Untitled #8

The State - MTV Shows

Doug's Dad: "Are these your cigarettes, Doug?"

Doug: "Yeah, so what if they are? What you gonna do about it?
Send me off to grandma's so she can teach me pinocle and make me bland?"


This is from ""Doug," the above Michael Showalter sketch from MTV's The State. It's always been a favorite of mine and recently, with the announcement of The State finally (finally!) getting a DVD release date, I revisited it. Partly for nostalgic purposes and to tide me over till it's release but in any case, it was while watching this video that I started thinking about creativity in general and edginess vs. maturity, but mostly about my life in advertising.


When I first started off in the ad world, I was the crazy kid making spec ads depicting famous family-friendly brand mascots in various stages of pain and peril.
I was sending out promo pieces comparing the violent pen attacks in Grosse Pointe Blank + Casino with my skill as a copywriter. I was blowing chance after scarce chance because no one wanted the edgy offerings.


Fast forward a few years later and I've become accustomed to the constant heartache and soul crushing that naivety promotes and the compromise details.


Using such uninspired lines as "highest quality care" and "tradition of excellence," I watch as most true creative attempts die on the vine - the same vine, which I've tried in vain to strangle myself or others with many, many, many times.


That's advertising for you. That's the sickness.
For better or worse, I return each time for more abuse.
Why? Well, as a good friend and mentor reminded me, for every 300 dead headlines ("written but never used or changed beyond recognition by clients") there's one live line ("put into print without molestation or disfigurement") that makes it.

And it's that "one" which makes it all worth it sometimes.
At other times, it just delays further strangling attempts.


Of course, spec, pro-bono work and venting on your blog helps too.


Still, 300:1.
Good odds by most accounts, don't you think?

Twitter Recently: What's really important?

Like most news in the social media world, tweets travel remarkably fast, at tweet speed. I’m still getting up to speed but it looks like due to auto-follow services, follow-bots and free apps blowing up last week, we all have more followers
and some have gone from 100 to 1000 overnight.


This is great, right?
No, it’s not.

The old standard of quality over quantity still stands, even in the twitterverse.
Spam followers (not you, @spamfollower) are nothing new and you get a self-server here and there but the new influx saw quick follows and even quicker unfollows because the so-called targeted services really, really aren’t.

I think Team Twitter recognized this and applied the controversial follower caps as an act of preserving the integrity and quality of the original model, not kowtowing to A & B-list celebs (as one auto-follow cheerleader surmised).

(It should be noted however that said auto-follow fan’s anti-twitter tweets were wiped almost as soon as they were added.)

This is what I believe: Twitter changed the conversation.
It is far more than a networking tool. The exchange of ideas and information it allows is paramount to our continued growth and success as a community (local and global) and as individuals (personally and professionally).

I like #FollowFriday and getting recommends from friends and followers but not for the numbers. If that’s all someone is after, the auto-follow apps are perfect - but still, who cares about influence if your followers aren’t the people you want to influence and be influenced by?

Agree/Disagree?

Tweet me back @caseybowers

Rethinking networking events.

A discounted book sale and a cash bar doesn't make a networking event.
And door prizes do not replace structure and substance.

This lame gathering I went to was touted as a pro-grade level event and I expected a pro-grade level of organization.
What I and the other 200+ doomed souls received was much less than that.
It was closer to a middle school dance with business cards, all the awkward standing and staring - but none of the music.

This sounds bad and believe me - it was, but apparently, bad is the norm.
In talking to a friend who goes to these things much more than I do, there's commonly more thought placed in hors d'oeuvres than in organization.

This is unfortunate and certainly a winning argument for social networking sites everywhere.
Though face-to-face networking events allow for face-to-face interaction, this only narrowly makes it worth it.
We need to evolve the networking event beyond happy hour or mere cocktail party and we don't need the glam or glitz or even the Guinness to make this happen. We need clear focus and intelligent direction.

Here are some ideas of mine based on a system of groups:

• Groups of professionals within the same segment, category, specialty, industry, etc.

Ex: Marketing Professionals (pr specialists, advertising executives, copywriters, etc.)

• Groups within groups

Ex: Healthcare marketing professionals

• Preassigned degrees of separation
Ex: Pharma CMO is 1 degree away from Advertising CD with medical specialty.
Jr. Freelance designer is 1 degree away from CD and 2 degrees away from CMO.

• Predefined goals/needs
Ex: "I have a need for B2B Web Info Architect" or "I'm interested in learning more about consumer trending."

• Established communication and coordination prior to event.
Ex: Email introduction/I'm looking forward to meeting you


Mingling outside of groups will and should occur but in a more natural, unforced way.
It's one of the options, NOT the only option.
Through this system, all networkers' purposes are better served and the value of event is realized and elevated.

I'm sure there are many ways of approaching this problem and some networking events may have already answered it.
If so, fantastic! I'd love to hear more about them. If not, consider this.

Abandoned Blog Explanation

Success and failure are more easily measured when twitter becomes the standard ruler.

When I started this back in Aug 08, it was started without purpose.
Just an experiment and an exercise.

Like anything in this ADD stricken hyperculture, boredom set in and doubt soon followed.

Being a voyeur had its benefits though. Watching, reading, learning and absorbing.

Still, a sponge gathers mold if it's not wrung out in time, right?

