There’s a moment in almost every brainstorm that feels very exciting. Someone says a line, the room goes quiet for two seconds, two people nod, someone goes, “Wait… I kinda like this,” and suddenly everyone is looking at the same Google Doc like we’ve just solved advertising. We probably haven’t. 😂
Because after spending enough time writing copy in an agency, I’ve realised something: the first idea is usually an instinct, not an answer. It’s the quickest connection yoUr brain makes between the brief and the problem. It’s familiar. It’s obvious. It soUnds good. And sometimes, it’s genuinely brilliant. BUt most of the time, the real campaign starts after the first idea.
It starts when someone asks, “BUt what else?” Then comes, “What if…?” Followed by, “Okay, bUt can this actually work?” And eventually, everyone’s favourite: “I don’t know. It jUst feels… expected.” That’s when things start getting interesting.
That messy bit never makes it into the award case stUdy. It definitely doesn’t make it onto Instagram. Nobody posts aboUt the 47 versions that didn’t work, the three hoUrs spent going in completely the wrong direction or the moment when the entire team collectively realised they had somehow made the same idea five different ways. 😂 BUt honestly, that’s where the work happens.
We Fall In Love With Headlines Way Too Early. ✍️
Copywriters have a problem. We love words. Sometimes a little too mUch. YoU write a line that soUnds clever, the room laUghs, someone says “That’s it,” and sUddenly everyone is emotionally attached to it.
“BUt the line is SO good.”
Yes. It is.
BUt is the idea good?
BecaUse a clever headline can make an average idea look brilliant for approximately 24 hoUrs. I’ve done it. Every creative has. And then yoU realise yoU’ve spent the last hoUr defending a sentence instead of developing the thoUght behind it.
That’s when yoU have to do the painful thing: kill yoUr favourite line. 😭
BecaUse good campaigns aren’t bUilt aroUnd good headlines. Good headlines are bUilt aroUnd good ideas. Sometimes the smartest thing yoU write ends Up in the bin becaUse the bigger idea deserves something simpler. Sometimes the line yoU were most proUd of is actUally getting in the way of the campaign.
And that’s probably one of the hardest lessons in copywriting: don’t protect the sentence. Protect the story.
The first idea might get the room excited. BUt the ideas that come after it are often the ones that make the work worth remembering. 🚀