"True and substantial wisdom principally consists of two parts, the knowledge of God, and the knowledge of ourselves." -John Calvin (1509-1564)
The opening sentence of "Institutes of the Christian Religion" by John Calvin
is not only something i believe is fundamental to living, but fundamental to becoming a high level advertising creative. I know i sound silly saying that.
I mean it nonetheless.
It will take me a while to write what i'm thinking.
Heck, it'll take me a while to think what i'm thinking.
You're invited to participate.
Comment.
Let's see if there is much to be gained by learning out loud in front of each other.
I'll start:
My thought, in reading Calvin's gigantic declaration is that ads don't exist in a compartmented world. They live--like all thoughts and speech and vision--in the midst of everything going on within earshot & eyeshot & thought-shot of the entire experience of the human being in the world. And so our preparation to create ads must be as wide as the world and at the same time as individual as each human.
Since an ad about golf doesn't hit up against only people thinking about playing golf, the most important way to prepare to write an ad about golf may not be to become a golfer.
If everybody thinks all day long about everything, wouldn't it be important to prepare to write an ad about golf (or cars or deodorant) by making sure you were open to everything including golf rather than closed off to everything but golf? To write advertising--maybe to write anything--you must be coming from where the audience comes from. Who doesn't know the agony of having to listen to someone talk who thinks they're more important than you are.
To attract hold and be loved by an audience you must be preoccupied with what preoccupies them.
What i think people think about is love God sex and death.
Also food and driving, but for limited times.
Which means--and yes i'm simplifying here--to become a better creator of ads you need to study not advertising, but man and God.
(of course there isn't much in life that's a better study of God and man than the way i play golf, but that's my swing problem, hopefully not yours)
That's my thinking. What's yours? Comments, including simply badmouthing me, are invited.
7 Comments:
fenske smells and is a little too tall.
but damn, can he quote a smart person.
I want to get high with you, Fenske.
I agree completely. That’s why it makes me sad to see ad people hunched over their computers to all hours of the night.
There are NO fresh ideas in your 6 ft. by 6 ft. cubicle (or even your corner office). Ideas, like houseplants, can’t survive in that sort of environment.
To write (or design) something to reach the general public, you have to be part of that general public. You have to experience what they experience, and you aren’t going to do that from the safety of your cube.
So ad people, I implore you! Get out there and get a life! Because if you don’t have a life, then the ads you create will also be lifeless.
Working a 15-hour day is not a badge. It’s a crutch.
I agree with fenske and sjg. But, in the interest of keeping the discussion going, here's an alternate interpretation:
As creatives, it's important that we have this knowledge of ourselves, as all good art must come from within. At the same time, we must understand that there is this higher power that we cannot hope to comprehend, that ultimately controls the fate of us and our work, and that therefore we must try to please.
In advertising, of course, this is the client.
You could also interpret the quote to mean that the only way good work gets bought and produced is through divine intervention.
This is an advertising centered blog, but don't you think that to be better at ANYTHING, (golf is a good example as any) you need knowledge of man and God.
"Advertising" is communication. Communication is conversations. Richer, more rewarding conversations happen when there is mutual respect, understanding and knowledge of the created and the Creator.
But that might just be the crystal meth talkin...
I have seen Mark swing a golf club.
That and Ovitz's obscene severance package are proof beyond a reasonable doubt that G-d does not exist.
Fact has replaced wisdom. Brands have supplanted religion.
Brands give us faith by showing us who we can be. Brands give us guidance by helping us think about ourselves. Ask someone to list his or her top ten brands and you have direct access to their value system. Just like you can know a religious people by the doctrine they obey, you can know Western people by the brand ideology they follow.
Malls are the new temples.
So is Calvin's true substantial wisdom available now that we've replaced God with ourselves?
Yes.
Imagine if part of a creative brief was direct instruction to stop and think about how the threads in your shirt work together to make your shirt your shirt. Or to take a moment, or an afternoon, to learn about the life and work of an ant. Or to think about time travel. Or black holes. Or God. Personally, I think this could seriously change the way I think about a Chevy.
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