What Is Most Important - Copy Or Pic?

When, some little time ago now, I first descended upon the advertising scene, we were a good deal more concerned than most people seem to be today about the nature of the business we found ourselves in. We were always holding debates - in the saloon bar of the Coach & Horses in New Bond Street, to be tiresomely precise - about the meaning of advertising, the significance of advertising, and the past, present and future of advertising. And an unconscionably serious lot we no doubt were. Not to mention drunk.

Among the hardy perennials of our debates was the relevance of sex in advertising, and also the question of whether the copy element in ads was more important than the visual or vice versa.

Of course, these were the days when it was possible for agency personnel to slope off round the pub during working hours and nobody on the management side of things turned so much as a hair at our absence. Just so long as the work got done on time, nobody gave so much as a tinker's cuss whether you were doing it in the office or down at the dog track. These days, agencies are a little more sanguine in their approach to creative people; and I recently heard of a designer being sacked on the spot for turning up at a client meeting wearing jeans - and I kid you not.

But back to our hardy perennials. The 'sex in advertising' question was a hotly debated topic, mainly because the copywriters and designers in my milieu were always anxious to attend the relevant photo-shoots, and not because sex was liable to help sell anything. Thus, we were constantly coming up with speculative ad campaigns that featured semi-clad females so that we might catch a glimpse of a naked thigh or better. Few of these concepts saw the light of day, but it was always worth a try.

As to the copy versus pic argument, this has still not been resolved to this day. Then, as now, I was on the side of the angels, holding that around 80 per cent of ads could, at a pinch, do without illustrations, whereas only about 2 per cent could do without words. (In regard to the other 18 per cent, you can make your own arrangements.)

Such an argument, as you'd expect, was met with widespread alarm by the designers, who saw that I was presaging their redundancy. Then as now, they would do everything they could to give their illustrations the prominence they thought they deserved. This usually resulted in a design in which the pic took up four-fifths of the ad, while the copy was relegated to eight-point solid and rendered practically illegible.

My attitude, obviously, was simply a debating stance - true though it undoubtedly is. I am not suggesting for a moment that 8 out of 10 ads should be wholly typographical. But if you take a dispassionate look around you, you might agree with me that a whole lot of ads (and brochures and websites, too, come to that) carry pictures for pictures' sake; and that in quite a few cases the pictures, far from helping the transmission of a message, actually hinder it.

The biggest offenders in this respect are what might be describes as semi-industrial ads. Just leaf through a trade mag (or brochure or website) and you'll see irrelevance in illustration well carried out. You'll see, for instance, pictures of the factory or, as they call it these days, the production operation. You'll see pics of two obvious male models in white coats staring idiotically at a computer screen or a blueprint. And you'll see pics of two obvious male models, plus a female model, in white coats staring idiotically at a computer screen. The female is included in the latter pic because the designer had originally planned for her to be shot with her clothes off.

Here's what I think. With today's wonderful digital photography opportunities, with an instant replay of whatever has been shot, one might hope that illustrations in ads, brochures and websites might be made more relevant. They might actually show the product in action - demonstration is, after all, the soul of advertising. But, no, we still get pics which have nothing whatsoever to do with the product or its benefits.

I don't mind admitting that there can be few people in the whole wide world who know less about photography than I do. What I do know, however, is that promotional material is far better off without an illustration if that illustration does not augment the sales message. So, in this respect, copy is more important than illustration.

Mind you, there is a lot of copy around that doesn't augment the sales message either. But that's another story.

About The Author

Patrick Quinn is an award winning copywriter with 40 years' experience of the advertising business in London, Miami, Dublin and Edinburgh.

He publishes a FREE online monthly newsletter, AdBriefing, designed for those who have a very real interest in producing good advertising. Subscriptions are available at: http://www.adbriefing.com

j.p@markethillpublishing.co.uk

Seeking a cheaper, faster alternative to foreclosure, several lenders are encouraging homeowners to sell short

California, New York, Nevada, Florida and Massachusetts are among the handful of states that haven’t signed a deal with banks over foreclosure abuses, according to state officials and two people familiar with the talks.

Bank of America Corp., facing increased demand for mortgage refinancing amid government efforts to help struggling homeowners, is telling some customers to wait 90 days, said two people with knowledge of the policy.

Democrats are squaring off against Washington heavyweights to determine an appropriate tax rate on carried interest

Under Republican pressure, Senator Baucus is backing off a proposal that would increase federal tax revenue from inherited IRA holders

China’s stocks rallied the most in three weeks on speculation slowing inflation will provide more leeway for the central bank to ease monetary policy and after the government pledged to support first-time homebuyers.

China’s central bank pledged support for first-home buyers as a crackdown on real-estate speculation threatens to trigger a property slump in the world’s second- biggest economy.

Greek Prime Minister Lucas Papademos is set to negotiate with leaders of the political parties supporting his caretaker government after Athens missed another deadline to secure a second aid package.

The numbers are proving Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke’s critics wrong.

Feb. 8 (Bloomberg) -- Laurence D. Fink, chief executive officer of BlackRock Inc., talks about the outlook for global stocks, the U.S. economy and his investment strategy. Fink also discusses the European sovereign debt crisis. He speaks in Hong Kong with Susan Li on Bloomberg Television's "First Up." (Source: Bloomberg)

UBS' stock is down after the Swiss bank reported a plunge in profits in the fourth quarter

Feb. 7 (Bloomberg) -- Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke speaks about the U.S. economy, labor market and tax policy.¶ Bernanke, testifying before the Senate Budget Committee in Washington, said the job market is still far from healthy after signs of economic improvement over the past year. (Excerpts. Source: Bloomberg)

California and New York’s attorneys general haven’t signed on to a proposed settlement with five banks over foreclosure practices that has won the support of more than 40 states

The California State Teachers' Retirement System, or Calstrs, intends to question in a letter the controlling power amassed by Facebook Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg

By trying to help distressed homeowners without appearing to bail them out, the Administration would leave borrowers submerged