Hey, Whipple, Squeeze This: The Classic Guide to Creating Great Ads, 5th Edition

Product Information

The classic guide to creating great advertising now covers all media: Digital, social, and traditional. The truth isn't the truth until people believe you, and they can't believe you if they don't know what you're saying, and they can't know what you're saying if they don't listen to you, and they won't listen to you if you're not interesting, and you won't be interesting unless you say things imaginatively, originally.

Sometimes trying to evoke what your customer might feel when using the product can fuel your imagination. Emotional appeal proves to be far more potent than rationality when it comes to buying goods and services. Sullivan and Boches’s “Hey Whipple, Squeeze This!” has been a go-to guide to everyone that lives in a world of advertising: from newcomers to those who have been in the business for years. By focusing on campaigns built by good ideas, since fresh, unique ideas are what agencies are interested in.

Popular books summaries

The title comes from the unconventional Charmin Toilet Paper campaign in the 70s, which revolved around an annoying shop clerk – Mr. Whipple, who would not stop squeezing the product.

If you are anything like me, whenever you hear or read about advertising, your mind wanders to Mad Men: a group of creative geniuses whose days are filled with drinks, parties, and affairs, who still get the time to come up with the idea that will blow the mind of their client. As you can already notice, the creative process consists of no beginnings, no ends, and no fixed rules.

Table of contents

We recommend this book to readers who are interested in how ads work, and for all those who live, or want to live in the much talked about advertising world. About Luke Sullivan and Edward Boches They describe the era when TV was a new way of capturing people’s attention. Advertisements did not have to be creative, just repetitive. Audiences of the past did not have remote controls to turn the channel; they had to get up off the couch, walk to the TV set, and manually turn the channel. Literally, a captive audience. I usually think books on advertising spend too much explaining the creative process as “the magical moment during shower when everything makes sense”. This one was different. Although Luke Sullivan clearly states that creativity can't be learnt and indeed some AHA moments happen, he also values the techniques and processes that creative people apply to get to a big idea. Incessant writing, reference hunting, studying the client... everything adds up to generate a good idea.

Furthermore, employ both an unusual and thought-provoking part in your ad, to make viewers watch it over and over again. You’ll learn about the business of business by studying the operation of hundreds of different kinds of enterprises.” Consumers can share commercials, but they can also skip them. People are no longer captive audiences as they once were. Now we have remote, recording, and fast forward options. Commercials need to be so good that people do not want to go past them. The ads also need to sneak in places like Facebook or in-between games like Words With Friends and even place them imperceptibly as props in movies. Sullivan writes that, “Today it’s not so much about making digital advertising as it is about making advertising for a digital world.” By using and manipulating digital tools to help promote a product, you can reach a wider audience. If your ad goes “viral” there will be millions of “hits,” which is essentially free advertising. You have to cope with products, partners, clients and above all ideas. Ideas are not that easy to come by, you know.

New books summaries

Interestingly enough, as Sullivan points out, the Whipple ads that he rails against were actually seen as a success, with Charmin product sales growth steadily growing following commercial spots. Taking that into account, it becomes clear early on that Sullivan's main purpose for writing this book is not just to lay down the rules for how ad-men and ad-women can make their clients oodles of money through their marketing - and just to be clear, it's not not about this exactly - but more of an appreciation of advertising as a sort of art-form. A large part of this book is devoted to work that Sullivan admires, work that transcends mere salesmanship, and the kind that a copywriter could be proud to show to their friends and family. The emotional connection of a product is also discussed. Find the “it” factor. The inner truth of a product that makes it shine and stand out from competitors’ products.