Ordinary Advertising. And How To Avoid It Like The Plague. [Paperback]

Mark Silveira (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 27, 2003

For Cindy, Jamey, Rose and Bridget without whose love and encouragement I'd have never survived this business let alone had the chance to write about it.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Mark Silveira has had the good fortune to work with many of the "modern masters" of contemporary advertising.

Starting as a copywriter in Portland, Oregon, he came under the wings of Dan Wieden and David Kennedy and worked on some of the earliest Nike advertising.

He then joined the fabled New York agency, Ammirati & Puris, where he eventually became a lead writer on BMW and BMW motorcyles. He was also responsible for some acclaimed advertising for Club Med and part of the team that established UPS as a genuine rival to FedEx in the overnight delivery business.

From there he moved on to Ally & Gargano working under the Hall of Fame creative director Amil Gargano on Saab and then to Scali, McCabe, Sloves where he took over the creative duties on Perdue Farms, trading places with Ed McCabe and Bob Levenson, both Hall of Fame copywriters. In fact, he has followed in the footsteps of no fewer than ten members of The One Club Hall of Fame (while never gaining admittance himself he's quick to add).

However, what he did gain was a deep understanding of what it takes to identify and nurture extraordinary advertising. And an uncanny knack for explaining it to businesspeople. Based in Chicago, he is now a consultant to advertisers and agencies as well as an author and speaker. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 204 pages
• Publisher: Xlibris Corporation (August 27, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1401098495
• ISBN-13: 978-1401098490
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.5 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,543,300 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of Advertising's Best, November 18, 2003

By 

J. Shorter (Chicago) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Ordinary Advertising. And How To Avoid It Like The Plague. (Paperback)

I wish everyone in the business would read this book. Armed with Silveira's insight, creative people might well find it easier to sell their best work. And, given his gift for exposing the flaws inherent in so many widely accepted methods of evaluation, clients can see clearly the dangers of the so-called "safe route."

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Logical and concise to the core., October 30, 2003

By 

"olisiwa" (Portland, OR United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Ordinary Advertising. And How To Avoid It Like The Plague (Hardcover)

This book is for anyone in business who believes there is great value to be had from advertising that rises above the pack. The author claims to be speaking primarily to the "clients" of advertising agencies, but I think there's much of interest here to anyone involved in the process.
Having spent over two decades in the ad agency and television commercial production area, I strongly believe Silveira has identified many of the cardinal principles that underlie all extraordinary advertising and are applicable to virtually any product or service. And even better, he does so in a fashion that makes for both an enjoyable read and an illuminating journey. He makes it sound like the development of extraordinary advertising is actually fun (which it is) and not much harder than the development of the ordinary variety (which it isn't).
And he gets my nomination for what I call the "Mark Twain Succinctness Award"-"Anyone can have ideas-the difficulty is to express them without squandering a quire of paper on an idea that ought to be reduced to one glittering paragraph."
I heartily recommend it.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A good book for making sense of ad agencies, July 6, 2006

By 

Martins Blums "mblums" (Minneapolis, MN) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Ordinary Advertising. And How To Avoid It Like The Plague. (Paperback)

If your firm is looking to hire an ad agency, it would be hugely beneficial to read this book. It will allow you to better understand how these agencies work and how to get your money's worth.

Besides that, however, the book doesn't accomplish its goal of making it any easier to spot extraordinary advertising. The stories Mr. Silveira tells are fun and help put some fizz in the book. There are, however, no rules - hard or easy - that can predict what succeeds and what fails.