “They didn’t know that it was impossible, so they ended achieving it.” Don’t think in the limitations and you won’t find them.

And that’s it. If you have absolutely anything to ask or to comment or to discuss, feel free to tell us. We want you to learn, and is easier for us to teach you if you tell us your doubts and your needs. Don’t be shy.

Now, good luck and work a lot. In other words: welcome to Milk.

Antonio Becthle es un gran creativo. No hay más que decir. Llevo tiempo conversando con él por mail y se ha convertido en una especie de mentor 2.0. No solo es uno de los creativos más reconocidos de la revista Archive si no alguien que no tiene problema en compartir contigo su filosofía de trabajo. Aquí va una muestra de su gran talento.

Recientemente Antonio participó en TedX, esas grandes conferencias que se dan alrededor del mundo y que inspiran a muchos. El amigo Bechtle habló del insight desde un punto de vista muy particular, con una óptica muy humana y que refresca un poco en nuestra cabeza el por qué hacemos lo que hacemos, además de lo que todo creativo debería buscar en su trabajo. Gracias por compartir con el mundo Antonio. Aquí va el video:

Feliz 2012 (yo sé, como dos semanas muy tarde). Año que Axe pronosticó como el fin del mundo con un aviso, que no me encanta, lanzaron "el último Axe". Algo que hoy podemos ver como un guiño quizás. 

Me acabo de topar con el lanzamiento de Axe Anarchy, quizás noticia vieja para algunos, y me pregunto: ¿Qué pasó? ¿Axe para mujeres?

No tiene nada de malo, ni me voy por el lado machista de las cosas. Pero huele a error marketero grave. ¿Por qué lanzar un Axe para mujeres? Cuando algo está tan perfectamente posicionado como "el atrae mujeres" para que ir y arruinar el "storytelling" de esta marca al aumentarle un elemento que no hace mucho sentido realmente. Osea que ahora Axe atrae hombres a mujeres, y mujeres a hombres. Quizás menos polémico, pero también algo que lo coloca lejos de su tan sólido posicionamiento.

Además, si realmente existe un grupo de mujeres (si no todas) que ven a Axe como el desodorante que las viene insultando y mostrándolas como muñecotas que se regalan a cualquier tipo solo porque huele bien, ¿a quién se le ocurre que cambiarían de opinión sobre la marca como para lanzarla para ellas?

Como pueden ver ando confundido, pero hey, si algo tienen la gente de Unilever es mi indisputable respeto después de Dove, Axe y obviamente Hugh Jackman:

En el mundo de las agencias, la publicidad y el marketing existimos varios fanáticos de Crispin Porter + Bogusky. ¿La razón? A todos nos inspira la cantidad de campañas brillantes, innovadoras, inesperadas y perfectamente bien pensadas y ejecutadas que producen en esa fábrica de ideas.

De hecho, cuando la agencia publicó un libro llamado Hoopla que incluía todo el trabajo que los hizo famosos éste se agotó en cuatro semanas. Y uno de sus mayores fans es curiosamente quien inspiró a muchos creativos de CP+B a pensar en grandes ideas. Hablo de Luke Sulivan.

Si alguna vez leyeron Hey, Whipple, Squeeze This sabrán que Luke Sulivan es fanático de esa agencia y que utiliza varias campañas e ideas de CP+B para inspirar a nuevas y viejas generaciones de creativos. Algo similar a lo que intentamos hacer aquí.

Asi que en esta ocasión les mostraré una extraordinaria e inusual acción que CP+B hizo para su cliente Virgin Atlantic y que Luke también menciona en su Best Seller:

As for finding a startlingly effective place to put a client’s message, the most brilliant I’ve ever seen was a spot that ran on the porn channel in hotels. Virgin Atlantic wanted to tell business travelers about the nice new seats in their transatlantic flights. The team figured—cynically and correctly—that a day in the life of a traveling businessman might include a quick visit to the in-room “adult” channel. So that’s where they placed their commercial, smartly labeling it “Free Movie.” When you pressed “Play” you saw a 12- minute video that looked and sounded like porn but was really just a long, raunchy infomercial full of double entendres about the pleasures of flying across the Atlantic in a seat that goes all the way back. The idea was so naughty, its very existence drew tons of free media coverage.

Lo increíble de esto (además de lo obvio) es que puedo asegurarles que el target lo vio. Cuando trabajaba en Lowe México el presidente de la agencia de ese entonces me habló sobre una idea que lo había impactado mucho y que había visto en su hotel mientras viajaba. En sus propias palabras me dijo: “¿Viste lo nuevo de Virgin Atlantic. La película porno que te vende sus asientos de primera clase? La vi en mi hotel ahorita que estuve en NY”. Yo le respondí: “Sí, es lo nuevo que acaban de hacer en Crispin Porter + Bogusky”.

