Our world is changing. Advertising agencies blew the web opportunity the first time around, but they’re not going to let this happen again. They’re smart. They understand communication. They can run persuasive rings around BJ Fogg. And they’ve been doing user research since before Jakob Nielsen was born. The last couple of years, IAs have learned to appreciate business thinkers like Philip Kottler and Peter Drucker. Now it’s time to get acquainted with the ad industry’s pioneers: Claude Hopkins, John Caples, Rosser Reeves, Bill Bernbach, and David Ogilvy. This presentation will take a closer look at what ad agencies consider “good” advertising, how they interpret “concept,” and why our notion of “proof of concept” is completely nonsensical in the world of advertising. I’ll show you some successful campaigns and some award-winning campaigns -- these are not necessarily the same thing -- and explain out why these are admired or condemned by so-called “creatives” at ad agencies.

1. Why the Mad Men are mad at us
Eric Reiss
@elreiss
IA Summit
30 March 2014
San Diego, USA
A politically incorrect review

3. Jacques
Séguéla

4. “Don’t tell my mother I work in
an advertising agency. She thinks
I play piano in a whorehouse.”
Jacques Séguéla

5. Big Al’s Brothel
(one flight up)

6. ad· ver· tise
verb
1 : inform, notify
2 : to call public attention to esp. in order to sell

7. where the
best cloth is
woven to
your desires,
a whole gold
coin is offered”
“For the
return of my
slave to the
shop of Hapu
the Weaver,

8. We can’t expect Don to understand
how we think
until we understand
how Don thinks

9. Three ways that guarantee
we lose our place at the table
Insisting we invented user research
Misunderstanding “concept”
Humiliating established art directors

10. A brief history of advertising

11. We all know that
Jakob invented user testing...

12. 1925

14. John Caples
1932 >

15. “Accept nothing as true about
what works best in advertising
until it has been scientifically
tested.”
John Caples
1932

16. OK. But we really understand research...

17. 1908

19. Claude Hopkins
1930 >

20. “Talk to the people who are going
to buy your product. This is the
first step in any successful campaign”
Claude Hopkins
1930

21. Well, B.J. taught us about trustbuilding ...
And Kristina taught us about
the value of content...

22. 1960

23. 1962 >1983 >
David Ogilvy

24. “What really decides consumers
to buy or not to buy is the content
of your advertising, not its form.”
David Ogilvy
1962

25. A few other advertising legends ...

26. Rosser Reeves
“Find the USP.”

27. Leo Burnett
“Find the drama.”

28. Bill Bernbach
“Tell the story”

29. Phyllis Robinson
“Tell the story”

30. Meet the Mattel See ’n Say

31. problem ?
Jeez, Eric, what’s the

32. Awareness
Interest
Desire
Action
A
I
D
A

33. “The secret of all effective originality
in advertising is not the creation of
new and tricky words and pictures,
but one of putting familiar words
and pictures into new relationships.”
“The secret of all effective originality
in advertising is not the creation of
new and tricky words and pictures,
but one of putting familiar words
“The secret of all effective originality
in advertising is not the creation of
new and tricky words and pictures,
but one of putting familiar words
and pictures into new relationships.”
Leo Burnett
1956

34. Winter landscape

35. Scene of the crime

41. What makes a “See ’n Say”
the lowest form of advertising?
It relies on
eyecatching irrelevancy!

45. Forcing a see ’n say

49. See ’n Say is acceptable for illustrations
(but only just)

52. See ’n Say is fine for logos
(because they are icons)

54. “Sex sells”

55. Helen Resor
“Sex sells.”

59. Babies, boobs, and beagles

69. Pseudo-creativity

73. Tell the story
Find the drama

75. Photo courtesy of Mark Hurst

78. Apogee – a lesson learned ... and forgotton

83. Ad agencies don’t always get it right either

85. “Do you want fine writing?
Or do you want your fucking
sales to go up?”
Rosser Reeves
1961

86. Let’s turn to the concept of concept

87. In advertising, concept represents the
big idea

89. In the web world,
concept represents ... er ...

91. In advertising, there is only one
proof of concept

94. Now entering the mind of the art director

95. Now entering the mind of the art director

104. Let’s kill a myth

105. “All advertising
is good advertising.”
They

106. Fact:
A Milwaukee brewer found out
sales fell among target audiences that
could remember their advertising!

107. 1972

108. 1982

109. 1984

110. Bernice Fitz-Gibbon
1967 >

111. Webmaster Webmaster
Visual designer
Copywriter
Developer
Visual designer
Information architect
Copywriter
Front-end engineer
Full-stack developer
Visual designer
UI designer
Interaction designer
Content strategist
Information architect
Content providers
SEO consultant
Social media guru
Product manager
Project manager
Token baby boomer
1995 1998 2000 2014

112. “Creativity varies inversely with
the number of cooks involved
in the broth.”
Bernice Fitz-Gibbon
1967

113. “In all the parks, in all the cities,
you won’t find statues of committees.”
David Ogilvy
1962

115. Eric Reiss can (usually) be found at:
The FatDUX Group ApS
Strandøre 15
2100 Copenhagen
Denmark
Office: (+45) 39 29 67 77
Mobil: (+45) 20 12 88 44
Twitter: @elreiss
info@fatdux.com
www.fatdux.com