Paul Arden: It's Not How Good You Are, It's How Good You Want To Be
In “It's Not How Good You Are, It's How Good You Want To Be” the late Paul Arden, Creative Director at Saatchi and Saatchi, offers up some of the lessons he learnt during a lifetime in advertising.
Here’s 10.
Do not seek praise. Seek criticism. Instead of seeking approval, ask, “What’s wrong with this work? How can I make it better?“. You are more likely to get a truthful answer. And you’re more likely to get an answer that improves the work.
Do not covet your ideas. Give away what you know and more will come back to you. When you hoard ideas you live off your reserves. You become stale. If you give away everything you have, you are forced to constantly replenish.
There’s no such thing as a bad brief. Don’t look for the next opportunity. We are always waiting for the perfect brief from the perfect client. They never come. Make whatever is on your desk right now the one. Make it the best it can possibly be.
The person who doesn’t make mistakes is unlikely to make anything. Failures and false starts are a precondition of success. You should not be fired for being wrong, you should be fired for not trying. Failure is a major contributor to success.
It’s wrong to be right. In advertising, what’s ‘right’ is based upon existing knowledge. It’s based on experience of the past. Which makes it safe. Boring even. It’s the opposite of originality and creativity.
Rough layouts sell the idea better than polished ones. If you show a highly polished computer layout, the client will focus on the execution not the idea. Show a scribble. Explain it. Talk through it. Involve your client. Let them use their imagination.
If you get stuck, draw with a different pen. Layouts are typically drawn with felt tip pens on paper. Instead create layouts in watercolours, charcoal, pencils, fountain pens, real ink. Changing your tools can change your thinking.
Do not try to win awards. Awards are judged in committee by consensus of what is known. In other words, what is in fashion. But originality can’t be fashionable, because it hasn’t yet had the approval of the committee. Do not try to follow fashion.
Accentuate the positive. Find out what’s right about your product or service and then dramatise it. You know a horse can jump a ditch, so accept it can jump the Grand Canyon. Providing there is a basic truth you can dramatise it to infinity.
Get out of advertising. Ask an ad exec who directed a VW ad and they’ll tell you. Ask them the director of the National Theatre and they won’t know. 90% of adland’s inspiration comes from other advertising. To be original, seek inspiration from elsewhere.
If you enjoyed these ten advertising lessons, Arden’s book is packed full of many more.
Highly recommended read.
Get your copy here.