Si intentáramos elegir al mejor comercial de Nike de todos los tiempos nos adentraríamos en una “misión" casi imposible.  

Su larga lista de spots para una larga lista de productos y atletas dificultan la tarea de nombrar a un spot como el mejor de todos.

Por un lado están dos comerciales que ganaron el Grand Prix de Film en Cannes: “TAG” y “Write The Future”. También, el famosísimo comercial en donde Satanás y su equipo de “demonios” juegan un partido de fútbol contra los mejores jugadores de la tierra en el coliseo romano.

Y también tendríamos que considerar (por la época en que se hizo y por lo innovador que fue) este otro legendario comercial que le dio la vuelta al mundo y que llevó a la fama a los jugadores que lo protagonizaron.

Como pueden ver es muy difícil elegir uno. Todos fueron importantes para que la marca fuera reconocida en cada rincon del planeta. Todos fueron colosales, impactantes, memorables y amados por los fans de la marca. Y lo que tendríamos que hacer para facilitarnos las cosas sería plantearnos la pregunta de esta manera:

“¿Cuál es el spot de Nike que mejor define su personalidad y su discurso como marca, y que expresa con mayor precisión su concepto institucional? Hablo obviamente del JUST DO IT”.

Si nos hiciéramos esa pregunta mi respuesta inmediata sería:

“El spot en donde Lance Armstrong anuncia en una conferencia de prensa que tiene cáncer y que piensa vencerlo”.

El spot es fantástico. Glorioso. Simple, low budget y sólo dura 30 seg (wow). Es una de las ideas que más le envidio al equipo de W+K Portland porque no parece y no suena a una idea para un spot de tele.

Es completamente distinto a todo lo que nos imaginaríamos como idea, como spot y como guión. Es una de las ideas más originales de toda la historia. Es el mejor testimonial de todos los tiempos. Es una prueba verídica y legítima de lo que significa el Just do it. Es inspirador, emocionante y muy poderoso. Es la mejor solución que puedo imaginar para explicar lo que significa el discurso de la marca. Un discurso que inspiró a mucha gente a pedirle matrimonio a su pareja, a cambiar de trabajo, a poner una empresa y que aquí se magnifica.

Desde la primera vez que lo vi me pareció increíble observar y escuchar a un atleta que admiraba y respetaba mucho gritarle a todo el mundo: “Tengo cáncer pero pienso vencerlo” con la misma determinación que lo llevó a ganar 7 veces SEGUIDAS la competencia más dura y exigente del planeta: El Tour de France. En pocas palabras simplemente hizo lo que dijo y Nike eligió ese “simple” y poderoso discurso para que fuera uno de sus spots de marca.

Aplausos para los clientes, la agencia y los Directores Creativos que aprobaron esto.

Están dos redactores, amigos del trabajo, que se gradúan como los expertos de lo "nuevo en la web". Pelean por verificar si lo que posetan en facebook no es más viejo que una semana - y por ende ser "los primeros en postearlo para sus amigos".

Uno de ellos, el más adicto, se conoce todos los "memes" de internet. "Memes" son todas esas cosas que la gente coge, se apropia y luego devuelve al internet con nuevo contenido, haciendose así más viral. Es el internet como te lo quieren vender las agencias: consumer generated. Entre ellos están la popular cara de foreveralone, el michael cera saltando, el nyan cat (mi favorito) y el philosoraptor: 

Por otro lado, están los directores de arte. Los que viven viendo Tumblr, 4mat, fffffound, fromupnorth, cepillando el internet en busca de referencias aún no usadas, con ojo de mamá que busca piojos en la melena de una niña con rulos de 8 años- y jugando a "nervioso", quien pone la mano primero (y lo publica en adsoftheworld) gana. En esta nueva era de la tipografía (una de las tendencias más claras) han revivido varias frases motivacionales/inspiradoras, posters o postales hechas para compartir en facebook también. El grafismo de hoy no se tiene que imprimir.

(download)

Click here to download:

mascota-2-0-rjdwdGeaqhJqheujctHH.zip (521 KB)

Y, finalmente, está mi hermano 10 años menor que yo - que no tiene nada que ver con publicidad-  quien recientemente me sugería ver 9gag.com para entender su sentido del humor y no pecar de viejo de 27 años.

¿A qué viene todo esto? 

La más reciente campaña de chocolate Cua Cua rescata esta estética 2.0 - la mezcla de las tres influencias de arriba. Asumo para hablarle a gente que, como mi hermano (y mis amigos que son jovenes de corazón y estancados como buenos publicistas en una adolescencia eterna) encuentra sus carcajadas en internet y ya no en la tele. Para quienes el sarcasmo es la regla, ya no la ruptura, y postear un buen "FAIL" es un éxito. 

