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dereklwalker.bsky.social @dereklwalker.bsky.social · 1d

Kickstarter update cont.:

Years of being second-guessed and nitpicked to near death has harden my soul, but still the sheer volume of 'advice' and 'criticism' from well meaning folks while doing a Kickstarter would crush someone not used to 'the help', but I be a copywriter. Thank you advertising.😂

dereklwalker.bsky.social @dereklwalker.bsky.social · 1d

Kickstarter update - 6 days to go or as I like to call it:

"Y'all gonna make me lose my mind up in here" stage.

Doing a Kickstarter, no one prepares you for all the Monday morning 'QBing' or the "let me tell you what you are doing wrong" folks.

Luckily, I work in advertising.

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dereklwalker.bsky.social @dereklwalker.bsky.social · 1d

I don't pine for the good old days of advertising.

I long for the days when creatives thought they were nearly all powerful, and attacked assignments with that energy.

I don't apologize for being creative.

dereklwalker.bsky.social @dereklwalker.bsky.social · 1d

Some of you are better than AI ever will be at making ads.

I wish, I really wish that you believed this as much as I do.

This is not an attack on AI, it is my full appreciation of the level of creativity some of you possess.

Human creativity is undefeated when unleashed.

dereklwalker.bsky.social @dereklwalker.bsky.social · 2d

Artificial intelligence is going to struggle if it is taught by people who lack the skills and understanding to know what strong advertising is.

We are going to end up with a lot of AI generated bad advertising because it was taught with bad advertising.

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dereklwalker.bsky.social @dereklwalker.bsky.social · 2d

Artificial intelligence is a new tool.

How we use it, and what we produce with it is the question.

A person who cannot write copy or art direct will struggle to produce ads that cut through the clutter.

Look, the output of AI is only as good as the input given to it.

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dereklwalker.bsky.social @dereklwalker.bsky.social · 2d

I am so tired of people in advertising who think the job is to make pretty or realistic images.

Advertising should have substance - a message. Sure, this is old thinking in a world of influencers but how often do brands fail to get a steady boost from influencers?

Long game.

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dereklwalker.bsky.social @dereklwalker.bsky.social · 2d

Artificial intelligence can make realistic videos.

No doubt.

Realistic is not creative. Or interesting or engaging, and it damn sure ain't not strategic.

If the inputs into AI is weak or bad, then you have a realistic video built off a poor idea.

Concept will always be king.

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dereklwalker.bsky.social @dereklwalker.bsky.social · 2d

Kickstarter update - 7 days to go: "Is this it" stage.

Yes. Yes it is. And I am super thankful for those contributed, offered support, gave insights, and told me the truth.

Whether I reach my goal or not (more not right now) - I thank you!

www.kickstarter.com/projects/cra...

Crash & Burn

10 Easy Ways to Ruin Your Career in Marketing & Advertising (Or Any Other Industry)

www.kickstarter.com

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dereklwalker.bsky.social @dereklwalker.bsky.social · 4d

Listing product benefits or features is not writing copy.

Neither is parroting the strategy.

And hell naw! Typing a call-to-action isn't either.

Copywriting is more than writing, a lot more.

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dereklwalker.bsky.social @dereklwalker.bsky.social · 5d

Howdy! Driving me crazy.

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dereklwalker.bsky.social @dereklwalker.bsky.social · 5d

Happy Friday to all.

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dereklwalker.bsky.social @dereklwalker.bsky.social · 5d

Crash & Burn is neither a DEI book or about me.

It will say the things we tend to leave unspoken: that whether you have a career or not, depends less on skills/tech/AI, and more on mentality.

How bad do you want it?

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dereklwalker.bsky.social @dereklwalker.bsky.social · 5d

Kickstarter update: 11 days to go - "Don't make me have to cut ya stage achieved."

Not over support.

Doing a Kickstarter for my book, I've had to talk about it a lot. I'm so tired of people thinking I'd write a DEI book or a book about myself.

www.kickstarter.com/projects/cra...

Crash & Burn

10 Easy Ways to Ruin Your Career in Marketing & Advertising (Or Any Other Industry)

www.kickstarter.com

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dereklwalker.bsky.social @dereklwalker.bsky.social · 6d

Artificial intelligence is less a threat to creativity in advertising than poor and fearful leadership.

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dereklwalker.bsky.social @dereklwalker.bsky.social · 6d

"The stench of Success."

John Lyons has just upped the stakes with a branded unisex fragrance for his podcast Bin Juice.

When we talk about marketing/advertising folks taking our own advice, this is how you do it.

Well played, John, well played.

www.linkedin.com/feed/update/...

All credit to my ten year old son, Stanley, who turned to me one day and said "dad, wouldn't it be cool if you made a Bin Juice cologne?" Well son, here it is. The first sample has arri...

All credit to my ten year old son, Stanley, who turned to me one day and said "dad, wouldn't it be cool if you made a Bin Juice cologne?" Well son, here it is. The first sample has arrived. Bin Juic...

www.linkedin.com

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dereklwalker.bsky.social @dereklwalker.bsky.social · 8d

17? Good luck!

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dereklwalker.bsky.social @dereklwalker.bsky.social · 8d

Win the heart, and the mind and wallet will follow.

Disrespect or ignore the heart, and the mind and wallet will slam shut.

There is always an exception, but they are driven by conditions.

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dereklwalker.bsky.social @dereklwalker.bsky.social · 8d

Kickstarter update: I can't wait for this to be over.

Working on the Kickstarter campaign to help me bring the book to life means that I can't write the book.

It's funny how this works. It is either promote the campaign or write, not both.

www.kickstarter.com/projects/cra...

Crash & Burn

10 Easy Ways to Ruin Your Career in Marketing & Advertising (Or Any Other Industry)

www.kickstarter.com

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dereklwalker.bsky.social @dereklwalker.bsky.social · 8d

Everyone is a writer until they have to write a headline.

And let's be clear - subject lines for emails, text opening lines, and the first line of social media posts are all a form of headlines.

Copywriting looks easy. It is just words, until it isn't.

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dereklwalker.bsky.social @dereklwalker.bsky.social · 9d

There is a generation of adv. folks who don't understand that "working" like an office worker is not the best way to foster great creative, that better work tends to be done by less "professional" behaving folks.

Our goal isn't to be efficient, it is to be effective. Or it was.

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dereklwalker.bsky.social @dereklwalker.bsky.social · 9d

It was advertising creatives playing music or games or sitting around thinking who produced much of the work that had agencies printing money, which led to holding companies buying agencies.

And then holding companies cut all that "foolishness" out in the name of efficiency.

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dereklwalker.bsky.social @dereklwalker.bsky.social · 10d

Kickstarter update - 15 days to go: Stage why is derek smiling?

Because I ain't right in the head.😂

Doing this campaign has forced me to think about what success for all of this looks like to me. I'm liking the derek who is taking this chance.

www.kickstarter.com/projects/cra...

Crash & Burn

10 Easy Ways to Ruin Your Career in Marketing & Advertising (Or Any Other Industry)

www.kickstarter.com

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dereklwalker.bsky.social @dereklwalker.bsky.social · 10d

When the idea or thought about a project just comes to you as you're doing something else - that's working.

Employers and clients benefit from this without compensating for it.

There's no way to track working subconsciously, but we should acknowledge it to clients.

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dereklwalker.bsky.social @dereklwalker.bsky.social · 11d

If you really want to know how creative an adv. person or an adv. agency is - ask to see their timesheets.

Timesheets are pure fiction.

Very seldom does any human being work a 6 hours (lunch and breaks) day, let alone an 8 hour one.

We've perfected looking like we are working.

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