Selective Amnesia

Cutting Edge Advertising - Jim Aitchison

Chenthil gets the post he wants. Here’s a review of the book I am currently re-reading.
Jim Aitchison’s Cutting Edge Advertising. To be honest, this is possibly the fifth time I am reading this book, and so this can’t technically be called a review. But still.

Ever wish for somebody who’s made it big in your field of work to come home one day, give you some tips and pointers to you over a cup of hot coffee? Ever wish to get into the brains of the top pros and see what gets them kicked? Well, with this book you can.

That’s so not a cutting edge beginning for a review. Let’s see if I can better it. Here goes.

Throw out every damn thing you hold dear! Throw out everything you’ve ever learnt. Throw it to the ground, stamp on it and grind it into dust. This, and this is the only way will you be really creative. Learn things anew. See things from a different perspective. Learn to love what you do. Learn to love words and what they are capable of.
That, folks, has been my takeout from by far the best book on Advertising. Or as David Abbott says, by far the best book on print Advertising.

Every page filled with heavyweights in the industry, from Indra Sinha and Neil French to David Abbot and Bob Barrie. So much so, turning a page is a real pain. So much to learn, so few pages. A little tip here. A big idea there. A fantastic way of looking at things everywhere else. Combined with neat little examples and you have a book that will practically sell itself. And it has. Incredibly well, too. They even came out with a second (Cutting Edge Commercials) and third (Cutting Edge Radio) and a revised edition of the first. In short. A brilliant book.

Nah! This still isn’t a good enough review to call cutting edge. Let’s see. Get out! Get out and buy this book if you want to be in advertising!

Well, almost.

(cross posted in The Chicken Rules)