Si no la han visto, aquí va:

La influencia del sentido del humor al que apuntan es clara. Es heredero del Rey de Burger King, de ese mudo "awkward" que lo dice todo, mezclado con un poco más de este humor 9gagero: basado en juego de palabras (psico-pato), en nostalgia (el pato que se venga del cazador del juego de nintendo de 1985) y en lo bizarro.

La mascota está también atrapada en esta adolescencia eterna: el canal youtube de cua cua muestra a la mascota sentado en un caballito de madera como niño, pero vestido con converse, polo, etc. Una manera interesante de actualizar (hacerle click en refresh) a la mascota que vivió en tele y en el empaque del clásico chocolate por años:

Ahora el pato cua cua apunta a ser el espíritu de joven de hoy y de lo que lo hace reir, además de hacer eco a la juventud prolongada de mucha gente de 35 años que aún se viste las converse. 

Recientemente Old Spice, lanzó un tumblr con gifs de "the man your man could smell like" para complementar su campaña "mano a mano in el baño". Algo muy inteligente, si es que tu campaña pasa en youtube y está dirigida a gente como mis dos amigos, para quienes "ser primero en postearlo" es un capital medible.

En mi humilde opinión, me gusta mucho apuntar a usar estos códigos para darle un nuevo respiro a la marca. Si los argentinos utilizan muchas referencias a los ochentas para darle onda a sus avisos y tocar cierta fibra de nostalgia, quizás este sea un territorio equivalente donde aún hay mucho por explotar: la estética web. Esperemos que pronto la cara del pato Cua Cua se vuelva tan icónica como

Ya hemos hablado de campañas que tienen bajo presupuesto. Pero la más reciente campaña de la agencia Barton F. Graff 9000 en Nueva York, y una de las más locas en este momento en cuanto ha creatividad, rompe esquemas. Un actor y un escritorio en un estudio. El casting es magnífico, los guiones igual.

Este artículo publicado hace dos meses en adctitic.com fue el mejor homenaje que encontré en muchas páginas especializadas de publicidad, para los 100 años que cumplió el maestro Bill Bernbach.

El inventor de las duplas.

El primer genio que rompió los moldes de la publicidad tradicional y que la transformó en algo emocionante.  

El cerebro detrás de importantes e icónicas campañas para Volkswagen, Avis y Levy's.

El escritor de importantísimas reglas para hacer, pensar y vender grandes campañas de publicidad, las cuales fueron adoptadas como filosofías por muchas otras agencias y empresas.

El publicista más íntegro, honesto y creativo de todos los tiempos junto con David Ogilvy.  

El fundador de las redes más premiadas y creativas: DDB y BBDO.

El creador del aviso de Print más famoso de la historia (el Think Small) y de un spot muy adelantado a su época:

El dueño y fundador de DDB NY.  La agencia que vio crecer a la mayor cantidad de talento creativo de nuestra época. En ella trabajaron redactores y directores de arte legendarios tales como: Helmut Krone, Bob Gage, Bob Levenson, Diane Rothschild y David Abbott. Todos ellos, forman parte del salón de la fama de One Show o del Art Directors Club de NY.

Un hombre que después de 29 años de muerto continúa ayudándonos a responder las preguntas más importantes de la publicidad.

By: David Andrew Lloyd, Published: Aug 15, 2011

Editor's note: Aug. 13 would have marked the 100th birthday of advertising legend Bill Bernbach. He was named the single most influential person in advertising in the 20th century by Ad Age, but unlike others in the industry, Mr. Bernbach didn't leave behind an opus in book form. So David Andrew Lloyd took it upon himself to track down the man and "interview" him.]

To learn the secret behind such classics as his Volkswagen "Think Small" ads and Avis "We Try Harder" campaign, I decided I must find Bill Bernbach, the leading force behind the Creative Revolution.

Bill Bernbach, ad legend

He had the ability to analyze a product's qualities, and extract its raw personal emotion. He knew a place where he could actually touch the human soul.

With his American Tourister Gorilla as my guide, we traveled over the Mountain of Focus Group Research, through the dark Jungle of Behavioral Sciences and past the Tomb of the Unknown Edsel. Eventually, we found Bernbach in the Valley of Intuition, celebrating his 100th birthday.*

LLOYD: What's the key element for developing effective advertising?

BERNBACH: The purpose of advertising ... is to sell. If that goal doesn't permeate every idea you get, every word you write, every picture you take, you're phony, and you ought to get out of the business.

LLOYD: Then how did you justify your radical style of showing empty bottles in ads, teeth marks in Levy's bread, models without smiles?

