Luke Sullivan, author of Hey Whipple, Squeeze This! is our guest for the 115th episode of The Copywriter Club Podcast. Kira and Rob were thrilled when Luke agreed to share his advice on the show—Rob is a proud owner of the first edition of Luke’s book purchased 20 years ago and headed for an expanded 6th edition soon—because he comes from the advertising agency world and has a slightly different perspective on copywriting than most of our other guests. We asked Luke about:

•  how he got started in the advertising business

•  the elements required to create “magic” at an advertising agency

•  why you absolutely must work with people who are better than you

•  how to surround yourself with geniuses when you work alone

•  the power of curiosity and why copywriters need it

•  Luke’s favorite campaign—surprisingly it’s radio

•  the moment he knew he had made it

•  how loving mentors can have an oversized impact on your success

•  how you learn to write a decent headline and other skills

•  what it takes to get hired at a big ad agency

•  the “Alien” moment you need to build into your portfolio

•  the things copywriters do wrong and why “idea guy” is dead

•  How Luke recommends you come up with your own big ideas

•  how to structure your day for maximum creativity

•  how to get creative briefs that help you do your best work

•  the advice he would give young Luke if he could go back in time

As expected Luke dished out some amazing advice that you’re going to want to hear as soon as you can. So click the play button below or scroll down for a full transcript. You can also download it to your favorite podcast app.

 

The people and stuff we mentioned on the show:

Hey Whipple, Squeeze This!

Tom McElligott (lots of great ads at this link)

Ron Anderson

Martin Agency

Fallon

GSD&M

SCAD

HeyWhipple.com

Goodby

DDB

Lynda

Edward Boches

Mullen

Thirty Rooms to Hide In

Luke on Facebook

Kira’s website

Rob’s website

The Copywriter Club Facebook Group

Intro: Content (for now)

Outro: Gravity

 

Full Transcript:

Rob:   This podcast is sponsored by The Copywriter Underground.

Kira:   It's our new membership designed for you to help you attract more clients and hit 10K a month consistently.

Rob:   For more information, or to sign up, go to thecopywriterunderground.com.

Rob:   What if you could hang out with seriously talented copywriters and other experts, ask them about their successes and failures, their work processes and their habits, and then steal an idea or two to inspire your own work? That's what Kira and I do every week at The Copywriter Club Podcast.

Kira:   You're invited to join the club for episode 115 as we chat with award-winning copywriter, author and professor of advertising, Luke Sullivan, about his bestselling book, Hey, Whipple, Squeeze This!, what it takes to make great advertising, what copywriters can do to get better creative briefs, and what it takes to get hired by an elite advertising agency.

Rob:   Hey, Luke.

Luke: Hey, guys.

Kira:   Welcome, Luke.

Luke: Hello, thanks for having me.

Rob:   We are thrilled to have you here because, for a lot of different reasons, but a lot of our guests in the past have focused on freelance copywriting and a lot of direct response copywriting, and you come from a different branch of advertising. Maybe, the more familiar one to most people. But we're thrilled to have you here and really interested in your story. How did you become a copywriter?

Luke: Well, let's see. Number one, I'm older than both you guys, probably older than all your listeners put together. But old school is fun because of all kinds of reasons. I got into the business in the year of 1979, 9, 9, 9, 9, 9, a long time ago. And back then it was all just, you know, print, outdoor, radio and TV. That was it, 1979, I was lucky enough to be hired by two Minneapolis greats, Tom McElligott, who's a hall of fame copywriter at the One Show,