Read Me, Seymour!
October 3, 2020
Author Unknown
You’ve written three novels. After years of toil, most of it pleasurable (an apt definition of writing), enduring countless maybes, the quite interested and even an option from Hollywood, you ended up self-publishing. Not the happy ending you envisioned, with heady book tours and glowing reviews on myriad websites. But parking your books on the computer like an old tax return? No fucking way.
“Years of effort” is actually an understatement. You’d spent decades on these novels. High art or not you knew they were high concept. Your first, The Last Generation imagined a world bereft of children, slowly dying out. Yet, and this was the kicker, nothing else was wrong. For the remaining shrinking population, life simply went on. What does this last generation do with itself? Your marketing line: It’s not the end of the world, just the end of us.
Your second novel is a modern fable about God and advertising, The Happy Soul Industry. In it, God, frustrated by a world lacking belief, puts an angel on earth to find an ad agency in order to market spirituality. In the third act all hell breaks loose.
Your third story, Sweet By Design is a romantic comedy (!) about a disillusioned gay man and an aging female socialite, brought together on an improbable road trip. This one you wrote to prove you could be whimsical and, being honest here, entirely commercial. Whatever your motivations and inspirations, you never worked harder in your life than on these three books. In doing so, you developed a keen appreciation for even the shoddiest novels at the airport bookstand. Readers who weren’t writers would never comprehend, couldn’t possibly, the effort required to scribe 300 pages of anything. Thinking. Rethinking. Writing. Rewriting. Losing weeks of content. Fighting demons. Overcoming doubt. And then, when you honestly thought it was finally done, the painful discovery of a typo on the very first page, then another and another, a repeated paragraph – How did that happen? How many more things were wrong?
To be continued…
(If interested in any of these books please click on the links right side of this blog!)
Manifestos Matter! May I Write One For You?
August 24, 2020
My Laptop, a Monster Zero and Thou!
Nothing suits me more than writing a good manifesto! I know I am not alone. Most copywriters get off on writing manifestos. At least they’d better. Writing such documents is at the heart of what we do, and can do, for our clients.
Most of you know what I’m talking about. For those unawares, a manifesto (aka mantra or anthem) is the bringing to life in words the highest and most noble aspirations of its subject.
Yes, it is advertising copy but in the best sense of the word. Recall Apple’s great script to the modern world: Think Different. Consider the lines that first and forever defined Nike to a generation: Just Do It. We know these iconic tags because we fell in love with the manifestos. Frankly, neither line would have lasted this long, or even gotten out the door, if not for their beloved manifestos.
The power and glory of a brilliant manifesto cannot be overstated. They raise the hairs on the back of your neck. They make CMO’s smile. They win pitches. Most of all they change things: attitudes, behaviors, even lives.
At least the good ones do.
Into these haloed paragraphs we put everything we know or think we know about writing, about persuading, about life. Here you won’t find speeds and feeds, racks and stacks or friends and family. None of that.
May I write one for you?
https://www.steffanpostaer.com/
Boundless passion for developing creative business ideas, winning new accounts, and elevating a company’s creative profile.
Creative Leadership and what it could mean to your organization.
November 25, 2019
Over the years, creative leadership has meant different things to different people in different kinds of agencies. The following is meant to clarify what it could (and probably should) mean to an agency right now and moving forward…
The primary purpose of creative leadership is to enhance the creative reputation of the agency, to be a creative advocate for the agency (and its clients), and to help the agency win new business and to grow organically. Wherever the CD might assist in accomplishing these things, he/she should be enlisted. Any challenge threatening the above, he/she should be enlisted. No less important, the creative lead assists in the development of strategy (conceptual and tactical) and welcomes the collaboration.
Here’s what I do and what I feel is expected of me:
Organizing Principle. I am interested in creative business ideas that drive our client’s business; what I call an organizing principle: a melding of strategy and hyperbole that puts a stake in the ground, demonstrating the power and potential of our client’s offering. An OP usually includes a manifesto that brings it to life, a poetic and powerful story that sets up the problem and delivers the solution. For every OP I expect proof of concept in formats relevant to the engagement, i.e. home page, product and solutions, advertising, templates, trade show booth, etc…
The Three C’s: Creation. Curating. Choreography.
- Creation: As a player-coach, rely on me for high-level concept development and first order copywriting.
- Curation: Finding the best work and making it better, combining and marrying assets to tell the best story.
- Choreography: Putting work together so it flows with the rest of our content and delivers maximum impact.
Pitching. As a creative face for the agency, I should play a significant role in pitches – not just creating the work in the room but also delivering it effectively.
Strategy. I can contribute on strategy (conceptual, digital, tactical, media) and look forward to helping pre-strategy and in the development of creative briefs.
Integration, Alignment & Resources. Helping to determine best fit for creative resources from the available talent pool.
I am available for contract, freelance or full time engagement. All inquiries: Steffan1@rcn.com
New Day. New Website. Let’s go to work!
May 20, 2019
File this under long overdue: I finally redid my website portfolio, making it much easier to review and (hopefully) appreciate. Please take a look. If you’re looking for an exceptional copywriter and/or creative director for a project or pitch, or simply have a special writing assignment requiring a true professional, I’m your guy.
I love fashioning creative business ideas with all the requisite proof points, from emails to manifestos. I’m quick, reliable and will work within your budget.
I grew up on the consumer side but I can and do work in B2B, and on the trickiest of verticals. It’s all on on my new website! Thank you so much for your consideration. I look forward to our collaboration.
Let’s go to work!
Gods of Advertising is on hiatus so I can devote more energy to completing a manuscript as well as writing for my clients. Perhaps you? Services include copy writing, brand manifestos and creative direction. I’m passionate about helping clients develop powerful creative business ideas. This is my portfolio My portfolio
Do you have a writing project you would like to discuss -professional or personal? I am also available to help other writers with their work, as an advisor, editor or mentor.
Connect here or on SM platforms – Let’s have a conversation!
I look forward to hearing from you!
The Happy Soul Industry
The Last Generation
Gods of Advertising 