If you’re interested in learning about the art of advertising I can recommend no book more than ‘The Advertising Concept Book’, which is not only something nice to put on your coffee table, but is also chockers full of sage advise, beautiful pencil illustrations and campaign deconstructions from author ex-Ogilvy adman Pete Barry. The byline of the book ‘Think Now, Design Later’ sets out Barry’s stall; that great advertising is only great if its roots are in insight-led ideas. I was reminded of one of the lessons in the book recently when hearing and seeing some recent Irish ad campaigns. Barry talks about the difference between having an overall concept which leads to lots of different ideas and having one idea which gets spun out into lots of different versions. The latter circumstance is common in short-lived advertising campaigns, but it is a route which is often taken as the … There’s more →