Hey Whipple, Squeeze This by Luke Sullivan

Hey Whipple, Squeeze This: a Guide to Creating Great Advertising by Luke Sullivan

Considered the modern advertising bible, Luke Sullivan's Hey, Whipple, Squeeze This: A Guide to Creating Great Advertising is deemed as required reading in many an advertising agency. The author, Luke Sullivan is best known - and is, actually, a legend in advertising -as the creator of the in-industry reviled "Mr. Whipple/Don't Squeeze the Charmin" ads.

The 500 television ads, which ran from 1964 to 1985, featured grocer Mr. George Whipple, who's consumed with keeping happy housewives from fondling Charmin toilet paper. By the end of each commercial, the audience learns that Whipple is, himself, a Charmin-squeezer.

Sullivan examines how a bad ad can work, and conversely, why great ads fail. He clearly explains how advertisers can learn to balance creative work with the mandate to sell products. He writes with humor and honesty, and admits of his business, "All of our failures in advertising are very public." He also examines the "Whipple" phenomena candidly.

Sullivan demonstrates an intuitiveness to his writing, presenting material that to many has been the Holy Grail of advertising executives. Certainly Sullivan could've rested on his well-established laurels, keeping this vast and hard-won information to himself, but he has opted to pass the information to anyone and everyone.

In fact, the book reads like a class in advertising, and a class that's fun to attend. It is the proverbial fun and educational experience. Hey Whipple was first published in 1998, with a new edition released in 2003, and the latest, this year (2008).

Sullivan, still is active in the ad agency biz, begins the book with the very basics, the nuts-and-bolts, if you will, of how to create a good ad.

Four years of university can't compare to an internship at an actual agency and "Whipple" is as practical as an internship, as Sullivan outlines the real way potential employees get jobs at ad agencies.

So heralded is this book, that it has most recently been updated and offered up in a new edition. Included now are current campaigns and an easy-to-follow suggestions and guidelines to the day-to-day operations of an ad agency.

He clearly delineates between print, TV and radio and how the creative process differs with each. Self-confidence in creations is clear; Sullivan devotes two chapters on maintaining the integrity of an original ad - and how to get around client comments like, "make the logo bigger."

He is never without a sense of humor, as evidenced in the titles of the chapters of his book, which include, Salesmen Don't Have to Wear Plaid: Selling without selling out, and Radio Is Hell. But it's a Dry Heat: Some advice on working in a tough medium."