Product Description

In this second edition of the irreverent, celebrated Hey Whipple, Squeeze This, master copywriter Luke Sullivan looks at the history of advertising, from the good to the bad to the ugly. Updated to include two extended final chapters with in-depth prescriptions for building a career in advertising, this edition also features a real-world look at the day-to-day operations of today's ad agencies. Among the most disparaged campaigns in advertising history, the Mr. Whipple ads for Charmin toilet paper were also wildly successful. Sullivan explores the Whipple phenomenon, examining why bad ads sometimes work, why great ads sometimes fail, and how advertisers can learn to balance creative work with the mandate to sell products.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #40459 in Books
• Published on: 2003-04-04
• Original language: German
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 288 pages

Review
"Overall, if you want to get into doing banner ads, this book makes a great read…I feel like a better ad designer now that I’ve read it!" (TamsPalm blog, September 2006)

From the Publisher
A funny, irreverent overview of the good, the bad, and the ugly in advertising. Luke Sullivan, a copywriter at one of the nation's most prestigious ad agencies, divulges all the secrets to making a great ad. With hysterical examples and anecdotes, he gives tips and pointers on how to create an ad that will "go in one ear and stay there."

From the Back Cover
Veteran copywriter Luke Sullivan returns with an updated edition of his irreverent warts-and-all look at the advertising industry. Part how-to book and part exposé, Hey Whipple, Squeeze This is both an insider's guide to writing great ads and an unapologetic send up of all that's heavy-handed, dim-witted, and ineffectual in the industry.

Updated to include the latest campaigns, this edition presents a real-world look at the day-to-day operations of today's ad agencies and examines the good, the bad, and the downright ugly ads the industry produces. Sullivan provides pointers, tips, and guidelines on how to write and produce ads for print, TV, radio, billboards, and more, while regaling you with hilarious war stories.

PRAISE FOR THE FIRST EDITION:

"Luke Sullivan writes just about as relevant an advertising read as you can get. It's a perfect lesson in advertising for newcomers—and a familiar and laughably painful reminiscence for those of us entrenched in this noble and often crazy profession."
—Lee Clow, Chairman, TBWA\Chiat\Day, Chief Creative Officer, Worldwide

"Luke Sullivan knows the business and writes about it with . . . gentle wit and insight."
—Dan G. Wieden, Wieden & Kennedy

"The most informative and entertaining book about life as it really is in the creative department of an advertising agency. Even account men could write great ads after reading it."
—Tim Delaney, Leagas-Delaney, London

"In an advertising world filled with glib, fast-talking 'experts' more adept at arranging lunch than writing ads, Luke Sullivan is the exception. Here, at last, is a step-by-step primer for anyone interested in writing effective, powerful, breakthrough ads."
—Tom McElligott, cofounder, Fallon McElligott

Customer Reviews

THE KETCHUP ON ALL THE FRIES
this book its amazing from the first page, im sure this will help to all students and people in the ad biz in general, i have 3 years working in an ad agency, and i have found this book the best yet, you can squeeze it once in a while and you get refreshed on concepts and how to redirect your process, its great, i only regret not having these book 4 years ago. Buy it and take care of it, keep it close to ya!

vik

Sqeezed. And happy.
As a copywriter i really enjoyed this book. I found confirmation of my thoughts, got new ideas and techniques. And that was the general idea, right?

Useless for advertising people
The advertising campaigns that are easiest to remember are those that repeat empty slogans: "Just do it"; "I'm lovin' it"; "It's the real thing"; "It's a Sony"; "I like Ike"; and the like, so to speak. One presumes that the lack of referents in such successful slogans is exactly what leads to their success: consumers can read into them what they will and make the "message" appropriate for them.
Unfortunately, good books do not function in the same way. Good books have a specific message and convey the message well. This book, then, is decidedly not a good one, insofar as Sullivan does not seem to have any specific message or, indeed, firm advice (save for not mentioning telephone numbers more than once in radio ads). Instead, the author offers page after endless page of anecdotes about working in advertising, weak, sophomoric jokes about the poor (most egregiously) and those who don't think the "creative" hackwork of sloganeering is important or difficult, and an unsystematic (and surprisingly spare) selection of advertisements he likes or does not.
The substance of the book (including illustrations) could have been fit into ten pages. The remainder of the 234 pages of the edition I have are filled mostly with undereducated and very often incorrect or misremembered references to pop (in a broad sense) culture backed with "research" of the "I read somewhere" sort (or, essentially, no research whatsoever). Further filler comprises a great deal of self congratulation and back-slapping of buddies.
I can imagine those in advertising being encouraged by "Whipple," but honestly cannot see anyone learning anything specific from it that couldn't be learned from any of scores of other books.
I would have given this one star, but actually found it useful myself: I left (because of the shame of wasting my life in such a manner) the advertising business nearly 25 years ago. Not a month has gone by that I have not been glad I did, and this reading this book gave me that good feeling anew: thank all that is good that I am out of advertising.