EDITORIALS
Patton Must Have Worked in Advertising
General George S. Patton must have worked in advertising, because he said, “Good tactics can save even the worst strategy. Bad tactics will destroy even the best strategy.” And it's true. People never see your strategy. They see an ad. Or experience a website. Or hear a radio spot. And if it's clever or exciting or emotional, they'll connect with it. Maybe Patton was having lattes with Mike Lescarbeau and Luke Sullivan and overheard them say that big ideas are like nuclear bombs, in that neither has to land precisely on target to work.
Joseph Stalin must have worked in advertising, because he said, "Quantity has a quality all of its own." And it's true. If try to come up with one big idea, it'll probably take you two weeks to do it. And it'll be terrible. But if you dare yourself to have 50 ideas, they effortlessly pour from your brain onto paper and at least a couple are always, always brilliant.
Robert Kaplan must have worked in advertising, because he wrote that the battlefield is more intellectually stimulating than the Potomac, because "ideas can only be tested through application." And it's true. There are people working in the advertising industry who position themselves as "strategic thinkers" purely because they don't have any actual skills. Fuck 'em and their ability to work phrases like "30,000 foot view" into everyday conversations. Nobody lives at 30,000 feet. Spend all your time up there and the lack of oxygen will fry your brain. If an insight doesn't lead to a great execution, get a new insight.
Napoleon Bonaparte must have worked in advertising, because he said, "The most important qualification of a soldier is fortitude under fatigue and privation." And it's true. Lots of people have good ideas. Unfortunately, there are a lot of ways for those ideas to die. A great creative knows that coming up with an idea is only the first step. Then you have to sell it and watch it die and be willing to go back to the well over and over again until you find an idea that lives. And then you have to tirelessly pursue your idea through revisions and updates and productions and post-productions. Napoleon must have traded text messages with Paul Arden just after he wrote, "Energy is 99% of the job. If you haven't got it, be nice."
Or maybe none of them worked in advertising. Maybe advertising just feels a lot like war.
Matt is a writer at Karsh\Hagan.
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Comments
Great post Matt. I really enjoyed this one.
Perhaps the good Lord was in advertising, because we all know that "Jesus wept."
Nice post Matt.
This is how you write a post. It makes me want to write a post. But then it again, it makes me want to write a post that's as good as this.
My guess is that anyone that has actually been in combat would strongly disagree with the concluding statement of this commentary.
Seriously, dude? It's a metaphor.
I got that it's a metaphor. I would just hope that in the quest/process of making Denver (and other locales) suck less, that a better metaphor would be used. Believe me, I (and others like myself) don't care for it when sportscasters use a similar metaphor describing games/athletes sometimes.
I really don't think dealing with the BS we have to deal with in advertising compares to being shot at, having mines go off all around one, or seeing friends being wounded or killed...
War is like advertising.
Advertising is like playing Risk while watching Platoon with the volume turned up all the way.
Advertising is like having your in-laws living in your house, and critiquing your decor and routines.
Hey, I'm a designer, not a copywriter... ;-)
I think Bill M. is right, here. The point of my essay is that ad folks can learn from history's great military thinkers. And the way it's written now, the last sentence undercuts the rest of my post a bit. It should've been, like, "Or maybe none of them worked in advertising. Maybe advertising could just learn a lot from war." Or something along those lines.
Matt, I did enjoy and appreciate the post overall, for sure. I'm glad you didn't find my critique of that last line to be overly harsh, or if you did, that you still responded with a classy post. Cheers!
Nice post Matt. The quotes you used definitely offer a new spin on some common (and some all-too-common) aspects of the biz. When I worked on Coors one of the L.A. or Chicago agencies they brought in (only to fire them in less than two years) used "30,000 foot" to the point where I wanted to find a 30,000 foot cliff and push the entire agency off of it.
Thanks for making me think.
Matt and Chris, for sure the "30,000 foot" buzzword, and others like it, are beyond cringe-worthy.
The best four paragraphs this site has posted. Thanks.
+1, Dr. J.
Real good stuff Matt. You and Felix would make a good team. Damn good thinking and accompanying writing.
Thoughtful post that brings us back to reality. Now it's "damn the torpedos, full speed ahead".
Felix is too much of a wind bag to match with Matt.
There'll be eight paragraphs and less said. Stay solo Matt.
The Napoleon metaphor works for me - not because i think we endure the same stress or danger as a soldier but because there's a certain "united front" that's required to have a successful team and follow through on cutting edge ideas. Client's can be your concepts worst enemy and without the right team backing it up, it's likely it'll get it's dong blown off on the battle field. However if you have the kind of Owners that allow risk, the kind of Account Managers that know how to lead the client toward the light and the right kind of Producers/Project Managers that take the time to understand the concept and assure it's executed per the original intention - your idea has a chance to make it home to the promise land to bang it's wife and get that baby boom in full effect.
Robert Betts
Akavit Group
Nice Post Matt!
Matt, I usually find the war reference in the office place overused and trite. Right up there with greens fees or par for the course.
But not on this level of analysis. Thanks for the inspirational persecutive on what it takes to do good work. I truly appreciate the tactic of tapping into positivity to help Denver suck less.
^^ *perspective ^^
Matt,
Thanks for this article and validating my use of the "get out lots of ideas" process. Creatives and clients who expect to shit out magic in "round 1" are asking for trouble. Why not let your clients in on some of the process and educate them along the way? It's not always fun, but since so many pieces end up a compromise, it might as well have been a pleasant experience. And sometimes those stupid, stupid clients have better ideas *gasp* than the agencies do.
Lovely writing, but I'm confused. Who's the enemy? Consumers? Or clients?
Either way it's kind of a bummer.
Maybe the question is: why does it feel like a war? If it does, maybe we're doing something wrong...
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