A conversation about creative advertising with Terry O'Reilly

Thanks to his massively popular CBC program, Under The Influence, Terry O’Reilly has become one of Canada's most recognizable ad men. He has been a director and copywriter and has run his own multi award-winning agency as well as having written the books The Age of Persuasion and This I Know. And, his Under The Influence podcast has over 30 million downloads. What I’m trying to tell you is that when it comes to advertising, Terry O’Reilly knows what he’s talking about.

The Creationists is a podcast about creativity wherever it might be found.  Advertisements are one of the most visible forms of creativity in our everyday lives. So, I reached out to Terry to take us through the creative process of developing an ad campaign. We started with one of the most successful of his career, the campaign that helped the NHL’s Hockey Hall of Fame launch their interactive games exhibit.

Steve Waxman: What is the biggest mistake clients make when they come in to talk to an agency?

Terry O’Reilly: Well, that’s a very multi-layered question. I think not handing the agency and real strategic material to work with. It all begins and ends with whatever the product or service is that is being advertised and not handing the agency anything interesting to work with.  But I think the bigger sin is really not wanting creativity. Not wanting bold ideas. And expressing that in the meeting.  The best clients I ever had were the ones that said “Give me a big idea. Make my palms sweat.”  And those were the clients, in fact, that we did that with. We came back with big ideas.  They recognized them.  They approved them.  The bad clients think that creativity is quirky and wonky and that creativity gets in the way of the message. These are the clients that think that all you have to do is clearly state your proposition, put it in a commercial, put it out there, people will absorb it and run out to buy something. Which never happens.

Creative people make the assumption that no one listens to advertising. If you make that your starting point then you’ll make something interesting because creativity gets a foot in the door. And if someone is enamoured with the creativity of a commercial they might be willing to sit through that commercial and then we can get to the selling proposition. So creativity is amplification. Without creativity, it’s like giving a speech to a stadium without a microphone. Only the first couple of rows will hear you.  But, if you add creativity to the message, it’s like being amplified throughout the entire stadium and you have a much greater chance of getting most of that audience to listen to you.

Steve Waxman: So then, what is the biggest mistake agencies make?

To read the full transcript, please visit imstevewaxman.com

Terry O’Reilly has just finished his 15th season on the CBC and in addition to producing shows for his Apostrophe podcast network, he’s now writing his third book. If you’re interested in advertising or marketing, I highly recommend listening to his Under The Influence podcast. You should also take the time to listen to Apostrophe’s latest, We Regret To Inform You: The Rejection Podcast which tells stories of adversity that people like Jay-Z, Lady Gaga and Stephen King had to go through before achieving their successes. If you want to find out more about Terry and Apostrophe please visit terryoreilly.ca

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