Can a “pseudo-literary youth” be a copywriter?

In the Internet age, the term "literary youth" has been ridiculed and dispelled by the online society, becoming a relatively negative term. A true literary youth should have literary accomplishment, aesthetic vision, and social insight, and be able to play a role in advertising and literary creation. However, many so-called "literary youth" are actually "pseudo-literary youths" who can only verbally perform petty tricks, and actually have no deep understanding of literature and life, nor do they have any real talent. This article hopes to guide pseudo-literary youths to recognize the current situation, find a path to change, learn and practice in the advertising industry, and grow into true literary youths and excellent advertisers.

Looking back to our youth, if we say a person is an artistic youth, he or she must have unique expertise in a certain cultural and artistic field such as literature, painting, calligraphy, music, photography, etc., have a unique taste for life, have independent persistence in aesthetics, and have unique insights into social events. Most importantly, he or she is well-versed in poetry and literature and has a strong sense of writing. In addition to being a copywriter, such an artistic youth can also do many jobs related to advertising. Many writers, painters, screenwriters, lyricists, actors, and directors have work experience in advertising companies.

Nowadays, saying that someone is a literary youth is probably the same as cursing him in the street.

The image of a typical "literary youth" on the Internet is that they are dressed in Taobao free shipping style, uneducated, idle, and have no outstanding skills. Their catchphrase is "life needs poetry and distant places." However, their literary experience is limited to a few short poems by Mu Xin, and they definitely cannot read a big book like "Literary Memoirs"; their musical taste is limited to a few folk songs that are popular on the street. Sometimes they complain about their lack of talent, and sometimes they quit their jobs and travel around the world. The youth hostels in Lhasa, the inns in Lijiang, and the homestays in Gulangyu all leave behind the poor and destitute figures of literary youth.

I am probably such a "pseudo-literary youth", but I don't like to travel; I can write a few sad and melancholy words, and I mistakenly think I am talented. If I can't be a writer, I can always make a living by writing. So can "pseudo-literary youth" be a copywriter?

Of course. In fact, there are many "pseudo-literary people" like me in advertising companies.

1. Misunderstanding of copywriting by young artists

Literature is an inward exploration, an entanglement with oneself, and one just needs to be responsible for one's inner self; copywriting is outward communication, interaction with the public, and must carry out commercial communication tasks.

When young intellectuals first enter an advertising company, they are most likely to treat copywriting as personal literary creation. They can write posters that turn into sour poems, the kind of street stall literature that no one likes when posted on WeChat Moments. Anyway, they just talk to themselves, completely disregarding brand strategy, brand tone, commercial purposes, and TA (target audience) feelings.

Whether it is a copywriter or a copywriter, the biggest misunderstanding about it is that it is fun and romantic. Although many advertising companies write about how interesting we are in their recruitment advertisements, most of the time the work is extremely boring. You have to check a vast amount of information about brands or projects, including a lot of charts and data that make liberal arts students feel overwhelmed; you have to squat at the crime scene, appearing in shopping mall exhibition halls, supermarket shelves or restaurant entrances from time to time, looking suspicious; you have to follow the filming set, dealing with all kinds of trivial matters that make you doubt your life; you have to battle with your boss and colleagues repeatedly, and feel drowsy in the long and inefficient brainstorming; you have to argue with the client, and after revising 250 drafts, it still hasn't been approved. In the end, all your creative enthusiasm is left with the "every draft must be approved" sticker on the computer.

In the preface to "The Life of Michelangelo", Mr. Romain Rolland said that there is only one kind of heroism in the world: to look at the true face of the world - and to love the world.

Being able to face the reality of boring work and still maintain the passion for creation, hoping to create works for the brand that will influence millions of people, is the first step from being a pseudo-literary youth to a professional copywriter.

2. Deliberate Training of Insight

Legendary copywriter Steve Hayden is said to have said:

If you want to make a lot of money, please your clients; if you want to win big prizes, please yourself; if you want to be a great copywriter, please your readers.

I prefer to understand "pleasing" here as resonance. But I think the three are not parallel, but have an internal progressive logic. If the advertisement cannot resonate with the customer, then the advertisement cannot be released, because the customer is the advertiser, the one who pays and makes the final decision; if the advertisement cannot resonate with oneself, then it is difficult to impress the readers - if you don't believe in something yourself, how can you make others believe it, and how can you talk about resonance?

This involves insight, what Dongdong Qiang calls "discovering truths that have not been discovered or forgotten." Why can an article by a big V trigger crazy likes and reposts? Because it may express ideas that are difficult for everyone to express, making people feel "Yeah, that's what I think"; it may also express ideas that everyone has never had but can be instantly recognized, making people feel "Huh? I never thought about it that way."

These days, there is a certain entertainment farce on both sides of the Taiwan Strait. Major self-media have written thousands of articles online. You can pick some of the most read articles and analyze what psychological insights they have. The general public needs entertainment events to relieve pressure, and the spectators are never tired of the grievances of the rich and powerful. Consumers not only contribute to the traffic in the online craze, but also stimulate the impulsive consumption psychology of "why not buy it and try it".

When you see a good advertisement, try to analyze the creative ideas behind it and what insights it has on social groups, groups that forward the advertisement but do not consume it, and real consumer groups.

