I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about our industry and its future. The great thing about advertising is it’s in constant flux. That’s also the scary thing.
When I left portfolio school, it was with a book full of print ads. That wouldn’t cut it today. The bar is much, much higher. You’ve got to have ambient media, web executions, product design. Big thinking no longer means a double-page spread.
And yet you probably spend a lot of time in school working on headlines and layouts. We spend tons of time on this blog discussing body copy and photography – techniques that seem hardly revolutionary or cutting edge.
So are we wasting our time? Are you wasting yours? I don’t think so.
I’ve written something that’s put things in perspective for me as a teacher and creative director. And I hope it puts things in perspective for you as students, juniors and the future of this industry.
If you agree with it and if it helps, please share it, post it or print it. Just don’t change it or charge for it.
Here’s the link for The Blank Page Manifesto.
MAKIN' ADS 
This was the first thing I put up on my wall at work.Awesome Greg.PJL
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Hi Greg,I am trying to find some great brand manifestos. The only two i’ve seem are Apple’s “Think Different” and Pedigree’s “We Are for Dogs”. Both got turned into ads. Do you know if there are any other worth checking out?Thx
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Hi, Gong.The Mother of All Manifestos is the one for Miller High Life. You can read it here (on director, Errol Morris’ homepage):http://www.errolmorris.com/commercials/miller_manifesto.pdfI’ve heard it was written after the fact. I can’t verify it. But that doesn’t detract from the great writing.
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