It's all relative

How to watch a child die

Avert your gaze from his eyes,
even if they plead for you to be drawn to their depths.
Instead focus on his sallow complexion
the sun crawling on his aged skin,
the colour of the well-trodden carpet
in your living room;
the spot where your son once threw his football boots
and you missed bleaching for the past few years.

Do not try to guess his age
ot say, he is older than he looks
as you study his brittle bones, too-large head
and the empty basket of his ribcage.
Think instead of the sound they may make
when his body is thrown into a ditch;
the sound of the rain whipping through branches,
the crackling of a creek before thaw
or your antique vase
crashing into smithereens
from its place on the matelpiece.

Turn away from the blank faces of your own children
and make no associations.
Pretend you do not notice
how your teenager leaves her food
uneaten on her plate (Convince yourself you are
not an escapist) After all,
this skeletal child is merely
a marionette in a macabre fairytale.

Now, ignore the queasy feeling in your stomach
as you get up to dish out the dessert.
Resolve to write to the authorities
to complain for showing such
disturbing footage during dinner.

Be blind to the broken birds of the child's
hands as they reach out pleading to be held,
the rolling whites of his eyes, the bruised animals
of his lips, parting, as he takes his last...

Turn off the television set.

Children should not know that
(in some very remote parts of the world)
they may die before their mothers.

- Amanda Chong, 16 year old, wrote this poem. It won this year's Foyle Young Poets of the Year Award.

Failures

Before Abraham Lincoln got into the White House, he did the following:

Failed in business in 1831.
Defeated for Legislature in 1832.
Failed in business again in 1833.
Suffered nervous breakdown in 1836.
Defeated for Speaker in 1838.
Defeated for Elector in 1840.
Defeated for Congress in 1843.
Defeated for Congress in 1848.
Defeated for Senate in 1855.
Defeated for Vice President in 1856.
Defeated for Senate in 1858.

He was elected President in 1860, after 29 years of failing in the public limelight.

I know failure too. Over the last month, I had been to 8 agencies, with not a single offering. One of the CD said everything sucked, and told me to stop this nonsense. Bollocks.

I choose not to give up.

Faith

Faith is the currency of the soul. It is the voice that tells us to hold on when the world insult our intentions. It catches us when we crash to the harsh realities of life.

For all it's worth, we find faith only after we throw away everything false to our lives.

Do you have faith?

Secrets

I read a book recently, and found it relevant to advertising. Here are the main principles.

It's tough to answer a brief. Part of the problem is deciding what to say. A good way to begin is to ask: what is my purpose? What am I trying to accomplish by composing and delivering this particular message to this particular audience?

Purpose is a fundamental concept, because the reason we communicate is to get things done. To bring a change in someone's thoughts or actions. We want to move the audience from Point A (where they are, intellectually, emotionally or behaviourally) to Point B. Point B could be buying a product, prefering a brand over another, or simply watching the football match on Saturday.

You can either confirm, challenge or change, your reader's emotions, beliefs or behaviour. They make a matrix of 9 combinations, of which you can only accomplish one at a time. Don't be greedy.

Even if you are only conveying information, try to understand why you are doing so. If not, you might as well read them the phone book.

There should be no secrets about your purpose. Your reader must be able to understand all your intentions. They must understand why each piece of your message is there, and how it fits with the rest.

Never leave them thinking, "Now why is he telling me this?"

Your purpose will control your content. Everything that helps you acomplish your purpose goes in. Other things go out.

What goes into your mesage is also determined by the needs of the audience. In most cases, you will have little personal acquaintances with your audiences. And yet, if your communication is to be effective, you need to make assumptions.

Consider the act of buying a gift for a total stranger. You could buy something (anything), but you won't know how they would react.

Think about the reader, and what you want them to do. Double-check to see if your readers find your message, important, interesting or useful to them. Know when your reader agrees with you and when they think you are bull-shitting.

The audience and the purpose controls the content. Always.

What if we run out?

Ad people think of ideas to solve advertising problems. How do we do it?

In the initial concept stage, we go for quantity, not quality. We let the crap seep out. We churn our minds inside out. We dump every idea remotely related to the problem.