Bernbach talked Avis into embracing its No. 2 position.

BERNBACH: I realized that the growth of television, along with all the existing media, would result in consumers being bombarded with more messages than they could absorb. So the advertiser would have to deliver his message in a different way -- memorably and artfully -- if he was going to be "chosen" by the consumer.

LLOYD: What was wrong with the old scientific approach?

BERNBACH: I warn you against believing that advertising is a science. Artistry is what counts. The business is filled with great technicians, and unfortunately they talk the best game ... but there's one little problem. Advertising happens to be an art, not a science.

LLOYD: Sounds blasphemous.

BERNBACH: The more you research, the more you play it safe, and the more you waste money. Research inevitably leads to conformity.

LLOYD: At least you won't offend anyone.

BERNBACH: (Laughing) Eighty-five percent of all ads don't even get looked at. Think of it! You and I are the most extravagant people in the world. Who else is spending billions of dollars and getting absolutely nothing in return? We were worried about whether or not the American public loves us. They don't even hate us. They just ignore us.

LLOYD: So how do you get into that desirable 15%?

BERNBACH: The only difference is an intangible thing that businessmen are so suspicious of, this thing called artistry. ... Try riding the bus ... and you just watch the people with Life magazine flipping though the pages at $60,000 a page, and not stopping and looking. The only thing that can stop them is this thing called artistry that says, "Stop, look, this is interesting."

LLOYD: Shouldn't market research improve those odds?

BERNBACH: Research can be dangerous. It should give you facts and not make judgments for you. ... We are too busy measuring public opinion that we forget we can mold it.

LLOYD: Advertisers still need to judge their ideas against something tangible.

BERNBACH: I have found, by and large -- I know this is heresy -- the better the marketing man, the poorer the judge of an ad. That's because he wants to be sure of everything, and you can't be sure of everything.

LLOYD: Doesn't it seem logical to test your ads?

BERNBACH: (Grinning.) I'm beginning to believe, incidentally, that logic is one of the great obstacles to progress.

LLOYD: How do you suggest advertisers make their "guesses" accurate?

BERNBACH: Know his product inside and out. Your cleverness must stem from knowledge of the product. ... It's hard to write well about something you know little about.

LLOYD: Ha! That's research. Why can't you admit advertising is a science?

BERNBACH: (Annoyed.) The greatest advances in the history of science came from scientists' intuition. Listen to one of the greatest scientific minds talking on the subject of physicists. "The supreme task of the physicist is to arrive at those universal elementary laws from which the cosmos can be built up by pure deduction. There is no logical path to these laws. Only intuition can reach them." The scientist's name was Albert Einstein, the greatest scientist of them all!

Volkswagen ads are often held up as examples of the height of the creative revolution.

LLOYD: Nevertheless, clients want to feel secure before spending their money.

BERNBACH: In advertising the big problem facing the client is that he wants to be sure that his new campaign is foolproof. Even we can't be sure that there are certain things that an ad must contain. They are no more predictable than that a play will be a hit or a book a best seller.

LLOYD: Can you blame them for being cautious?

BERNBACH: Playing it safe can be the most dangerous thing you can do.

LLOYD: It's their money. It's their right to make that decision.

BERNBACH: We don't permit the client to give us ground rules. It's bad for the client.

LLOYD: Come on, Bill. That's a bit egotistical.

BERNBACH: I don't mean to be arrogant, but we have deep convictions about our work, and we believe that one of the greatest services we can give the client is to honestly state our convictions.

LLOYD: You've influenced some of the biggest names in advertising, but even you must admit the "creative revolution" brought about some irrelevant zaniness.

BERNBACH: The trouble with a lot of our emulators is they just put cleverness down. A picture of a man standing on his head would get attention, but the reader would feel tricked by the gimmick -- unless we were trying to sell a gadget to keep change in his pocket.

LLOYD: You were legendary for hiring young, untested talent and turning them into superstars. But, considering the economy, how would you overlook their inevitable blunders?

BERNBACH: (Smiling.) You know, something that's almost like a mistake is what gets a person's attention.

LLOYD: If everything you tell me is true, why are there so many bad ads?

BERNBACH: Urged by the instinct to survive and the habit of eating, they go along with guidance they don't really believe in. The result is inevitable: Work without conviction, work without effectiveness, work without personality, work that is cold arithmetic instead of warm persuasion.

*Answers are actual Bernbach quotes.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

David Andrew Lloyd is a third-generation Bernbachian. His first boss, Chuck Bua, a five-time Clio Award winner, worked under Bernbach at DDB. Lloyd now lives in Studio City where he writes film and TV comedy -- because that's all he can take seriously.

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