I did the amazing Goodby & Silverstein advertising Masterclass so you don’t have to. Here’s a thread with 15 of the most interesting insights from the class.

Jeff Goodby and Rich Silverstein are advertising icons. They founded @GSP in 1983 and since then have created groundbreaking advertising campaigns for Nike, Polaroid, Budweiser and many other brands.

1) The insight that generated the famous 'Got Milk?' campaign evolved from the traditional “Milk is good for you” to “How horrible is when you run of milk?”.

The thinking was that the only time you notice the product is when you run out of it.

The first ad was made in 1993.

2) “Strategy needs to sharpen the brand’s point of view. Then, creative delivers that point of view in a surprising and entertaining way.” (Goodby & Silverstein Masterclass)

3) In 1997, they created a series of ads for Nike Skateboard that imagined what would happen if police were hostile to all athletes like they were with skateboarders.

The ad captured the pain skateboarders felt. This intimacy made the brand instantly relevant in the space.

4) “The client knows more about the product than you. That’s just a fact.” (Goodby & Silverstein Masterclass)

5) When @GSP was working on campaigns for Sega, they started to add a random person screaming “Sega!” at the end of each ad.

The 'Sega scream' became a cultural phenomenon and it was the element present in all of the campaign executions.

6) “How do you sell a crazy idea to a client? Don’t think it’s crazy. Make some sense of it. Shape the narrative in a way that it makes perfect creative and business sense for the client to buy the idea.” (Goodby & Silverstein Masterclass)

7) David Ogilvy once asked Jeff Goodby how many hours a day he would write.

“Eight to ten hours” he responded.

Ogilvy then gave him the following advice: “You should write for two hours a day and then spend the other eight looking for things to write about.”

8) In 2002, @GSP made an incredible ad for the car brand Saturn that had no cars in it.

The insight was that the DNA of the brand was to put people first, so the ad featured not a single car.

It was very humane way of tackling this big technological industry.

9) Rich Silverstein used to read scripts to clients with background music. He’s reasoning is that playing music sets a different tone that helps to sell the campaign. (Goodby & Silverstein Masterclass)

10) They once lost a pitch for Porsche because when they got into the room, they took their coats off, were acting all slob, interrupting each other, etc.

They forgot that the German clients had a formal way of doing business and were expecting the same from their new agency.

11) "In a campaign, everything speaks to the same idea. All executions of it.

There are not enough campaigns anymore. Geico is probably the only example right now.

Brands only do one offs and wonder why they don’t have good results."
(Goodby & Silverstein Masterclass)

12) When @GSP did the 'Lizard' ads for Budweiser, the holding music when you would call the brewery were the lizards talking to you.

"That’s how you know you have a campaign and not just a one off ad".

13) “Study the client. Learn how they structure things in their mind and what do they value from your work.
That’s how you’ll sell more to them.”
(Goodby & Silverstein Masterclass)

14) In 2000, @GSP created a Super Bowl commercial for E*Trade that finished with the tagline “We’ve just wasted $2m, what are you going to do your money?

The ad was so right for a financial product like E*Trade and also captured a lot of the conversation from that year.

15) “The reason your brand should have a social conscience it’s because it connects better with the consumer.” (Goodby & Silverstein Masterclass)