To advertisers: "Do not compete with your agency in the creative area. Why keep a dog and bark yourself?"

When you have nothing to say, sing it.

I have a theory that the best ads come from personal experience. Some of the good ones I have done have really come out of the real experience of my life, and somehow this has come over as true and valid and persuasive. People love to read stories. They like to know you as a real person who has your struggle, pain, success and failure, etc. One well-known example is Jared Fogle's weight loss story which made millions of dollars for Subway. Start to collect your stories from today and use them in your ad campaigns.

Headlines can be strengthend by the inclusion of emotional words like darling, love, fear, proud, friend and baby.

A consumer is not a moron. She's your wife. Don't insult her intelligence, and don't shock her.

You now have to decide what 'image' you want for your brand. Image means personality. Products, like people, have personalities, and they can make or break them in the market place.

It takes a big idea to attract the attention of consumers and get them to buy your product. Unless your advertising contains a big idea, it will pass like a ship in the night. I doubt if more than one campaign in a hundred contains a big idea.