Everyone thinks the brilliant person is the one who comes up with the idea.
They think the real brains is the person who actually says it out loud.
Everyone feels very vulnerable acknowledging someone else’s idea.
They think it’s tantamount to admitting the other person is better.
In my experience it’s the other way around.
Usually the person who says it, doesn’t realise what they’ve said.
The real brains is the person who says, “Stop there. That was great.”
I learned this working with John Webster.
Usually I’d just talk, I’d come up with a few idea.
Things I’d seen that made me laugh.
Eventually John would say, “Hey that’s really good. Let’s do that.”
I’d say, “Do what?”
He would say, “What you just said. That could be really good.”
I’d say, “Er, right, okay.”
And I’d pick up the copywriter’s half of the award.
Bill Bernbach was the first person to spot how it worked.
That’s why he first put copywriters and art directors together.
You can’t be talking and listening at the same time.
One person has to be free to just chatter away about any crazy ideas.
The other has to be judging, sifting out what’s good.
Later on they might swap roles.
But you always need one talker while one listens.
At least I was smart enough to learn that lesson from John.
One night I was going home, and Pat and Gordon were still working.
I said, “Need a hand?”
Pat said, “We’re getting nowhere on Ambre Solaire. We’re bored.”
Gordon was so fed up he was just mucking about.
He said, “Bollocks, what about “Burn your bra, not your tits.”
I said, “Hold on, if we clean that up it could be good.”
I changed it to, “THE ONLY THING A WOMAN SHOULD BURN IS HER BRA.”
Gordon added a shot of a beautiful topless model sunbathing.
And we picked up a D&AD Silver.
Great ideas are all around, all the time.
Jokes, conversations, newspaper articles, grafitti.
You don’t have to be the one who says it.
You have to be the one who spots it.