Portfolio Night 11

If you're a student in advertising, attend Portfolio Night. You'll walk out with a better understanding of how creative directors will view your book. That's something you can't get from your professors, peers or parents. It's worth the cost of admission. And if there's not one in your city, it's worth the cost of admission and a road trip.

Here's an old post featuring me and my dearly departed friend, Sonya, talking the day after Portfolio Night in Chicago.

The Woodshed School - March 16th

If you're in Dallas on Saturday, March 16th (or if you're up for a roadtrip), check out the first portfolio class from The Woodshed School. Click here for details.


The Woodshed School is run by industry veteran, former VCU instructor, and genuinely nice guy, Peter Wood.

Headline Tips

A friend of mine recently asked if I have any tips for writing headlines. I'd never stopped to write any of them down. But here's my incomplete list of headline tips. Like all the advice on this blog, these tips are only sometimes true. Sometimes they will help you write great lines. And sometimes they will be wrong and lead you down paths of lameness. But most of the time, they'll be mostly true.

1. You’ll write 100 headlines for every one worth keeping.
2. Sometimes great body copy can come from the 99 lines that you threw out.
3. You can make your line stronger by removing every word that’s not absolutely necessary.
4. If you have an unusual visual, go for a straight-forward line. If you have a straight-forward visual, put as much character and personality in your line as you can.
5. Finally, we should all stop writing headlines that begin with “Finally,”
6. Avoid the “It’s like a (blank) for your (blank)” formula. This has been done to death.
7. Take inspiration from the Communication Arts Advertising Annuals. Over a decade later, I still think the 1999 and 2000 issues have the best collection of headlines.
8. Headlines are often easier to write when you have a visual in mind – or better yet, a specific photo or illustration tacked to your wall.
9. Don’t believe the platitude that negative words like “not” and “don’t” should be avoided.
10. Write the way people talk. Not the way companies or mission statements want people to talk.
11. Puns are not punny. See?
12. If you’re not having fun writing, you’re not in the right job.

Thank You

You probably know this (hopefully) and you hopefully already do it (probably) but, if not, this is something you need to know and do.

If you interview at an agency, write thank-you notes to everyone who interviewed you. 

Just a simple card or email (cards are nicer, emails work) that thanks them for taking the time. Maybe you mention something you talked about. It goes a long way, and it reminds them of you.

This means that when you interview with people, you might ask if you can have a business card or at least write down their name (spelled correctly).

Chicago Haiku

On this site, we love bragging about other people's side projects. So forgive me while I brag about this one.

Chicago Haiku is a short collection of poetry about the Windy City. If you're from there, you'll understand. To read Jim's review, click here. To preview or order a copy, click here. I hope you enjoy it.

Truth In Advertising

Truth In Advertising is a new book by John Kenney. I haven't read it, but here's a promo for it.


I thought this was worth sharing for a few reasons:

• Focus groups can be like this. Especially the lady with all the issues, and the guy who changes his mind.
• The piece was funny, but I thought it was very over-acted. Subtlety always works best. If you want someone to act confused, don't have them scratch their head; have them bite their tongue in a way you barely notice. I promise - you'll notice.
• I find it interesting when books use social media as marketing. It's probably not a coincidence that authors with backgrounds in advertising do this best.

Three Intangibles

Aside from a great portfolio, here are three things I look for when I'm interviewing someone:

1. A curious mind. I get suspicious if the person I'm interviewing doesn't ask any questions. Our most recent hire, when he interviewed, asked me about our strategies, wanted to see a strategy, asked about the worst part of my job, wanted to know about the structure of the place, the process. He asked me about our client relationships. He asked me what was my favorite work out there. He talked about the kinds of classes he likes to take and his philosophy of always trying new things once. It said he was interested in growing and learning as much as he could.

2. Drive. I like to know that the person has had to work really hard at something. Maybe there's a project that the client killed but they executed anyway because they loved it. Or a side project. Maybe they run a successful website or have started a business or invented an app. Maybe they run marathons or wrote and directed a full-length film. All of those things tell me that this person has the will power to accomplish things. 

3. Enthusiasm. Some people are more low-key than others, but occasionally I'll have someone sitting in my office for an interview and I'll want to reach over the table and feel their neck for a pulse. Creative businesses run on the energy of the people. You don't have to be loopy, but it's nice to, as my little league baseball coach used to shout at the outfielders, "look alive." 

How to Choose An Actor

When you’re shooting a TV spot, you’ll see about 50 people audition for every role you’ve written. Typically, you’ll watch all of these online, and you, your partner and the director will mark the ones you like best. These actors (maybe a third of the people you originally saw) will come in for callbacks, which you’ll usually attend in person. Actor after actor will come into a small room with a camera and act out the scene for you.

I’m shooting with a director who’s very good with actors and dialogue, and I’ve learned a few things from him in callbacks that are great guidelines for choosing actors:

1. Watch their eyes. Their eyes will give away whether or not they believe in their character and the scene. That sounds very ethereal, but when you’re watching 50 different actors audition for one role, just watch the eyes and it will become apparent who’s into it.
2. In dialogue, watch the person who isn’t speaking. It’s easy to look at the person who’s reciting the lines you or your partner wrote. But if you look at the actor who’s supposed to be listening, you can tell if they’re invested in the other character or not.
3. Good actors support their co-actors, bad actors automatically shift into competition. We were auditioning for the role of a father and a son building something together. The son was supposed to say, “You’re going to need a new crosscut saw.” When they start adlibbing, the best actors would simply smile and respond, “Yep. You’re right.” The bad actors would say, “There’s nothing wrong with that saw!” And then the sons would reply, “Come on, Dad! This thing’s been around since the Jefferson administration!” And then the Dad would say, “Ah, you kids don’t know quality when you see it.” Bad actors are looking to stand out, and pitting themselves against any other actor in the room is the easiest way to do that.

This isn’t the kind of thing you’ll learn in portfolio school. So tuck this away and use it when you start casting actors.

Remember, watch the eyes...



And remember, bad actors avoid competition...

Creative Confessional

Here's a fun site for your Friday: Creative Confessional. Worth a few laughs and expresses lots of truths about the crazy industry we work in.

Words from Sally Hogshead

I came across a post today with lots of great advice from Sally Hogshead. The list originally appeared in Nancy Vonk's and Janet Kestin's Pick Me, but I'll link to the blog I found it on.

Advice from Sally:

1. There are no right answers, including these.
2. The hipster creative with tattoos and piercings rarely does the coolest ads.
3. Dominos delivers to Starbucks.
4. Smart beats clever.
5. You’ll create a better book by breaking the rules than by following them.
6. Spend more time thinking, less time executing.
7...read more