Episode 310: Rich Silverstein of Goodby, Silverstein & Partners
-
On his second visit to the podcast, Rich covers The Lion of St. Mark,
winning, dealing with roadblocks, wit, design, and personal growth.
5 years ago
Posts
9 comments:
Oh afterbirth... And yes, words over pictures. It's like Jedi (Copy) vs. Sith (visual). Everything was harmonious when the Jedi's were in control before the Clone Wars and then tumultuous times came when the Sith took power and made the Galactic Empire. However, like the Jedi, copy is coming back and this time we have Ewok's. Don't know what that means, but go with it. Viva La Palabras!
Words leave alot of the work up to the reader's imagination and because of that, the piece is more personable. If people are given a visual solution, they will look at it and say, "Oh, there it is" and forget it sooner than something they had to work at.
I'd be far more offended if I ever came up with a visual solve that worked.
I will however submit for your consideration Smart Visual Solutions. Which might I add tend to give you that "I wish I came up with that" feeling because of their simplicity:
http://adsoftheworld.com/media/print/dhl_determined_3?size=_original
I'd also say a good, original visual solve is much harder to reach than smart copy. it has to take what is already in the viewers mind and twist it quickly and clearly.
You bastards just think you can get away with bashing the visual solve because us AD's dont like to read, thus will never see this post.
The author of the ihaveanidea.org article "An Inconvenient Truth for Copywriters" made what I think is a great point re: purely visual thinking. While visual solves have been en vogue, instances of ideas getting repeated - verbatim - have gone up. Exponentially.
As an example, she posted four ads with the exact same visual: a toy dog fitted in a neck brace, sitting in a car. One ad was for Midas shocks, one for VW, one for Jeep, one for Texaco. Four different products. One idea.
But if you can write clever, insightful headlines & copy - with a distinct voice - you're much likelier to create a unique execution.
Viván palabras.
I would posit that the visual is the beer that gets you to check out the party. The copy is that interesting guy named "Ed" you meet that you instantly relate to and want to become best buds with.
Positing has never really been my thing though.
Brilliant though. I went to his site and couldn't view the copy on the other two. Any advice?
And yes I dragged them into photoshop, sharpened and zoomed. Still no luck.
but I thought a picture is worth a thousand words?
I think a strong concept will destroy measly words or eye candy.
Most visual solves are just puns and if I'm not allowed to make verbal puns, they shouldn't be allowed visual ones. *humph*
Aren't words, however smart, just pictures anyway? When you see a picture of a cookie, you automatically know what it is, means and stands for. When you see the word cookie, you're brain has to take six letters (or pictures, if you will) and decipher which ones they are and in relation to each other, what word they make up. We we're learning about this in class at SVC.
Post a Comment