I saw a tee shirt the other day that read, “More me, less you.” It made me laugh because we can all be a bit self-absorbed occasionally. Sometimes we even talk about ourselves too much.
Advertisers, like people, enjoy talking about themselves. It’s simple, human nature. But talking about yourself is no way to talk to someone else, especially in advertising.
When I was a cub I took a piece of copy to an art director to flow into a layout. He stared at it for a minute or two and I could tell something was wrong. “What’s the matter?” I asked.
He looked up and said, “this is we, we copy.” I took offense, thinking he had just called my work wee-wee. “Excuse me?” I said.
“It’s all ‘we this’ and ‘we that,’” he added. “It’s chest-pounding—it’s propaganda. Try less we and more you.”
If he had called my work wee-wee, he would have been right. It was great advice and a good rule of thumb for anyone who works in marketing.