“Creativity can solve almost anyy pr an prob oble lem m– the creative act, the defeat of habit by originality, overcomes everything.” GEORGE LOIS
2. My Anti-Slogan: “George, be careful!” Looking up from my crib on a dark and stormy night, God commanded: “George, be careful.” (I remember it well.) My earliest childhood recollections were punctuated by three words (in Greek) from the lips of my mother, Vasilike Thanasoulis Lois: “George, be careful.” They have been a refrain throughout my life – a sincere admonition from the lips of people who have always meant well but never fathomed my attitude towards life and work. In the art of advertising, being careful guarantees sameness and mediocrity, which means your work will be invisible. Better to be reckless than careful. Better to be bold than safe. Better to have your work seen and remembered or you’ve struck out. There is no middle ground.
” l u f e r a c e b , e g r o e G “
26. Even a brilliant idea won’t sell itself. You’re looking at Ron Holland, me, and Jim Callaway, in 1967, a few weeks after starting my second ad agency, Lois Holland Callaway. As you can see, we’re selling an ad campaign to a new client (with gusto). Always do three things when you present a Big Idea: 1. Tell them what they are going to see. 2. Show it to them. 3. Tell them, passionately, what they just saw. To sell work I could be proud of, I’ve had to rant, rave, threaten, shove, push, cajole, persuade, wheedle, exaggerate, flatter, manipulate, be obnoxious, be loud, occasionally lie, and always sell, passionately! Abraham Lincoln once said:
“When I hear a man preach, I like to see him act as if he were fighting bees.”
26. Even a brilliant idea won’t sell itself. You’re looking at Ron Holland, me, and Jim Callaway, in 1967, a few weeks after starting my second ad agency, Lois Holland Callaway. As you can see, we’re selling an ad campaign to a new client (with gusto). Always do three things when you present a Big Idea: 1. Tell them what they are going to see. 2. Show it to them. 3. Tell them, passionately, what they just saw. To sell work I could be proud of, I’ve had to rant, rave, threaten, shove, push, cajole, persuade, wheedle, exaggerate, flatter, manipulate, be obnoxious, be loud, occasionally lie, and always sell, passionately! Abraham Lincoln once said:
“When I hear a man preach, I like to see him act as if he were fighting bees.”
53. Reject Group Grope. Think about this: decisive, breakthrough creative decision-making is almost always made by one, two, possibly three minds working in unison, take it or leave it. Collective thinking usually leads to stalemate or worse. And the smarter the individuals in the group, the harder it is to nail the idea. Certainly in my experience as a mass communicator and cultural provocateur, I know this to be absolutely true: group thinking and decision-making results in group grope.
54. Reject Analysis Paralysis. Get the Big Idea, think it through – it all fits, you know it’s right, you know it’s ambitious and aggressive, it thrills every cell in your body. Does it work in print? Yes. Does it make a gangbuster TV spot? Yes. Put it all on paper and sell it to your client. Do not analyze it. Trust your gut. Trust your instincts. Analysis involves conjuring up not only the pros, but those hidden, spooky cons – and discussion about the cons, is, ipso facto, analysis paralysis.
53. Reject Group Grope. Think about this: decisive, breakthrough creative decision-making is almost always made by one, two, possibly three minds working in unison, take it or leave it. Collective thinking usually leads to stalemate or worse. And the smarter the individuals in the group, the harder it is to nail the idea. Certainly in my experience as a mass communicator and cultural provocateur, I know this to be absolutely true: group thinking and decision-making results in group grope.
54. Reject Analysis Paralysis. Get the Big Idea, think it through – it all fits, you know it’s right, you know it’s ambitious and aggressive, it thrills every cell in your body. Does it work in print? Yes. Does it make a gangbuster TV spot? Yes. Put it all on paper and sell it to your client. Do not analyze it. Trust your gut. Trust your instincts. Analysis involves conjuring up not only the pros, but those hidden, spooky cons – and discussion about the cons, is, ipso facto, analysis paralysis.
67. Any great creative idea should stun momentarily – it should seem to be outrageous. Safe, conventional work is a ticket to oblivion. But great creativity should stun, as modern art was supposed to shock, by presenting the viewer with an idea that seemingly suspends conventions of understanding. In that swift interval between the shock and the realization that what you are presenting is not as outrageous as it seems, you capture your audience.
67. Any great creative idea should stun momentarily – it should seem to be outrageous. Safe, conventional work is a ticket to oblivion. But great creativity should stun, as modern art was supposed to shock, by presenting the viewer with an idea that seemingly suspends conventions of understanding. In that swift interval between the shock and the realization that what you are presenting is not as outrageous as it seems, you capture your audience.
“THE MOST ICONIC IMAGE OF THE 1960s WAS GEORGE LOIS’ ESQUIRE COVER DEPICTING ALI AS SAINT SEBASTIAN, TYING TOGETHER THE INCENDIARY ISSUES OF THE VIETNAM WAR, RACE, AND RELIGION. THE IMAGE IS SO POWERFUL THAT SOME PEOPLE REMEMBER WHERE THEY WERE WHEN THEY SAW IT FOR THE FIRST TIME.” THE ASSOCIATED PRESS