Posts tagged as:

Message Development

BREAKING: Politician for jobs, against crime

You basically ignore yard signs, right? I mean, you may notice one after the initial plant, but then they all blend inexorably into the landscape until the sign gremlins come by in the dark of post-election night and take them down.
And then, you see one that aims to do a little more, and you get [...]

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The Time I Fed The Troll

The other day, I shared a piece of hate mail a client received through his website about our advertising.
A friend remarked, “You should totally turn that into an ad!”
Well, one time, we did. Every few weeks we get a nasty email about our advertising. This doesn’t bother us as we understand that ads constructed to [...]

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You Should Probably Not Hire Me

According to Keith, who just sent in a Contact Us form to a client in Portland.

Hi. I’m Tim. I’m the moron who writes the ads for Roof Life of Oregon.
Now, Keith, here’s what’s interesting: The same day you were kind enough to write, Roof Life had more than a dozen other contact us forms wanting [...]

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Ad Writing Adrenaline

Painstaking research has taught me that staring at a blinking cursor for hours at a time gives you a headache, causes heavybutt, leaves you wanting to change professions and makes you want to drink and/or cry.
Sometimes, you just need a start – a line or lines that may not even make the final but get [...]

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Goodbye Twenty Minutes of Your Life: Old Spice

The making of the Old Spice “I’m a Man” commercial from the Superbowl. Pretty much one take with very little CGI.

Speaking of takes, my buddy Scotty has an interesting one on this commercial and another and what’s good and/or bad.
Hmm … Happy Saturday. I’m on a computer.

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Oh. You Want To Be A Writer?

Seems like I’ve met a bazillion people who want to be writers. It’s just that very few of them want to, you know, write.
I’m excited whenever I meet someone who’s started taking small steps towards actually doing the thing. Actions arouse my interest.
You want to write? Write. That’s really it.
“But how do you figure out [...]

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Ad Writing, Austin & Alchemy

So, how was it for you? Did you like the new e-trade baby? Did it make you want to log in to e-trade?
Want to go test drive a Hyundai this morning? Eat Doritos? Or did Pepsi have the right idea for the wisest use of their Super Bowl money?
I’m more curious still – in my [...]

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Six More Weeks of Surprise and Delight

That rat Phil saw his shadow this morning. So it goes.
Groundhog Day’s one of those funny traditions here in the states. Is it a holiday? Ain’t it a holiday?
Call it whatever you like … I call it ammunition.

I originally designed this a few years back as a maintenance piece for one of my favorite clients [...]

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It Sounds Easy: A Million-Dollar Radio Presentation

If you work for a radio station, I’m about to offer you a million-dollar idea for free. Please take it and run with my blessings and love for your medium:
Before I was a Partner in Wizard of Ads, I invented a business model that helped my small-market radio company add an additional $1,000,000 in local-direct, [...]

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The Ad-Writer's 18-Pack: Number 1

Today, I’ll give you the first in a 18-pack of simple, short, and useful tips to help you write more gooder immediately. These eighteen principles have helped me design and deliver more than 4000 advertising messages across the United States and Canada. They aren’t magic bullets, but they should help you power through writing sessions [...]

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