Simple Human Truths

(It's true you can have it cheaper)

This is what I have been taught should be found in every great ad. As a student preparing to enter the advertising world as a Junior Creative (a copy writer to be exact), I have to believe that I can find the simple human truth in any product. In a sequence of classes that I will be taking until I graduate, I am compiling a student book that will eventually have about 20 ads in it. This will be my portfolio to show to prospective employers, and it's supposed to be filled with ads that are better than anything out there. If I thought that finding these truths was an impossible task, I wouldn't be pursuing advertising as a career.

This is not to say that I don't have my moments when I think, "What have I gotten myself into?" The moments when I think I can't push my creativity any further.

It's a daunting, frustrating process: picking a product, coming up with a campaign, executing that campaign, then constantly figuring out ways to make it better. To make it great. Right now, this all accumulates with a critique at the end of each semester, where copy writers and art directors from advertising firms come and let us know if our ads suck or not. It's daunting now, and I'm dealing with prodcuts that I've chosen, and I don't have my career on the line. Some day the process will accumulate with my ads, hopefully, being put out into the real world. Some day I might actually have to come up with a campaign for a pooper scooper. Or Vagisil. Is it possible to always make great advertising?

If there's anything that I've learned so far, it is that creativity is something that can be disciplined. You can train your creativity, and find your own method of reigning it in. That's been valuable.

And if nothing else, I've seen some really funny ads. Here's one for example.

I don't know what its human truth is, but the woman screaming "BABIES!" makes me laugh every time.

Enjoy.

Oh, yeah, and you're allowed to laugh at the phrase "simple human truth." I have. A lot.