An average thinking session should generate 20 to 30 ideas. If we are lucky, we'll find 2 are good, 6 or 7 are interesting and the rest suck. Without missing a beat, we enter another session and we repeat till the ideal solution turns up.

We have nightmares of the day our ideas run dry. That is why we stock up on trivia and information people have for their day jobs. We rack up irrelevant stuff in the hope of turning it into gold.

When the day comes and we run out of ideas, what happens then?

The world will not stop. Neither will the skies crumble into the embrace of the blue oceans. The invisible hand will not rest and the wheels of capitalism will not grind to a halt. People still love people. Babies still cry. Bees still make honey and the flowers still bloom.

The ad man will shrug his shoulders and head for the streets, where his readers are. The answers don't lie inside our heads. The answer lies inside the readers' minds, and hearts. Too often, we learn this fact only when our ideas don't work and our minds are empty.

The day our ideas run out is the day our minds empty and we open our eyes to see.

Style

This book was written as a guide for novelists to scrub their prose free of dirt. With decent education, everybody can string a coherent sentence. This book brings the writer beyond that. It teaches how to write with impact.

2 themes threaded the chapters together. The first theme reminds writers of the ancient wisdom of showing, not telling. Don't tell how angry you are; show what happened and let the reader feel the rage, firsthand.

This is telling: That jerk made fun of the old man on the street.

This is showing: He took out some change from his pocket and strolled up to the old man trembling by the roadside. "You want them old man? Go pick them." He threw the coins into the mud and snickered as the old man ran after them.

The second theme in the book warns of author intrusion. Unless you are writing an essay, your opinions stay off the page. You want the reader to enter your story. If you share your beliefs, biases or ego, the reader crashes back into reality.

That jerk made fun of the old man on the street. The word "jerk" alerts the reader to your presence. Copywriters must pay extra attention to this point, because you write to the reader, on behalf of the client. If your voice seeps through the copy and disturbs the reader, the ad will fail its purpose.

Chiobu from a game

This is one MMORPG I'm getting into

Ideas vs insights

What makes a good ad? Hard to say. Some say good ads touch people in the heart. Others say good ads sell. Others maintain good ads talk to the audience as if they have known each other for many years.

But they agree, good ads have an idea.

Imagine a night market where people exhibit their wares. Some swear by the quality of their wares; others under-price; some wait for the elusive customer to pursue them; others lie.

Let's say a store is selling knives. The owner may demonstrate his knives by slicing steel that looks like butter. Clever eh? The first impression is butter. On a closer look, you realise it's steel and wow.

The owner is pleased. He sells the sharpest knives. And people noticed it in a different way.

An idea leads the reader towards a familiar line of information, and at the very last minute, you ram your real message into his mind. Like military tactics of firebase and flanking. You distract him enough for your clever idea to assault from an unexpected source. The reader never sees it coming.

How about insights? What are insights?

They are the peepholes of humanity. They spring from a warm-blooded human being. People who engage in the same activities will share the same insights, though they might not notice them. It's like the water surrounding the fish. You don't know till you are out of it.

For example, people procrastinate when it comes to tedious labour, like physical sports. Especially physical sports. So Nike said, Just Do It. Nothing fancy. No brilliant idea. You'll see it coming a mile away. But everytime it hits, you'll still miss a heartbeat. Because it's real. Just do it.

Good ads have ideas. Good ads have insights. Great ads, have insights to power the idea.

Imagine you always score 2nd in school, in sports and in life (come on, it's not that hard). You never enjoy the glamour of winning. You don't have enough fans. People hesitate to place trust in you. What do you do?

You try harder. Insight of the hardworking.

Right. Take a look around you. Everybody's trying hard. Even slackers lie about trying hard. Why should people belive you?

How about, you try harder, because you are only #2. Not #1. Not #3. Ah ha, the idea.

#1 is fine. No problems. Just keep doing the safe thing. #2 is not. They have a target in front, and #3, 4, 5 and plenty more behind. #2 gotta keep moving. #2 tries harder, or they won't stay #2 for long.

Exactly what Avis did in their ads. One of the best campaigns ever, with a USP others cannot steal. How can another competitor proclaim they are #2? Or say they try harder?

An idea is clever. An insight is true. Combine them, and you'll achieve greatness. Good luck.