I think insight can be trained. Few people have the talent to "see through the essence of things in one second" as described in "The Godfather". You can start by writing on WeChat Moments. Professional copywriters cherish every word they produce. Be fucking professional when writing and posting casually. Likes and interactions are the best response and proof of insight.

When you start to train yourself deliberately, your pseudo-literary temperament will fade a little bit.

3. Glass hearts and leaving without saying goodbye

When I first entered the industry, I was a little fool, very conceited. I would get angry when the client changed the manuscript. I thought, I am a famous talent from Wolonggang Village, Longhua Street, Shanghai. I am a man of great talent. I am writing a manuscript for you, a small client. I think you are looking down on me. You are giving me advice and suggestions. I will quit! I will quit if I get angry.

In fact, the idiot's anger stems from his ignorant and fragile heart. Now thinking back, he really didn't understand business or communication at that time, and he never thought about how much pressure the client would have to bear every time he made a decision.

The ART partner I work with is the same. When he hears the client say the logo has to be big, he starts to get angry.

In fact, it is absolutely true that the logo should be big. Don't use your narrow aesthetic to deceive the client and waste the budget. The LV and Coca-Cola logos are huge. Do they have poor aesthetics?

There is a high staff turnover in advertising companies. Some of the reasons are company or project issues, such as only paying a low price but asking people to work harder, or some clients are unreasonable and disgusting. But sometimes it is also the glass hearts of literary young people. They are sensitive and fragile, have poor stress tolerance, and complain about the client being unprofessional and the director having too many demands. They hand in their resignation letters and say, "I'm going to see the world. Bye."

I once wrote a microblog:

Anyone can easily go on a trip at any time, but in fact, it is often an excuse for self-escape. Endure the boring daily life, break through the difficulties of work, deal with tricky customers, earn money from others' hard work, and cross the hills, and then you will find that this is the highest level of practice.

When I became a real adult mentally, I almost never gave up because of the difficulty of the project. The way to relieve stress is no longer to relax by drinking, but to try to solve those seemingly unsolvable problems. When you get the answer, the pleasure of relieving stress is better than quitting on the spot.

It is difficult for people who always have the glass heart of a "pseudo-literary youth" to grow; only those who are like copper peas, who can withstand steaming, boiling, blasting and beating, and can still jump loudly, can go further in the workplace.

4. There is no more “unappreciated talent” in this era

In the era of print media, newspapers, magazines, and publishing houses were very powerful, and there were also various associations that controlled the fate of creators, so it was very likely that "talent would not be recognized."

In the Internet age, if you are extremely talented, it is difficult to be buried. If you are conceited about your talent but do not get any response online, it means you have misunderstood yourself. If you are really talented, the Internet will double your influence. To put it bluntly, talent that cannot be realized is not talent.

The half-baked "talent" of pseudo-literary youth is not enough to become a super individual creator, and they don't have a high degree of education to enter a big company. Fortunately, there is the advertising industry. Really, there is no industry more tolerant than this one. It doesn't look at academic qualifications or background. You only need a little creativity and resilience to survive in this industry. If you're lucky, you can even write a few buzzwords.

If there were no advertising industry, Neil French might have always been an old-timer hanging around the streets. There are also many copywriting masters who worked as water delivery workers, salesmen, etc. before their debut and might have remained unknown all their lives.

This doesn't mean that you will become successful if you become a copywriter. This industry is full of ordinary copywriters like me, who are so ordinary and not so confident. But if I didn't become a copywriter, I think I would probably screw screws on the assembly line of Foxconn for ten years. Screwing screws has its own value, but it would be a bit unwilling.

5. Copywriting is more than just copywriting

When I was a small copywriter, I just wanted to quietly do a job polishing text. I would get dazzled when I read market reports and get a headache when I talked about strategies. Later, I found that those big names who were famous for their copywriting were not pure copywriters. Polishing words was just the basic skill. They could follow up on the client's conversation about market strategies, had their own thoughts on brand strategies, and had formed a unique strategy system.

Strategy, creativity, and execution: every copywriter has a different understanding of them, and there has never been a consensus on their definitions, differences, and connections.

Strategy is the direction, creativity is the means, and execution is the specific plan. For example, my direction is to go to the company, and my means is to take a car. My specific plan depends on the situation on the day. If the road is not congested, I will drive there; if the inner ring is congested, I may choose to take the outer ring, although it will take a detour; if the company's parking space is tight, I may take a taxi; if I am afraid of being late for an important meeting, I may just take the subway.

For example, a new mobile phone is launched, and its camera function is particularly powerful. Its strategy may be to occupy the minds of the audience and quickly expand the market by strengthening its camera advantage. Its creative idea may be to have a mobile phone that can take pictures of the moon. Then the specific implementation plan may be to organize fans to hold a moon-photographing competition on the night of the full moon, or to cooperate with the planetarium to launch a professional campaign...

In the entire promotion process, the creation of the actual copy may only be a small part. When you look at the advertisement from a strategic perspective, you will naturally know how to write the copy.

For a pseudo-literary youth to be a good copywriter is like a poor student starting to learn again, which is not easy. Let's encourage each other.

Author: Chen Wuyong

Source: WeChat public account "Chen Wuyong (ID: wuyongzhiyong2022)"