By Jeffrey Hedquist
Luke Sullivan: Chair of Advertising, Savannah College of Art & Design. Author of “Hey, Whipple, Squeeze This: A Guide to Creating Great Ads.” He has worked for agencies such as Fallon McElligott Inc., The Martin Agency and GSD&M.
THAT Luke.
The Force: a binding, metaphysical, and ubiquitous power in the fictional universe of the Star Wars galaxy created by George Lucas. The supernatural flow of energy originated from the concept of prana, or qi/chi/ki, “the all-pervading vital energy of the universe”.
1. Get his book. It will make you a better radio writer.
2. While you’re waiting for the book, read and start applying the following principles, which Luke teaches at SCAD.
• What is the truest thing I can say about my product or category?
• It’s not a very big idea if it doesn’t fit on a Post-It note.
• Platforms start talking to you and won’t shut up.
• Where is the emotion in this product, service, or category?
• Identify and leverage the conflicts/tensions/polarities in your product or category.
• All drama is conflict. Find a “bad guy.”
• When everything is okay, people are not interested.
• Bad is stronger than good.
• Without is stronger than with.
• Remember, it’s “got milk?” not “have milk.”
• If tension’s not evident in your category, make it up.
• What is the wrong thing to do? Be disobedient at every turn of the way.
• Will people talk about this idea?
• Are you sure they’ll even let us do this idea?
• Don’t make things for the internet, make things out of the internet.
• It’s less about messaging, more about content.
• It’s less about ads, more about experiences.
• It’s less about talking to, more about talking with.
• It’s less about making people want stuff, more about making stuff people want.
• The new ideas may not look like ads as we know them.
• The new ideas come from culture not commerce.
• The new ideas don’t just fill media spaces, they create them.
• The new ideas are shareable and participatory.
• Would the press cover it?
• Would a person use it?
• Would a person share it?
• “Is what I’m working on beautiful useful or entertaining?” (from R/GA)
• You can’t become X by saying you are X.
• Brand actions speak louder than brand words.
• A brand can’t claim it’s authentic. It must be authentic.
• Authenticity doesn’t mean no agenda, just transparency.
• Can you tell the idea to your best friend with a straight face?
• Simplicity: Your idea should communicate in a FLASH.
• Product = Adjective
• A platform is an idea that creates ideas.
• A platform is not a story. It is the mother of stories.
• Big ideas are good. Long ideas are great. (Doing one good idea is kind of like doing one push-up. It’s pretty easy. The trick is to do it a lot.)
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Here’s wishing you long ideas. Write me a short email if this helps
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