Thursday I had the opportunity to tag along on the New Mexico Ad Federation’s luncheon with advertising legend and well-known author of “Hey Whipple, Squeeze This,” Luke Sullivan (a must-have book for anyone interested in not just advertising, but creativity in general).
Sullivan gave a presentation called “How to Suck Less,” formally titled “How Not to Suck.” Given that we’re all mere humans with a tendency to suck, Sullivan said he thought it more appropriate to retitle his presentation to something more realistic.
He described his transformation from a construction worker to Group Creative Director with more than twenty medals to his credit in the prestigious One Show, some of the more interesting adventures he’d had in his twenty-plus years of advertising experience and some tips on how to be better at anything. Yes, anything.
Among his tips; get rid of things that cause you to suck. Certainly tips we all can learn from, here are those he specifically pointed out:
- Laziness – although seemingly a no-brainer, Sullivan did point out that when you’re working a job you care about, this almost never comes up.
- Arrogance – don’t look down on the little jobs that come your way; they’re another chance to hone your craft.
- Get over yourself – if you believe that you’re a god in your field, it just becomes an excuse for complacency, and ultimately to suck.
- God is in the details – this is the sum of all the details put into a creation; make every little part better than it has to be.
So there you have some points to ponder. Go get his book if you’re looking for some inspiration mixed with humor.
(The picture up top is my freshly-inked copy of “Hey Whipple…” In case you’re wondering, it says “Go ye forth and rock!” Amen, Sullivan…)
Tagged ad, advertising, creative, design, federation, luke, luncheon, marketing, new mexico, sullivan, whipple
Cookie Monster recently appeared in a candid and compelling interview on NPR, describing his nights freebasing raw dough, the days chasing Prarie Dawn and roughing up Elmo for lunch money… just kidding. The video’s pretty funny and definitely worth a watch:
On one hand, part of the following excerpt from an article in Elle magazine is demonstrative of the ever-growing hypocrisy of modern churches:
Jessica Alba decided to leave her born-again Christian church after religious leaders accused her of being too promiscuous. The Fantastic Four star insists her multi-ethnic appearance stopped her from being accepted in the Latin community she grew up in, so she turned to the church looking for comfort. After four years as a born-again Christian, Alba backed away from religion because “older men would hit on me and my youth pastor said it was because I was wearing provocative clothing, when I wasn’t. It just made me feel like if I was in any way desirable to the opposite sex, that it was my fault, and it made me ashamed of my body and of being a woman.” Alba also vehemently disagreed with the church’s condemnation of premarital sex and homosexuality and was bothered by the lack of strong female role models in the Bible. She tells US Elle magazine, “I thought it was a nice guide, but it certainly wasn’t how I was going to live my life.”
Secondly, it’s also demonstrative of what Gandhi pointed out when he said, “I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ.”
Despite the pride America likes to take in being known as a nation of rugged individualists, our society has a difficult time dealing with people who fail to fit into the dominant culture’s notion of how they should live their lives. What’s even worse, though, is that the dominant religious culture has the same problem. If it’s perceived that you’re not looking, thinking, acting and worshiping in a certain way, well, then you’re probably a heathen or something. It’s that kind of thinking that has driven hordes of people from the teachings of Jesus, since the modern church and Jesus are seen as one and the same by most people. They see these church people’s bigotry and rejection of them as a rejection by this “Jesus” of them.
Either way, its demonstrative of a critical failure on both parts to understand the teachings and example of Christ.
