The mysteries of art direction and copywriting
Ever since I’ve worked in advertising I’ve thought that art directors have one massive advantage over copywriters: they can make their job seem to be a series of arcane, impenetrable mysteries in a way that copywriters cannot.
‘I think the greens look a little cold over there.’
‘The balance of the composition just isn’t strong enough.’
‘I think we need to revisit the contrast on that shot.’
Of course, those are entirely reasonable things for an AD to say, and they might well need the suggested attention, but whether they are right or wrong, they will undoubtedly make all the non-ADs in the room shut the fuck up for fear of seeming stupid or tasteless.
Whereas the poor copywriters have to contend with every man and his dog mentally waving that GCSE English Grade B in the face of any line that vaguely troubles them. It’s far easier for them to say, ‘Does that have to be a semi colon?’ than ‘Shouldn’t we up the cyan on that image?’. Unless they’re a professional AD they’re going to be pretty concerned about hearing the response, ‘The cyan? There is no cyan. That’s entirely magenta. Did you mean magenta?’ But place some English in front of anyone and they’ll be able to reach back to those ten great emails they wrote, their teenage diary or a tasty keynote presentation from 2008, and offer a verbal adjustment.
That doesn’t necessarily mean they’re wrong (or right); English often comes down to taste and opinion (particularly advertising English, which regularly sacrifices correctness for accessibility) and that vagueness can lead to a wider range of arguments. Many’s the time I’ve had a chat about whether or not we should end a sentence with a full stop, trade a highfalutin’ colon for a run-of-the-mill comma, or use bullet points instead of proper sentences. There is a correct answer, but it can make people uncomfortable enough to change it. They have enough confidence to say what is right or wrong but not enough to believe in the answer which is not their own.
If this sounds copywriter-whingey, it’s not intended to be. I’m just trying to point out that whatever you arm someone with, they will be inclined to use. In art direction most people couldn’t punch their way out of a wet paper bag, but in writing many people at least have a baseball bat.
Coincidentally, it often feels as if that is the very tool they are using.
Argh, this is so annoyingly true. I think it’s also because all clients have a copy of Word, but few have Photoshop or any idea of how to use it.
One day, I’d really love to respond, “If Word is all you need to be a great writer, then use it to write me a bestselling novel”.
….obviously written from a copywriters perspective. From where I’m standing it seems like clients have got access to a few dozen typefaces on Word, so they’re experts in typography. They can take pictures on their mobile phones, grade them and add filters, so they’re experts in photography too.
There’s a reason why I do so much personal creative work……..TO GET THE FINAL SAY!
I hear you loud and clear, Mark.
The playing field is being levelled, but downwards, not upwards.
Joe Pytka (notably irascible US director – in case you were wondering) was interrupted on a shoot by a nervous agency Art Director. The AD wondered, er, if it wasn’t, um, too much trouble – could he, well, have a look down the viewfinder…?
“SURE!” boomed Pytka – and the trembling AD stepped up and peered down the camera. Seemingly satisfied, he walked away.
The agency Copy Writer piped up – “Er, could I have a look too, do you think Mr Pytka?”.
Joe waved him forward and – as the poor bloke was looking down the viewfinder – the director (in front of the entire crew, cast, catering bods and general hangers on…) boomed:
“See any WORDS down there Mr Copy Writer???!!”
Could have been worse. He could have said ‘crush the blacks’…
….oh, just one thing I forgot to say at the end of my comment…..’still, mustn’t grumble’.
Ever since I’ve worked in advertising I’ve thought that copywriters have one massive advantage over art directors: they get to go home at six o’clock.
Most copywriters are fucking awful writers though, let’s be honest.
Some are very talented, undoubtedly.
But most are just awful.
I think it started with the ‘we’re both the writer and the art director’ student trend of the mid 90s.
Plus, any dickhead with an ego, a blog and a twitter-handle can call themselves a ‘copywriter’ now. People with two years experience are going ‘freelance’ and acting like they know everything.
No wonder clients don’t respect the profession. How can they tell the artist from the bullshitter?
Good copywriters are thin on the ground. And the good ones pay the penalty for the charlatans.
There is no urge so great as for one man to edit another man’s work – Mark Twain
Client comments on Mark Twain Quote: Hmm I think this could work better, I’m no writer, but people tell me my emails are great:- There is no *better* [customers like things that are better don’t they? Better is a key selling word, plus, it’s shorter and to the point, takes out the flowery language, people don’t have time to read there days, do they?] urge as for one *person* [more politically correct] to edit another person’s [again] work [feel it needs more of a ‘call to action’ here] so do it, do it now – today! [exclamation mark adds emphasis, don’t you think? I do].
Copywriters make their job seem to be a series of arcane, impenetrable mysteries in a way that Art Director’s can’t, as well. Did you say, ‘Does it scan?’? No one care whether the infinitive is split or not. Or that you must not start a sentence with a conjunction. At the end of the day who gives a fuck about an Oxford comma?
My point, John, is that people can more readily blow those CW mysteries out of the water, as you just did. And the day scansion comes up in a copy review is the day I eat my fingers.
When we were freelancing it was much easier to get work as a copywriter. I think it was because the FD actually knows what a writer does in the building. Someone who is ‘crushing the blacks’ or ‘ring-fencing the visual brand saliency’ is harder to justify somehow.
I heard someone here say that ‘visuals are the new copy’. Really. With not a jot of irony. A surprising amount of blood when I splintered his nose bone with my forehead.
“Ben, great post, but can you put all this content into an Excel doc? Thanks.”
I used to write copy for BMW ads when they were good (pre-Joy). Anyhoo I got very fed up with the client rewriting the copy so I would write the begining gag and the end gag and let them fill in all the middley bit. You know. All the gumph about Horse Power and shit.
Saved a lot of time.
Ben,
Surely the ‘story’ needs to scan and visually be uncluttered – that’s it. The rest is just gubbins.
As for ‘widows’. Well that’s a different kettle of fish.
for the most part, if an ad is good or bad, it can usually at least look good. that’s the advantage of art direction. but words….gee well we all know words, don’t we?
fucking headache of an agency i most recently worked at was where the account folks and the planners would stand around a headline..
“ok, let’s figure out what this should say. you throw out a word, you throw out a word and i’ll throw out a word. then we’ll put them all together to form a sentence. shit we all know english, right?”
then it’d make no sense…
“hmmm…this isn’t working. ok, you throw out another word, i’ll throw out another word….”