Naming a product is a recurrent event and is taken very seriously indeed. One major agency was once engaged in naming a new brand of margarine. Every copywriter was asked to put in a list. A well known joker thought he would liven things up a bit. Unfortunately, his list somehow slipped through the cordon and appeared among those submitted to the client. Top of his list was the word 'Butter'. The agency account man must have had a sticky time explaining that one to the client.
What sort of person should you be if you think advertising writing is the job for you? You should certainly be prepared to learn, to master the intricacies of an unknown subject, whether it is unit trusts, central heating, a children's charity or a health education issue. Acquiring this kind of expertise brings its own rewards and it is gratifying to discover that it is often easier to explain a subject to others when you have had some difficulty mastering it yourself.
You should understand and sympathize with other people. Talking down to them doesn't work. Generally, their reasons for buying things aren't very different from yours. Be aware of current public opinion - the writer who advertised a vacuum cleaner with the words: 'At last a turbo for women drivers' was running a grave risk of alienating women.
You should be interested in literature and there are excellent reasons for this. For example, the ability to parody a style can be a useful skill. You should also be interested in the theatre, cinema, television, and music and include them regularly in your life. Remember you will play your part in casting commercial or commissioning background music. Besides, a good sense of rhythm will improve your writing.
One of the most important aspects of a writer's creative personality is the degree to which he or she is sensitive and responsive to changes in public tastes, and is able to sense when such changes are in the ascendancy, acceptable to the vast majority of people, and can be successfully used within an advertising context. Such sensitivity is a valuable gift.
There are fashions in advertising as in most other things. This affects the visual side as well as the writing of campaigns. Yesteryear it was 'Guinness is good for you'. Today it is 'Are you Guinn less?'. A strange flying bird was once the mascot on every poster, now the manufacturer shows young tee shirted males in the prime of their vitality. Society changes, fashions in advertising change, it is a constantly altering environment from which and in which you will write.
Writers need to have good judgment. This can sometimes mean throwing away your own idea when your art director has come up with a better one-very hard on your ego but a necessary victory for good judgment.
As you will often have to sell your own work, it helps to be a good and persuasive talker who gets on well with people inside and outside the agency.
Will you ever be asked to do something you don't believe in like advertising cigarettes, animal fur fashions, and the political party you don't like, or processed foods you can't abide? Almost certainly not. Your principles and hard held prejudices will be respected if for no other reason than one of simple commercial sense: you probably wouldn't do a good job creating the advertisement even if you tried, because you actively disbelieve in the product or proposition. All, of course, also depends greatly on your agency. Some are more 'tolerant' than others.
The big London agencies with their billing largely on television find it saves time and money to farm out some writing work to specialized companies or freelancers. This could apply to trade advertising, or business-to-business advertising as it is called now, particularly if this is highly technical. Below-the-line advertising, the term generally used for merchandising in stores including in-store promotions, is another case in point. In a small agency the writer would probably have to devise these himself. In another, there might be a separate below-the-line department. A big agency might put the work out to an independent merchandising company. Heavy writing jobs such as brochures are often given to freelancers who specialize in subjects like financial or technical writing. In a small agency, however, you'd probably be expected to cope.
Advertising writing is an absorbing and interesting job with lots of laughs and lots of rewards, not least financially, if you prove to be good at it.
What are the disadvantages? Most notably the sheer agony of sitting over a blank sheet of paper when ideas just don't come. A top copy writer says: 'When I look at people's work now I'm searching for signs of an original mind...of imagination.'
What's the worst that can happen? Seeing a great campaign strangled to death. It can happen. Although clients like to boast of buying the best advertising advice, they don't always have the sense or the courage to take it.
Although in much television advertising there isn't much to say, it is still important to be able to write. The people who gravitate to it are the so-called 'funsters' - people attracted to the entertainment business. At best, they have an instinctive feeling for what will please people and make them like the product. It is a great gift. Few people have it, but as there are comparatively few copywriter positions in London, you can't just waltz in and expect to make a mark.
In the final analysis, the nicest thing about writing for advertising is that you are judged by what you can do.
