Will Sims - Copywriting

MASC 392
Advertising Copywriting

professor: Will Sims
phone: (804) 827-3728
e-mail: will@willsims.com

To begin with …
There are no multiple-choice questions in copywriting.
There are no fill-in-the-blanks or essays.

Instead, there is research, thinking, experimentation, writing,
re-writing, frustration, and doing it all over again.
That's the essence of making great advertising.

In order to do this, you will research, write and present ads every week.
Most of them will be awful. Some of them will be tolerable.
A few will be good enough to refine until they are presentable.

Like woodworking, copywriting is a craft.
The only way to do it well is to do it often.

What do we learn in this class?

1. How to tell good advertising from bad. How to judge your own work.
How to give criticism. How to take criticism. How to remember that it's only advertising.
2. How to listen to your audience and create a message that relates to them rather than to the product.
3. A little about advertising agencies. What copywriters and art directors do for a living, how agencies work, a little about the business of advertising and other examples from the real world.
4. Techniques for thinking from new perspectives.
5. How to work with a partner without killing each other.
6. Thoughts from great writers. Ogilvy, Bernbach, Caples, Gossage and others.
7. How to present and defend your work.
8. The basics of editing, grammar and body copy for advertising.
9. Basic advertising vocabulary.
10. How to write and rewrite and rewrite ads.

Are there any books?

There are three required texts for this class: Hey Whipple, Squeeze This!, by Luke Sullivan and Ogilvy on Advertising, by David Ogilvy. You can find them at Carriage House Books.

In addition, you will each select an approved text on your own from a list that I will provide you.
Also, you will either be given or expected to find material from the following sources:

Advertising Annuals: The One Show, Communication Arts, British D&AD, the Cleos, Print Regional Design Annual, Archive Magazine, etc.

Websites: VCU Adcenter; Brainco; chicagoportfolio.com; The One Club; others to be announced.

Recommended reading: How To Make Your Advertising Make Money; No Logo; The Copywriters Bible; The Copy Workshop Workbook; Bill Bernbach Said . . . ; The Art of Writing Advertising; Cutting Edge Advertising II

You will also need the following materials:

A blank journal
8 1/2 x 11 paper
A sharpie marker
An email account
A telephone
Magazines
Books
The internet
The library
A computer, InDesign or Illustrator, Photoshop, and a printer.

Projects
By the end of this class, you will create three campaigns of three ads each.
You will finish them fully (art direction included) and present them to the class.
This will be a major part of your grade.

Your Midterm Grade will largely be assessed on the work in your journal. How much have you done? How far have you explored? Have you used the information when creating your ads? In addition to the journal, there will be an oral exam to assess how much you've learned thus far.

Participation and papers are graded on several factors. Are the papers free of spelling and grammatical errors? Is there quality and depth in your thinking? Do you actively participate in class? Are you asking questions? How well do you deliver your presentations? Do you seek help outside of class? These are somewhat subjective criteria. However, they are exactly what you'll be judged on when working professionally.

Throughout the semester we will work on 5 - 7 projects. The three completed campaigns
will represent your best-finished work from those projects.

We will concentrate on print advertising. It's the way that most agencies judge potential new employees. It is also one of the most difficult mediums to work in because it requires deep clarity of thought. We will write for other media; but without print, you'll have a hard time making it in the business.

Tentative Timeline
Week of Aug 29: Introduction
Week of Sept 5: First Product - Consumer Goods
Week of Sept 12: Make ads
Week of Sept 19: New Product - Business/Service - Work with first partner
Week of Sept 26: Make ads, Review work to date
Week of Oct 3: New Product - Branding - New Partner
Week of Oct 10: Make ads
Week of Oct 17: Midterm Review
Week of Oct 24: Make ads
Week of Oct 31: Long Copy Advertising
Week of Nov. 7: Make ads
Week of Nov. 14: Your choice of product and partner
Week of Nov. 21: Make ads
Week of Nov 28: Art Direction and Production
Week of Dec 5: Final Presentation

Grades and procedures
Final Review 50%
Participation and papers 25%
Mid-term review 25%

Basic Expectations:

Don’t miss our meetings.
They are the place we conduct business.
If you cannot make a meeting, call beforehand.
I make no distinction between excused and unexcused absenses.
If you miss more than 3 classes (2 if a night class), your grade will be lowered one letter.
For each absence afterward, your grade will also be lowered one letter.

Don't be late. Don't be slack. Don't be boring.
As much as possible, this class is run like a business meeting.
Professionalism is part of what you'll learn and what you'll be graded on.

Academic Honesty Policy: Assignments which are plagiarized will be given a failing grade and their authors treated in accordance with VCU Honor Code on academic dishonesty as stated in the VCU Resources Guide.

Affirmative Action Statement: This class and the University are committed to providing appropriate support for students with documented disabilities, including learning disabilities. Any student who has a documented disability may identify him/herself to the teacher at the beginning of the semester so that reasonable accommodations or arrangements can be made.

Diversity: It is vital that students in this course broaden their experiences by including in their work people and subjects such as ethnic, racial and religious minorities, the disabled and disadvantaged; gay men and lesbians, and other similar groups.
The VCU School of Mass Communications is committed to diversity in all of its programs, including providing a climate of inclusion for all students.

Course Description (from the VCU Bulletin):
2 lecture and 2 laboratory hours. 3 credits.
Prerequisites: MASC 101, 203, 380 or permission.
Study of the different types of advertising copy used by
both local and national advertisers. Practice in writing
consumer, trade and industrial copy.