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12/24/2004: "What it Takes to be a Great Copywriter."

Being able to sell through the use of the right words written in just the right way is basically what copywriting is. At least that's my interpretation of the definition. That in and of itself is hard enough. But couple that with one more ingredient and you have what it really takes --- imagination.

I never had much of an imagination. As a child, I thought like an adult. But I had one thing going for me. I had an imaginary friend. Actually I had two. But somewhere along the line I made them mad and they quit talking to me. Since then, coming up with wild ideas took lots of hard work. And those ideas are what make up advertising. Good advertising takes lots of wild ideas. Crazy ideas. Nutty ideas. It takes a wild imagination.

So what do you do when you're like me and don't even get jokes? Well, I've learned to couple my native and taught skills with the natural skills of people with wild imaginations. I read lots of cartoons from The New Yorker Cartoon collection. I read them and learn to laugh at their silliness and see how we need to put outselves in other people's places, put outselves into our pet's places, etc.

Before I begin to write for a client I read some great cartoons and then I put on some wild music and begin to write. I brainstorm. And the ideas come. I put them on a yellow legal pad or the computer and being to outline my work.

So not having an imagination is a handicap to being a copywriter or, for that matter, a writer. But with the help of those who do have an imagination I am able to do what it takes to produce some rather fantastic ads.

I think all good copywriters are good writers and good sales people. But some of us do lack a vivid imagination. That's the one thing we really have to work on. But it's well worth the effort.