The Idea Writers: Copywriting in a New Media and Marketing Era Paperback – December 14, 2010

The Idea Writers by Teressa Iezzi is an insightful, engaging and thorough overview of the massive changes rocking the world of advertising today. While only published in 2010, some of the examples may seem a little outdated, but that only speaks to the speed that our culture is moving, rather than any fault of the author. Moreover, that fact alone only emphasizes the thrust of Iezzi's thesis in this book - the modern copywriter needs to be moving as fast as the culture they live in, engaging it and uncovering insights that bring power to the brand they're working on.The book examines some of the important and innovative campaigns of the 2000s, starting with BMW Films - a campaign I remember as a 14-year-old kid, thinking it was the coolest thing ever. Then she moves to more contemporary examples, such as Old Spice's "The Man Your Man Could Smell Like" - which started out as a TV spot but evolved into a multimedia, digitally immersive campaign. Each time Iezzi examines a campaign, she uncovers the shift in where advertising and creative brand thinking have gone - which is more integrated and consumer-focused. In fact, one of the most important changes is that the brand no longer tells the consumer what benefits they can bring, but rather brands should seek to solve problems the consumer may have. A shining example is AKQA's work with Nike and the creation of Nike+ and the Nike FuelBand.AKQA has been one of the agencies leading the way when it comes to the next generation of how brand creatives should work, embodying a statement Benjamin of Palmer of The Barbarian Group told AdAge, "The big change that needs to happen is that we need, as an industry, to be innovators in making ourselves useful... For the same budget and energy as we expend on current forms of advertising, we could be making something more tangible, useful and reusable that plays a more integral part in the consumer's life," he said.Good stuff - and that's really one of the key things I took away from reading this book, the amount of money brands shovel into traditional media buying is being reallocated to other, cheaper forms of brand communication - namely, content development. Rather than spending a billion dollars on TV/Radio/Print, brands are looking for more effective ways to reach consumers and digging up those ideas is your job. Are you ready for the changes coming our way?I read the book more as a manifesto and after finishing it up, my brain was stewing with ideas. Which is exactly what a book on creativity should do. I highly recommend this book to anyone who works in business. While focused primarily on what a copywriter does, I'd say the siloed job titles of old school advertising are quickly losing relevance, anyone can offer insights into how a brand should communicate today, whether you're an Art Director, Account Planner or client-side marketing manager - don't get left behind.Hope this review was helpful!Find me on Instagram or Twitter to connect @guybarnhart

Iezzi does a real service by putting the advertising (loosely termed) of today into context with the entire history of advertising. So the book is bound to help young people in the marketing field understand some fundamentals, like where insight, inspiration and ideas come from. And it's bound to help anyone from the traditional advertising world get a handle on what's going on today -- much of which wasn't happening even a year or two ago.So: I recommend The Idea Writers for young marketing professionals, and for anyone who ever used a typewriter and is still in marketing. Finally, if you own or manage a business, and take an active role or interest in marketing, you might find this book especially enlightening. Because all around you, the ways you've marketed your goods and services have become less and less effective (as if you needed reminding). The Idea Writers won't tell you what to do - not even remotely. But it will help you make sense of all these changes, and that will be a blessed relief to a lot of people.- Barrett Rossie

The Idea Writers goes on my list of 'must read' books about Social Media Marketing, blogs, and even SEO for blogs. As someone who teaches Social Media Marketing (Google Jason McDonald to find out more about me), I am always on the look out for experts and insiders. Iezzi is one such expert.Iezzi has given us a great "think book" about what succeeds as a viral idea and why. The discussion of The Old Spice viral ad success, in particular, was the best succinct discussion of how the old (big money advertising) meets the new (viral Youtube) to succeed as an Internet phenomenon.But, can you and your company imitate Old Spice?That's where the book breaks down. It is more an insider account of the ad industry, and less a "how to" book about creating viral content. Its chatty, advertising-agency style can be rather annoying at times, but that is how ad agency types generally are: annoyingly cute. It's their job.All that aside, this is a fun interesting book that gets your mind wondering... Why don't I look like the man your man could be? Swan dive.

As much as you can keep up with the changes in media, marketing, and advertising, this does a pretty good job of profiling the job requirements of being an advertising copywriter. Interviews with many of the top talents in the industry validates the points made. The one down side (there has to be a downside), is that the view is mostly from inside the business as opposed to outside. With content being created from amateurs, media companies, and film students, the definition of IDEA WRITERS has expanded greatly.

I just began reading the book (Ch.4), and I cannot express how important it is for any advertising or marketing person to read this book, especially students.Being an undergraduate advertising copywriting student, who is doing the crash reading on all the greats (including Luke Sullivan's Hey Whipple...), I am glad I invested and purchased #TheIdeaWriters.It has so many fresh and recent example of how the industry has really changed, and it gives readers a feel for what will be considered great in the up-coming years. It is a modern reminder, and almost a challenge, to keep moving forward. I am still reading, but so far, I would compare this book to any of the great advertising books out there.@SoSaic