Well, let the experiment continue but let it be shaped by purpose and clear vision.

Let it be.

Coffee Break: The Ultimate Blend

I abandoned my post for a while to concentrate all efforts on paying bills but a break is needed.

I've been told I'm a bit of a coffee snob.
I have 3 makers (french press, espresso, and standard) and a grinder.
I add it up to trying new things. For me, the french press is where it's at.

Most baristas will tell you, a french press is the way to go and one of the purest devices for extracting the natural flavor of coffee.
I've had a lot of different brews, blends and roasts.

My go-to is french roast.
Most variations of it in it's bold, dark, full-bodied form is a palette pleaser but I like experimenting and found quite possibly, The Ultimate Blend.

Here's the recipe:

1 part Standard run-of-the-mill Columbian

1 part Costa Rican Reserve (whole bean, freshly ground)

1 part Kona Reserve


This heaven sent amalgam of richness, bold and sweet rivals Blue Jamaican (minus the fruit notes) and is exactly the liquid inspiration needed to start the day off right and kick the creative funk.

True Confessions of a Freelance Copywriter: The Undercover Letter

Yeah, okay. So, this is going to be about copywriting (for the most part) because that's what a) I am and b) my head is wrapped around right now.
It truly is an obsession.

Hope Springs Eternal or The Dreamer's Disease

Now, I call Columbus, OH my home but I've done the majority of writing outside Columbus and a very large chunk of that majority was outside the O-H. This was never my intention and it has certainly had its share of downsides (upsides, too) but it never left me downtrodden. Being the eternal optimist that I am, I believed that these opportunities in ad markets great and small would allow me to return home to C-Bus and lead me to greater things when I returned. I still believe this but keeping the faith requires heavy hustle and a Poppins-style bag of tricks.

Hustle and Show

The hustle, though time-consuming and sometimes monotonous, is automatic at this point but the bag of tricks is something else entirely. I'm a big fan of the undercover letter, or the cover letter that isn't. For newbies and oldbies, it's one of the most important gate-busting items in a creative's arsenal. Sure, it's who you know more times than not but what happens when you don't know anyone? Nothing, if you don't have an undercover letter to show. This is one I wrote awhile back that connected me with some great people and decent opportunities (and vice/versa):

I’m the idea man.
All day long, I plan and plan and plan.
I’ve got an idea for everything-
because everything is wrong.

The above hubristic claim is something I wrote down in a notebook YEARS ago.

They were intended to be lyrics to a Beatle-esque song that borrowed more from Apples in Stereo than it did from the Apple Corp. legends (in mono).

The song, the band and the concept never saw the light of day.
Alas, I wasn’t meant to be the Midwest’s less profound, but sunnier answer to Elliott Smith.
I was however meant to be in advertising and take my appreciation for great ideas to strange, new and interesting places both physical and metaphysical.

I was meant to be an advertising copywriter.

As an ad copywriter, I don the guise of the Idea Man and create great advertising.

I look forward to finding an agency that is the perfect fit.

I look forward to working at an agency that gets it right.

I’m the idea man.
All day long, I plan and plan and plan.
I’ve got an idea for everything-
because everything is wrong.

Is it trying too hard to be hip? Definitely.
Does it reek of self-importance? Absolutely.
And scream a certain brand of idealistic B.S.? Maybe.
Did it generate a favorable response? Yes!

And that's it my friend. That's all anyone could ever hope for or want.
An interesting cover letter that says something - anything - can be the difference between an interview and a generic form email.
Remember, there are various forms and levels of interesting. Just know your audience.
Interesting is good. Offensive -not so much.
It's risky business and there are no guarantees but if you wanted safe, you wouldn't be in this business.

The Spartan Copywriter

Roots in Rural America

My parents always questioned who (I know it’s whom but I refuse to be that guy)
I obtained my creative side from.
I say it was a mix of both blended with only child universalities and pop culture obsession contributing heavily to the cause, but my dad was a big influence.
He has a great talent for telling stories and jokes and he does it with such economy; making the joke or story his own by shaving it down considerably. He attributes “being Spartan with his words” due to the way he was brought up. Which is to say, being raised by his grandparents – two Silent Generation saints – in rural Southern Ohio.

Resisting Writer Tendencies

As a copywriter, I adapt Dad’s method to avoid copy clutter, redundancy and increase recall. Don’t get me wrong though, I love words and yes, sometimes I’m tempted to incorporate certain literary devices or add a choice nomenclatural gem to a staid piece of collateral – after all, writers have their writer tendencies – but I resist, employ the “less is more” aesthetic and become The Spartan Copywriter.

Long Form ≠ Long Winded

We all know quantity doesn’t equal quality and if you can sum up what you want to say in a couple of paragraphs or a sentence – do it.
Unfortunately, I’ve encountered resistance in the past with this philosophy and have even, at times, been asked to expand at the request of the powers.
This counterintuitive action is usually taken out of fear.
Ex: “If a client is billed for copywriting, then by golly, they’re going to get their money’s worth.” Sigh.
The truth is (and I think most advertising professionals would agree) the client’s copy needs are best served with effective on-target messaging that the audience will actually read (read: short copy). Sure, it may affect the layout slightly or be the difference between a font size or two but it can really be the difference between greatly increasing product/service name recall and your value with the client.