Wells Rich Green Inc. Partner and Copy Chief(at the time)
chuukyuu Did you come to know Mr. Greene at Jack Tinker & Partners?
Mr. Rich Yes, the first time I met Mr. Greene was at Jack Tinker & Partners where we had worked together for the first time. It is a lasting friendship that
came out of it.
chuukyuu Are you still writing copy today? If you are, for what accounts are you writing copy?
Mr. Rich Yes and no. I started the Benson & Hedges' 100 campaign which you probably know and now my primary responsibility is to supervise all the reative output of the agency. I have done work for new products for BristolMyers. I did a campaign for General Mills and a new campaign for Proctor & Gamble-Gleem Toothpaste.
chuukyuu When your agency hires a new copywriter, what aspects ofhis talent or personality are examined？ In other words what criterion is there for your agency to decide on recruiting a new copywriter?
Mr. Rich It is probably the most interesting and the hardest question to answer. I have now about 12 copywriters which is an unusually low number for an agency as large as ours. I believe in DDB with their size they must have over 80 copywriters. What I look for in a copywriter is somebody who has done something that I consider very good. I look for work really that is primarily product oriented. By product oriented I mean that there is an excitement and adventure with it, but it's on a product story or product advantage. I don't look for funny work and I don't look for gags. What I try to find in there is what we try to do in all our work-attract attention, not to the commercial but to the product and to give a nice feeling for the product and its advantages.
That is a nice, pleasant feeling and a positive feeling. I do not look for work that is very flashy to attract attention and so unsubstantial that it doesn't have a chance of selling a prqduet, which I might say a lot ofpeople are looking for today.
chuukyuu Do you think a talented copywriter could do a good job with any type of art director？ Or do you think that for a copywriter to do a good job, he must work with a certain type of art director that suits him? If you, yourself, have to work only with a certain type of art director, what type of an an director is he?
Mr. Rich This is also a very hard one to answer. I think that it's like saying "Can Joe Louis fight with one hand tied behind his back". He probably could but why bother? I think a talented copywriter could do a good job without an art director. I think a great photographer could rake a good picture with a bad lens, but be bener with a good lens. I think it's important for art directors and writers to get along very well together, but their personalities don't necessarily have to adapt to each other, because very often you get a better,mixture with two opposed personalities. As a matter of fact, Stewart and I are two diametrically opposed personalities, but not in an unconstructive way. I would look for the same characteristic in an art director that I would in the writer. They should have an understanding that you try to sell the product and that you must get attention to the product before you can sell it.
The dis-advantages
We thought we were going to
take over the tobacco world.
A new, longer filter cigarette.
A popular price.
A great taste.
Things looked pretty good.
Until an elevator door closed on
one of our longer cigarettes, leaving
one embarrassed smoker, and an elevator
full of chuckles.
Until a matron lit a Benson & Hedges
100 at a Broadway intermission,
and, because of the extra length, smoked
through the entire second act.
Until someone sat back after breakfast,
and-again that longer length-smoked
right through the 8 :05 commuter special.
Our new cigarette is a lot longer
than king size.
It takes some getting used to.
But once you get over the disadvantages,
there's another side.
Advantages.
As you'll read about on the facing page.
The advanteges
And, because they're so much
longer, you're always near an ashtray.
Running out of cigarettes is
just about impossible.
Oh, one more.
Our new Benson & Hedges 100's are
3 puffs, 4 puffs, maybe 5 puffs longer
than king size.
Depending upon how you puff.
And the extra puffs are on us.
You pay no more for our new (longer)
cigarette, than you now pay for your
(shorter) brand.
Now if you like the blend
as much as we think you'll
like the blend,
everything's going to be just great.
