To make it as an advertising copywriter you only need 37 words. Honestly. You see this is always what it comes down to as clients whittle away at what you can say. Some have lists of words that they don’t like (too strong a word) prefer for one reason or another. And eventually you find that you can actually construct entire campaigns from a handful of acceptable phrases (too casual) brand statements (too vague) strategic positioning lines that require nothing more than the occasional rearrangement.

If you want to take the idea to another level, the method is simple: Give it an even more, so that Find Big Savings On Every Aisle becomes Find Even More Big Savings On Every Aisle.

See how easy this is? And clients love it. One time, after presenting an ad with a message very much like the one above, the client remarked, “That is so on strategy.”

To which I replied, “Oh I agree. I’d say even more so than the previous round of ads. These ads decode in a lot of subtle, but essential ways. I think the take-away will be big.”

This last bit of insight received enthusiastic agreement from both sides of the call.

But where does this all leave me, the copywriter? Pretty much in the creative fetal position to be honest. And yeah, I’ve had to swallow my pride a bit. But hey, we’re all professionals here. And we have a big job to do.