Short and Sweet Overview that's not short, nor very sweet.

REFERENCE MATERIALS:
Creative Advertising: Ideas and Techniques from the World’s Best
Campaigns - Mario Pricken
Deep Thoughts - Jack Handey
Hey Whipple, Squeeze This - Luke Sullivan
The Elements of Style - Strunk & White
An Inconvenient Truth for Copywriters - Suzanne Pope
The Onion
The Weekly World News
The New York Times


COURSE OBJECTIVE
Nobody reads ads. They read what interests them. Sometimes, it’s an ad. So that ad/outdoor board/banner/blogpost had better have a great headline. That’s the way it’s been since the first copywriter hunched over his personal cave-writing device, and, at some godforsaken hour of the prehistoric dawn, banged out the world’s first headline—“Special on Mastodon Ribs at La Brea Tar Pit.” Or, “Rock Furniture—No Interest till 39 B.C.!” Actual headlines discovered in the caves of France. Final resting place of David Ogilvy (not the caves, just France). Land of fine wine and cheese—Kind of prophetic. Because 3,000 years later, the same holds true. Headlines are still meant to telegraph information vital to our survival. Well, somewhat. And today, some are like fine wine, and some are like smelly old French cheese. In this course, the student will study the thinking and writing of the world’s great copywriters, the objective being to spawn a new golden age of ads with headlines, thus bringing about the inevitable extinction of the all-visual ad. Okay, that’s a lie. But the world does desperately need more great headline writers.

TEACHING METHODS
The teaching methods are lectures, demonstrations and critique of assignments.

YOUR GRADE
Your grade will be based on your participation, having all your work ready to go when class starts, being on-time, the progress your work makes from week-to-week and your final overall body of work. If you are going to be absent, email your teacher before class to let him or her know and send that week’s assignment. Any assignment not received by the start of class will be graded as late and may work against your overall grade.

ON DEADLINES
Advertising is a great business, but it’s a business of deadlines. Your creative director will want your work to be done on time. Clients will too. So if you aren’t already used to taking deadlines seriously, now is the time to start. Deadlines in this class are serious. Consider your instructor your creative director. Or, if you prefer, your client. Get your work done on time.