I didn't.
A year or two passed and I finally bought it. But it stayed on the shelf for another few months before I finally read it and realised what a true douchetard I was for taking so long.
I'd like to blame the creative who reco'd the book, seeing that "Hey, read this." isn't exactly a compelling call to action, but I take full responsibility here - imagine how great I'd have been had I read this book two years earlier??
This is one of the best how to make ads books out there and should be required reading for every creative wannabe.
It's no coincidence that my fav ad book references my fav toilet paper
(Mr Whipple was Charmin's spokesperson in the 60s+ Here's one of the spots)
Some thoughtful person(s) have compiled reviews on some of the top advertising books (a few I didn't know existed and added to my Amazon cart) at The Agency Review
If you haven't read it yet, hopefully my endorsement and/or the review get you to put it in your cart too.
Hey Whipple, Squeeze This
I was recently at an agency talking to some
young copywriters about the business of making advertising with words,
when I noticed this edition of Luke Sullivan’s great book sitting on one
of their desks. The copywriter told me that one of the senior
copywriters had told him to read it, and she had been given it by their
CD a few years back.
Or said another way, things are in good hands in this agency’s copyland.
If you’re not familiar with “Hey Whipple,
Squeeze This” – and you should be – then let’s start at the beginning
with the author. Luke Sullivan honed his copywriter and CD skills at
some of the most creative shops of the last thirty years, agencies like
Fallon McElligot, the Martin Agency and GSD&M. Now he’s the Chairman
of the Advertising Department at the Savannah College of Art &
Design. So, like that other ad man who laid out some important how-to’s
(and how not to’s) earlier in the last century, Sullivan knows what he’s
talking about.
And speaking of David Ogilvy, it is
difficult to talk about “Whipple” without at least referencing “Ogilvy
on Advertising” (which we reviewed here). Because until Sullivan’s book, Ogilvy’s was the
guide to creating ads. Agree with it, disagree with it or fling it out
the window in long form copy frustration, it, like “Confessions of an
Advertising Man” twenty years before it (reviewed here)
at least had the cojones to plant a flag in the ground about this
business. It at least said “This I believe. You believe differently?
Good, prove that your way is better.” And until “Whipple”, no one really
had – at least, not as well.
Sullivan’s book covers just about every
aspect of advertising, and not just the ones you’d expect. Of course
there are chapters on TV (Chapter 5, “In the Future, Everyone Will be
Famous for 30 Seconds”) and radio (Chapter 6, “Radio is Hell, but it’s a
Dry Heat”), and the book is packed with some of the greatest print ads
of the last 60 years. But there’s also a brief history of advertising
that will have you laughing out loud and saying “oh, THAT’s why
it’s like that…”. Plus a chapter on how to protect your work (Chapter 9
“Pecked to Death by Ducks”), one on how to get into the business you’ve
been reading about for the past nine chapters (Chapter 10, “A Good Book
or a Crowbar”) and why this is still a business you should want to
get into, in spite of everything you’ve read or been told to the
contrary (Chapter 11, “Making Shoes vs. Making Shoe Commercials”).
But what really makes this such a great book
is not its surprising comprehensiveness, nor that it offers updated
thinking about how to make ads. Nor is it his elegant evisceration of
the Charmin advertising of the 1960s and 70s. No, what makes this worth
running out and buying is that it really captures the flavor of what it
feels like to work in a great creative department. It has the funny,
snarky, cynicism that runs rampant in the best agencies, tempered with
the smartness, insight and context that are the hallmarks of the best
creatives and shops. Or said another way, if you’re in advertising and
you find this book tedious, boring and incomprehensible, then you really
should re-consider your career choice because you will probably never
be happy making ads.
Now, to be clear, this review addresses the second edition
of “Hey Whipple, Squeeze This” which came out in 2003; since then two
subsequent editions have been published, the most recent in 2012 which
purports to address social media and other emerging platforms. It may,
and I would like to assume that it does so with the wit, creativity and
brilliance that the rest of the book does. But I could be wrong, and if
advertising – and Luke Sullivan, for that matter – has taught me nothing
it has at least taught me to take nothing for granted.
But whatever edition, here’s the thing that
makes this book valuable to you: Read it and not only will you sound
like you know what you’re talking about, there’s a better than average
chance you actually will know what you’re talking about. Better yet, you may even know why the difference is so damn important.
And that’s something of which Mr. O would definitely approve.
Hey Whipple, Squeeze This by Luke Sullivan was published by Adweek/Wiley on 04/04/03 – order it from Amazon here or from Barnes & Noble here - or pick it up at your local bookseller ( find one here).
