DICK ORKIN and DAY O’DAY: Dreaming In Commercials, Part Four

Dick Orkin, Dan O'Day

This is the fourth installment in a series that began with Dick Orkin repeatedly hearing this refrain from radio station salespeople:

“I don’t like writing commercials!”

Dick surveyed a large number of radio account executives to determine their most common reasons for viewing “commercial copywriting” negatively.

Ultimately he concluded, “The commercials they write are boring as all hell to themselves and others.”

Why? In my experience, most often it’s because he people writing them have nothing to say.

And that’s because:

A)  They haven’t done enough research. (You don’t need to know anything about the guy who’s just ordered a Big Mac. Just wrap it up and give it to him.)

B)  They haven’t been provided with enough information.

C)  They don’t know that their job is important.

D)  Bad commercials are the industry standard, so no one complains when they exchange perfectly good money for worthless word tripe .

E)  They’re not trying to communicate a valuable message.

F)  They don’t know they’re supposed to be writing human messages that will, one hopes, be heard by humans.

G)  They don’t combine their formal research with their lifetime of experiential research — both of their own experiences of those of others.

What is the advice given to every would-be writer?

“Write about what you know.”

Raise your hand if you’ve heard that one.

Keep your hand up if that makes sense to you.

You’re probably not interested in reading a bookkeeper’s imaginary account of how he singlehandedly scaled Mt. Everest when you know he’s never set foot outside of Ottumwa, Iowa, do you?

So if your hand is still up, then:

Why in the world do you presume to write a commercial for the local dress boutique when you know nothing about dresses, nothing about boutiques, nothing about that shop, and nothing about their customers?

First find out, THEN write.