(Re: Viewpoint, by John Burghardt)
Dear Mr. Burghardt:
I’m a copywriter who’s been working for about two years. I haven’t yet had the opportunity to work in an office with other writers, so my writing hasn’t had the benefit of constant feedback or mentorship. But by looking at awards books, talking to people from other agencies and checking out the ads that are out there, I’m gradually improving. For instance, early in my career (late in ’97) I was into puns big-time. But I avoid them now, looking instead for a ‘thought,’ a mental twist that makes the reader look at something from a different angle.
Of all my self-study sources, however, it’s your columns that have most influenced me. Sometimes you write about things that I’d always thought were the case but could never put into words.
Like your column ‘Keep it simple, stupid’ (Aug.17, 1998), where you talked about how if a headline is wacky, the visual must play it straight, and vice versa. I guess I’d always sensed this to be a rule, but to see it put into words – well, it’s hard to explain the feeling.
It’s like when, in first-year psychology, the prof would explain a facet of human behaviour that I myself had noticed in people. Discovering there’s a name for something somehow makes it more ‘real’. Plus, your column gives me ammo when an account executive or art director is suggesting something that breaks the rule.
The column about the quarter of a second being crucial to timing – that was another one that I was ecstatic to see someone actually explain in print. As a comedian, I’d always ‘known’ it to be true, but again, I’d never quite been able to express it.
The only other advice that’s had this kind of impact on me is [Palmer Jarvis DDB senior vice-president and creative director] Chris Staples’ belief that advertising should evoke an emotional response (such as laughing out loud) rather than just ‘sit there.’ Since I started putting my work to that simple test, my book has improved immensely.
In any case, I just wanted you to know that your ruminations are having a huge impact on someone (and probably on a lot more people than just myself). Please keep ’em coming – I’ve got a lot more to learn.
Josh Rachlis
jrachlis@hotmail.com
(via e-mail)
