100 Days of Leo Burnett, the Midwestern Master of Mascots DAY 35

Here’s this week’s Leo:

Growing pains sometimes may seem unbearable, but believe me they are nothing compared to the pain of shrinking or the pain of standing still.” — Leo Burnett

In The Art of Writing Advertising | Conversations with Masters of the Craft, AdAge Interviewer Denis Higgins talks to Leo Burnett:

Q: That’s one of the things that I also wanted to ask — there are several schools of thought about how you stir up an individual’s creative juices. Some writers put their feet on the table and stare out the window with a glass of beer in their hand. Do you have any specific approaches to the problem? From a copywriter’s point of view? Do you have any rituals you follow, any special methods?

A: No. My technique, if I have one, is to saturate myself with knowledge of the product. I believe in good depth-interviewing where I come from realistically face to face with the people I am trying to sell. I try to get a picture in my mind of the kind of people they are — how they use this product, and what it is — they don’t often tell you in so many words — but what it is that actually motivates them to buy something or to interest them in something.

Continue to Day 36