Hey Whipple Squeeze This by Luke Sullivan and Edward Boches is simply put a lengthy detailed guide to creating great ads and being a great advertiser. They start by introducing the concept behind the title of the book: Mr. Whipple the starring character of a famous Charmin commercial, who squeezed the Charmin pack after telling a group of women not to squeeze it. So, the title is a bit of a stab at the commercial and character by essentially saying “read this” it’s going to make better ads than you made, which introduces the whole concept of their book, making good ads. Sullivan and Boches have two main arguments: advertising is hated by most but it can be overcome, simple ads can be more effective than detailed or fancy ones, and that each type of advertising differ in the way they need to be executed.
With their first main argument that advertising is hated by most people but it can be overcome is valid because it’s true that most people do hate advertising. It’s usually an inconvenient thing that interferes with everyday life, whether it’s interrupting your playlist, cutting in at a good point in your favorite show, filling your favorite magazine, or the annoying popup on your favorite blog. Everyone hates advertising, but they have to deal with it. The issue for advertisers is to overcome this hatred and have people look at their ads and have the idea stick to potential consumers. To do this Sullivan and Boches state that it can be overcome quite simply through catchy slogans, or short taglines. One example of a catchy slogan given in the text was a KitKat ad (page 113) where the ad wasn’t even finished, showing only part of the slogan “Have a break have a KitKat” but leaving out “break” and “KitKat”, where the slogan will still be able to be identified because it’s so common. While the ad itself was creative because it showed the ad in the process of being put on a billboard, with a ladder and a bucket leaning against it, implying that the worker putting the ad up left to go get a KitKat. Where other ads can be effective because they have short memorable tag lines such as the ad for Chick-fil-A (page 116) where “ Eat Mor Chikin” is being painted by two cows standing on the billboard platform, or the ad for Kuhn & Kuhn divorce attorneys (pg 118) where the tagline was just “OOPS” with the o’s being spelled as an engagement ring and wedding band. They supported their arguments of catchy slogans, and short taglines being memorable by explaining that these ads being simple are easier to remember, and essentially simple ads break through the clutter of everyday life.
They also argue that a simple ad could contain no to few words just a picture and the brand name somewhere on the ad or incorporated in. Two prime examples of this are the Jeep ad (page 107), where the car isn’t even shown but a boat and trailer coated in mud are, with the Jeep logo in the corner implying that a Jeep had the power to tow the boat through mud like that. The other ad being the Volkswagen ad (page 150) with an empty parking spot between a cop car and a row of motorcycles, to advertise for the new park assist feature. Throughout the book the authors support their argument by providing real life example of effective ads like the ones mentioned, and explaining how their simplicity made them effective.
Their second argument is that for ads to be effective and successful. The type of ads being used need to be taken into account, because each needs to be executed differently, but digital ads are especially unique. Therefore, it is important to learn what kind of advertising works best for each type of media. For outdoor ads, most are in the form of billboards so the need to be short, yet eye-catching and memorable or the driver and passengers of cars are not going to find the ad worthwhile because it is too hard to understand when you drive by at fast speeds, this is why simple one-word ads work best as outdoor ads. On the other hand, magazine and newspaper ads can have more words explaining the ad because the viewer has more time and opportunity and will to read the ads. While digital ads are especially unique because as they explain “digital isn’t simply a technology, or a platform, or a medium. Digital is a way of life. People live digitally. It’s an entirely new behavior, a way in which people find, watch, share and even produce the content we now call advertising”, which is entirely true, people are more likely to share the video advertisements with friends and family, that even just advertisements online can become shockingly popular to view. For example, the authors mention two video advertisements released online by Red Bull and Dove. The companies simply made a video advertisement and shared it online not even in the form of a commercial over TV. Red Bull dropped a daredevil out of a weather balloon, where all he did was sky dive not even hold up a can of the energy drink when he landed, and their video has garnered 38 million views. Dove produced a mini-documentary on how women see themselves as beautiful or not, and didn’t talk about the products Dove offers at all, only included the logo and the voiceover of “you are more beautiful than you think” and they have over 65 million views. In both of these cases the authors prove that with digital advertising you don’t need to show, or talk up your product, just show what the brand stands for and release it to the public and see how they accept and share it with the world, because like they said “Digital is a way of life”
Social Media advertisements are another unique advertising method. Since social media is where infinite connections happen, it’s important for companies to be a part of these connections. As Sullivan and Bosches explain, it’s important to “talk like a person not a corporation” and “involve users and let people cocreate”. Starbucks did this by inspiring their fans to doodle on their plain white cups and then turned them into art. They got 4,000 entries for the contest in just three weeks and earned coverage not just on the cups but the brand just because they involved their customers. They explain that it’s important to understand social media, understand urls, and hashtags learning how each individual platform works so it can appeal to the viewers and fit in with the concept of the site. They give the example of “snapchat and other new platforms, display only vertical video” so a horizontal video isn’t going to go over well on these platforms. They also support that these sites should do this because “vertical video generate nine times the views that horizontal video delivers”. They emphasizing that it’s important to know how the platform works so your ad fits without being cut off or awkward to watch. The authors supported the argument of social media ads being unique and having to know the way social media sites work by providing examples of ads that worked and the proper way to advertise on these sites. Therefore, by doing this, they effectively supported this argument.
They support these two main arguments throughout the book by continually bringing up these ideas within each chapter and each chapter differs. By showing that these ideas stay constant, it shows that these two arguments are well supported across different categories. They provide good evidence by giving examples of effective ads and explain how following the main rules of advertising helped make the ad effective. They show pictures of some of the ads that they found most effective so there is visual representation of what they are talking about; giving even more support to show that the ads actually exist and are memorable and effective.