How to write some of the best ads of the last decade

Writing scripts, eh? There must be quite an art to it. I’d imagine that all the great ads have a beautifully worked script behind them that reads like the love child of William Goldman and James Joyce, calling down the twin angels of screenwriting and literature to bring wonderment and genius to the masses.

Well, maybe.

Here’s the first version of Balls:

…Which then became this:

Check how short the ad bit is compared to the overwritten 'client' bit at the end. Overwriting the client bit is a tried and tested technique for making them think you give as much of a shit about the packshot as you do about the Kubrick pastiche that precedes it.

And was ‘Paint’ just like that from the start? Nope, it was about firemen and doggies. Was the existence of people thought to be a no-no?

And lastly, Cake. Now this one has been written with tender loving care and the feeling that a GOOD AD is what you are reading:

And that’s how it’s done.

I think the lesson here is that, as you might expect, much of the ad happens in the execution.

And thanks to anon for sending me these scripts.