Emmanuel Quartey

Lessons learned from Art & Copy: 3 of 5

My favourite quotes from Art & Copy, organized around a theme.

Lesson 3: The things we make, make us

The things we make, make us. The stories we tell others help shape the things we tell ourselves. Ads are an opportunity for brands to interrogate their reason for being.

I think we have higher aspirations for our clients, and are more passionate about what our clients can be, should be, should try to be, than they are. We’re trying to tell them “Hey! You can be more than just a car company. You can be more than just a pet food company. You can aspire to loving dogs, rather than just feeding dogs.”

- Lee Clow (TBWA\Chiat\Day)

The interesting thing about branding is that you’re giving an idea not just to the customer, but to the also to the company itself, of who they are and a sense of themselves, and a sense of their role and their responsibility in the greater economy. That’s at least like being a midwife to something something pretty amazing, you know?

- Dan Wieden (Wieden+Kennedy)

It’s got to be something more than just paid art. It’s got to be bigger than that. It’s a way for big souloessc corportions to actually have a personality and interact woth people but hopefully in a meaningful way. A lot of the time they don’t have anyway to interact with the world, they’re like big lonely beats in their caves, and we help them come out.

- Jeff Goodby (Goodby, Silverstein & Partners)

In order to help their clients identify the virtues they stand for, agencies need to literally fall in love with them.

At Ally, we would get a new account, and the first thing we would do is we would get so damn absorbed in that business that we would almost own it, and then we would go for the product truth - strong ideas, simply presented.

- Jim Durfee (co-founder, Carl Ally Inc.)

I can’t find a better copy of the great Pedigree poster above, but the words on it are as follows:

“We’re for dogs. some people are for whales. Some are for the trees. We’re for dogs. The big ones and the little ones. The guardians and the comedians. The pure breeds and the mutts. We’re for walks, runs and romps. Digging, scratching, sniffing and fetching. We’re for dog parks, dog doors and dog days. If there were an international holidy for dogs, on which all dogs were univerally recognized for their contribution to the quality of life on earth, we’d be for that too. Because We’re for dogs. And we’ve spent the last 60 years working to make them as happy as they’ve made us. Dog rule.”

Lesson 1: People like to be advertised to

Lesson 2: Ads can (and should) reveal rather than obscure

Lesson 3: The things we make, make us

Lesson 4: Ads are an event and an invitation

Lesson 5: Above all, courage