Moving into ‘ledge’ territory this week, with San Francisco copywriter and creative director Hugh Gurin. How ledge are we talking? Try a client list straight out of the Fortune 500, awards delivered daily by Amazon, and a Superbowl ad. Yeah, a Superbowl ad.
How did you get into this crazy game?
Back in the late Pleistocene era, when ‘proactive job search’ meant ‘wait by your mailbox for the Adweek classifieds’, I took a temp job as the administrative assistant to the head of HR at Macy’s. This gave me access to the company org charts, where I noticed an opening for a copywriter in their advertising department… and basically hired myself.
What did you do before? Did it help?
I’ve done everything from commercial fishing to housecleaning to pushing a hot-dog cart, but the most helpful pre-advertising gigs I had were all in restaurants.
It’s the best training advertising professionals could possibly have. Ridiculous deadlines. Unreasonable clients. Easy access to liquor. And a sense that every client you serve either builds your restaurant’s brand, or degrades it. I’d rather see Applebee’s on an applicant’s resume than (insert fancy ad school here).
You wrote a Superbowl ad. Wow. How did that come about?
Eat24 was the best client I’ve ever had. A band of complete lunatics who turned a rented storage space in South San Francisco into a multimillion-dollar food delivery service.
They were one of the first advertisers on PornHub (Image: cheeseburger. Headline: ‘You want me inside you’.) and constantly pushed for work that stood out – from their legalese to their Super Bowl ad.
One day, they called me up and said, ‘We bought Super Bowl airtime, and we have Snoop and Gilbert Gottfried. Help.’
Their internal creative team did the lion’s share of the writing on that spot; I annoyed the shit out of them trying to make it make some sort of sense, and pulled together the production in Los Angeles.
Fun fact: off-camera, Gilbert is the most chill human being you’ll ever meet, with the possible exception of Snoop.
I love your quirky ads. They’re very much in the Carmichael Lynch Harley-ads style. You a fan?
People get Harley tattoos. As in—permanent markings. On their bodies. You don’t build that kind of love for a brand by talking about CCs and fuel efficiency and ‘low prices for summer’. You get it by accessing the emotion, ‘Somewhere on an airplane, a man is trying to rip open a small bag of peanuts’ taps into. I’ve been trying to top that for years.
If you could have written any ad that’s ever been written, what would it be?
There has never been an ad more perfect than BBDO’s ‘It’s ugly, but it gets you there,’ for Volkswagen. I go on about it at length here.
What was your finest hour?
As a human: volunteer instructing with City Surf Project.
As a copywriter: either my work for UC Hastings College of the Law or the United States Naval Reserve.
How do you come up with inspiration?
It’s a mix of looking at advertising and looking at culture overall. I hit Modern Copywriter quite often for the first, and PG-13 cartoons like The Simpsons, South Park and everything Loren Bouchard and Brendon Small do for the second.
Any tips to beat writer’s block?
Try to step away if you can. Literally go outside (if you can) and do something that takes your head out of the game. Get proper rest. (Passing out does not count.) Failing that, fear is an excellent motivator.
There’s a lot of talk about ‘niching’ right now. What are your thoughts?
Copywriters have brands, too. Maybe you’re The Manifesto Girl. Or The Good-At-Direct Guy. What you want to do is control your brand’s narrative – and you do that by asking for what you want.
You can’t put up a portfolio filled with Unintelligible Tech Blather and hope someone will tap you to write a Super Bowl spot with monkeys and flamethrowers. You have to find a way to be known for monkeys and flamethrowers.
How are you keeping busy during quarantine?
Strangely, with work. I’m busy as hell. Which means all those Projects I Thought I’d Finally Knock Off The List are still out there, mocking me.
How do you think copywriting is changing? For better or for worse?
I’m noticing more and more data-driven drivel. Copy that sounds like a computer wrote it. It’s usually a case of some poor copywriter being ordered to carpet-bomb the audience with These Five High-Performing SEO Terms.
As long as audiences respond to that sort of thing, I suppose we’ll see more of it. But they’ll get hip to it and tune out, eventually. No matter how short attention spans get, great storytelling still sells more stuff, for less cost.
Any tips for newbie writers?
Look at as many portfolios as possible. Take the time to decide what kind of career you want to have. What sort of clients you want to work on. Then dive in. Every subculture has its own vernacular – little phrases and in-jokes that let people know: ‘This guy/gal gets it. S/he’s one of us.’ That Harley ‘Airplane’ ad is a perfect example.
Once you’ve created your portfolio – a tip: don’t overload it with TV, radio, or anything the reader has to click to enjoy. If you’ve got killer headlines, get them up front, fast. You have about four seconds to show the world you can write. Don’t waste those seconds showing off some DP’s beautiful cinematography.
And any tips for clients?
No one but you and your mom gives one single shit about what you make, sell or do. (And your mom’s just being polite.) People care about what they make, sell or do. So everything you say better tell them how you’ll do that. Every ad you put into the universe is stealing the most precious resource humans possess – time. So make that time worthwhile. Make it entertaining. And make sure it makes your audience think, ‘Man, imagine what I could do if I had that.’
Finally, what did you have for breakfast today?
Greek yoghurt, fruit, granola. There’s usually a side of bacon involved but the scales were less than happy with me this morning.
