Hey, Whipple, Squeeze This: The Classic Guide to Creating Great Ads, 5th Edition 5th Edition

By Peggy DiacoLuke Sullivan and Edward Boches, the co-authors of “Hey Whipple, Squeeze This,” share their expertise as veteran ad men for over 30 years. This textbook is full of the authors’ wisdom, wit, and sarcasm making it enjoyable to read as well as educational.Starting from the 1950s and working their way up to the present technical age, Sullivan and Boches impart important lessons of the advertising world. They teach the reader how to determine what works and what does not when creating an ad. I am older, probably close to the age of both authors, and I could relate to all the historical ads they discussed. The book begins with a funny Preface serving as a good introduction to the changing techniques of advertising and marketing.Mr. Whipple of Charmin toilet tissue fame is the inspiration of the book title and the book itself. Their reasoning is that although the Whipple/Charmin commercials were irritating, The ad sold lots of toilet paper for Procter and Gamble.“To those who defend the campaign based on sales, I ask, would you also spit on the table to get my attention?”They describe the era when TV was a new way of capturing people’s attention. Advertisements did not have to be creative, just repetitive. Audiences of the past did not have remote controls to turn the channel; they had to get up off the couch, walk to the TV set, and manually turn the channel. Literally, a captive audience.A man named Bill Bernbach broke the mold by putting creativity into the ads. He said, “It’s not just what you say that stirs people. It’s the way you say it.” Bill Bernbach is revered by the authors for his Volkswagon commercials. They admired his way of downplaying the product yet making it shine. This is their model of creativity. Sullivan sums it all up by inferring that even though repetition is annoying and creativity is more pleasing to watch, there are no set rules for successful ad creation. Success comes with practice and the ad person will determine which works better for them.Sullivan discusses his own job as an ad man and jokingly states that he spent many hours at his desk staring at his partner’s shoes. His advice is to study not only the brand, but the business behind the brand. Once you visualize the whole picture of the product and its competitors, the creativity will flow.“You’ll learn about the business of business by studying the operation of hundreds of different kinds of enterprises.”Honesty, not gimmicks work as people will see through a gimmick in the long run. Sullivan advises getting into the customer’s head “Every chance you get to listen to what customers are saying, take it.”Sullivan states, “The good focus groups are the ones the customers are doing for free online every day.The emotional connection of a product is also discussed. Find the “it” factor. The inner truth of a product that makes it shine and stand out from competitors’ products.“Find the central truth about the brand and about the whole category – The central human truth.” Sullivan states that really studying the product, writing ideas down, thinking outside the box, will eventually lead to a flow of ideas. He states that, “It’s a workbench. Write. Keep writing. Don’t stop.” Find what is outstanding, “Don’t go for an –er…go for an –est.”A good product will advertise itself. Sullivan calls this premise “idea-as-press-release. In this modern age of technology, there are many ways to expose a product. If you create something outrageous that really strikes a nerve with the consumer, they will share it online or Tweet about it. “The client doesn’t necessarily want you to make an ad. What they want you to do is make something so interesting people lean in to see what it is.” Sullivan advises to be very careful that your ad is not offensive or it will turn people away. For example an ad that I found outrageous and funny that my husband found offensive was the “Jingle Bells” commercial for Joe Boxer and K-Mart that was aired a few years ago. It featured men in boxer shorts with bells attached to the crotch area. The men played jingle bells by shaking those bells. Every time the commercial came on, my husband would change the channel. I thought it was funny and so did a lot of other people as the ad was shared on Facebook. But many people also found that ad offensive and subsequently K-Mart went out of business. Sullivan and Boche want you to understand what makes a product good or great. Promote the greatness and people will help you by sharing the commercial.Consumers can share commercials, but they can also skip them. People are no longer captive audiences as they once were. Now we have remote, recording, and fast forward options. Commercials need to be so good that people do not want to go past them. The ads also need to sneak in places like Facebook or in-between games like Words With Friends and even place them imperceptibly as props in movies. Sullivan writes that, “Today it’s not so much about making digital advertising as it is about making advertising for a digital world.” By using and manipulating digital tools to help promote a product, you can reach a wider audience. If your ad goes “viral” there will be millions of “hits,” which is essentially free advertising.Radio advertising is a difficult medium to use as people are not a captive audience. Sullivan and Boches advise, “You want your listener to immediately get what is going on, and your first five seconds is the place to make sure this happens.” Personally, I find that many radio advertisements go back to the repetitive and annoying commercial like the Charmin commercials of old. The hook with these commercials is the catchy little jingles you can’t get out of your head.Overall, Hey Whipple, Squeeze This is a wonderful book to read for a basic understanding of many aspects of marketing and advertising. Sullivan and Boches have been around for decades and know their stuff.

I didn't think this classic book on how to concept, create and execute advertising could get any better. What Edward Boches added to Sullivan's brilliantly thought out how-to was something I thought would be almost impossible: to guide, illuminate and understand today's incredibly complex and ever changing digital world and capture it between the covers of a book. I would recommend this for anyone wanting to enter the field of advertising and marketing. I would especially recommend it for anyone who's been in the field for years and wants to catch up.

Lee Clow endorses this book on the back cover.I can't say anything that eclipses that. If you don't know who Lee Clow is- you probably shouldn't be in advertising, but, that's OK- after you read this book- you should be fully prepared- and know who Lee Clow is.If you are in advertising, or in school learning about advertising, or a feckless client trying to learn how to advertise- buy this book.Full disclaimer, my name is in the fifth edition- and I host and tweaked the website [...] for Luke, so he's a client, and he pays me- but, I'd recommend the book anyway. I did for the first 4 editions- and no money changed hands.How good is this book? If my college professor had me read this instead of the shitty textbook put out by some PhD- I'd have been winning awards and making my clients money so much faster. But, unfortunately, I had to wait years for Luke to graduate from being in "The Copywriters Bible" to actually writing it....at least the book I make every one in my small agency read as terms of their employment. I don't only insist employees read it, that goes for interns as well. And after years of asking clients to read it too- I finally had one read it- and felt like I was working on an account destined for a new level of greatness- because, well, a real understanding of the craft and science of advertising sure helps the creative process along.I've read each edition. This one, with the additional chapters from Edward Boches, once again succeeds in explaining everything you need to know in order to create the 5% of advertising that matters- that engages, entertains, sells- as opposed to the 95% that was created for the TiVo skip button or adblockers on your browser.While this book won't turn you into Lee Clow, Luke Sullivan, Alex Bogusky, Dan Wieden, David Droga or even me- it will help you know what good advertising is and how some of the greats have made it.And, you'll enjoy reading it- because Luke writes good ;-)

Inspiring and motivational. Nonetheless, is strictly about copywriting, so content creators may need and extra read from other sources to get a grasp of​ the world.

This book has been rightly, for some time, the most practical guide to making ads. And the 5th edition is the best yet thanks to a brilliant section from Edward Boches on how digital is transforming creativity. Rather than the usual myopic view of digital as a channel, Edward looks at how digital is transforming the nature of business and therefore transforming how creative companies need to think and what they make. Highly readable and highly recommended.

Significant update to an already much appreciated book. The new chapters covering how the world of digital fits into the existing framework are excellent and a significant reason to upgrade from the 4th edition as I did.I can now say with confidence - if in marketing, advertising, or related fields - buy this book. Its the foundational text on areas of creative development including work in the online realm. Don't go for earlier editions; this is enough of a difference that it should be 5th edition only.

Got this book for my advertising class, but ended up really enjoying the read. The author is funny which makes the book enjoyable!