“Achieve an Intensity of Meaning with an Economy of Words”

For a Living

This was the first advice I received as a junior copywriter. I already knew that Kurt Vonnegut said you could make anything you’re working on better by throwing out the first three pages of you clearing your throat, but I didn’t realize how essential brevity and clarity were in advertising. You have to get to your point and make people feel it. They only give you so much time to learn about your amazing new widget. How you’re going to help them has to jump off the page. They have to feel it as much as they need to understand it.

For a Life

Correcting a child’s behavior. Asking for a friend’s forgiveness. Expressing your love. What’s more effective than one sincere sentence?