If copywriting is dead, what state is advertising in?

"Copywriting isn’t dead. It just smells funny.” That’s the verdict of copywriters on the standard of copywriting today. If copywriting is in bad shape, then advertising is too.

A quick question. What’s more important: the medium or the message?

Marshall McLuhan says it’s the medium because of its effect on the message.

McLuhan was wrong.

If you think Twitter will solve your problems, you may be right. But without a copywriter to develop your concepts and write your content, you won’t have a hope.

If you want to speak to your customers, then speak to them. You need ingenuity. Also words.

One of our copywriters commented,

“Become a client – it’s the only way to get great copy through.”

If your doctor advised a diet, you would take him or her seriously. Copywriters are professional people too, but routinely shot down by clients. You see, clients can write too.

No. That’s wrong - clients cannot write. They are the client. They should take professional advice seriously, and copywriters are professionals.

A two-headed king reigns in Adland. The medium is king, and the client is king. Back in the days of Bernbach, Gossage and Ogilvy, wasn’t the copywriter king?

If advertising is about creativity, then you need creative people. Designers have rock-solid recognition for their creativity, and rightly so.

Why not copywriters?

If copywriting is devalued then so is advertising. Read our little book to see how copywriters feel.

They feed sad.

If you care about advertising, shouldn't you?