Hey, Whipple, Squeeze This

IntroductionOn Being the Second-Smartest Person in the Room.

I got my first job in the business in 1979.

Some kid out there just went, “In 1979?? Dude, did they even have ads back then?”

Why, yes we did, thank you very much. My first agency job was at Bonetool, Thog & Neanderthal, and I worked on prestigious new products like Fire® and The Wheel.®

Actually, the kid does have a fair question. I mean, what can some 60-year-old know about digital advertising? Or animated GIFs, clickstreams, and superstitials?

As it turns out, a lot, actually, because to survive 33 years in the ad business, I had to stay completely up to the minute. And so will you.

You'll have to know about optimizing search engine results. You'll have to know what cool technology was just unveiled at SXSW Interactive. You'll have to know about APIs and RFIDs. And you'll have to keep learning new skills all the time.

Fortunately, you don't have to be an expert at everything. As a copywriter, I don't really have to know how to prototype an app. But if I want to be a valued member of my team, I basically have to be the second-smartest person in the room on that subject, and on every subject except copywriting…. Where I'd hope of course to be first-smartest.

Digitally, I've managed to hold my own through four editions of this book. Just the same, I figure it's time to bring in someone smarter than me on the subject.

Which brings me to our contributing author, Edward Boches. During his 31 years at agencies like Mullen ...