Andrew Boulton, Copywriter and Creative Advertising Lecturer
I have worked as a copywriter for 12 (ish) years, having bumbled into it as all the best writers do. Later on, I once again did a spot a bumbling and ended up teaching copywriting at the University of Lincoln on both their Creative Advertising and Creative Writing programmes.
I've also written a bestselling (brag) book on copywriting called 'Copywriting Is: 30 or so thoughts on thinking like a copywriter, as well as a children's book, also about copywriting, called 'Adele Writes an Ad' (that you may have read about in Ad Week). I also speak and run training around copywriting and other wordy stuff like that.
What is your favourite social media platform, and why?
LinkedIn (which I know is weird). I realised that you don't have to be super serious and 'professional' on there and have found a good audience who seems to appreciate my nonsense.
Tell us about you and your current role or area of interest.
The Creative Advertising course at Lincoln uni has a remarkable reputation for producing great ad creatives. It's run by a pal of mine, Dave Pettitt, who has made it consistently one of the most popular and successful courses in the whole university. As a result, we are producing a lot of incredible creatives who are achieving great things in the industry.
My role, initially, was to introduce students to the craft of copywriting, and I've since gone on to write a module for the Creative Writing programme that introduces them to a life of copywriting as well. However, I always say I'm only really pretending to be a teacher, copywriting and writing is my real job and the only one I'm capable of doing properly.
But it feels like a remarkable gift to be given all these bright, curious creatives minds and be able to show them what a joyful and rewarding (and peculiar) career copywriting can be.
What do you like about your career or area of focus?
I like the variety. I have to write; I'd be entirely lost if I didn't, but the way things have turned out, I get to do an awful lot of things that I really love, and not a lot of things I find dull (although universities do have a fondness for administrative over-complication that I'd happily do without).
A blend of copywriting, teaching, advertising and writing programmes, mentoring young writers, speaking and working on my own writing projects is not far from a perfect balance for me. (I know how disgusting it is to hear about people without any work problems, so I understand entirely if I've lost your sympathy at this point).
What is the best advice you have ever received?
There's a great passage in Ray Bradbury's brilliant book on writing where he talks about the need to explore. "Fly apart and disintegrate while you're writing - doing it wildly and thoughtlessly and without hesitation, and then return to it the next day with a cool mind and sort it out. "Whether by accident or design (probably accident), that's exactly my process.
What inspires you, motivates you, or helps you to move forward?
It's a dull answer, but reading is still and always shall be the best way to get better at writing. Suppose you can get into the habit of capturing the incredible phrases, and thoughts and techniques you discover when you read (and there's always something worth capturing). In that case, that becomes your atlas to better and more surprising creative writing.
The last thing I wrote down was a beautiful line from a DJ Enright poem about 'old phrases waving grimy fists'. (Poetry, by the way, is also something I teach young copywriters to consider - the reading, and writing, of poems makes you a better copywriter. It's something about the compactness, rhythm, and finding new ways to express old ideas that make them creative cousins).
What are you proud of in your life so far?
Apart from my family (who are very nice), I have to say my books. Copywriting was swirling around my mind for years and to have finally poured it out into a real book that people can buy from real bookshops (and Amazon) is a dream. I am, I should probably say, a terribly lazy writer (and human). And to have actually managed to send a book out into the world is satisfyingly out of character.
I should probably add that without my publisher (and pal) Giles Edwards, that book would still be sitting, dusty and forlorn, on my computer. He's the one who really made it happen, and I just typed some words.
What is your preferred way to meet new people/network?
Infrequently and briefly. I am better with the alphabet than I am with people.
What skills or qualities do you feel have helped you?
The one I did not have and had to learn over time is resilience. When you're a copywriter, you are going to get shot down on a daily basis, even when what you've done is actually very good. And, even if you're writing an advert for baked beans, it's still a creative endeavour, and that means you have put something of yourself into it - which makes it hard, and hurtful and frustrating to have that work dismissed.
Like most copywriters, in the beginning, I took this all very much to heart. I'm not entirely cured, but I have gained a little perspective. I know when the writing is good, and that's usually enough for me. Usually.
What do you wish you had known when you started out?
That the job existed! I loved writing when I was in school, but the only jobs we ever heard about in those lines were journalism or writing novels. The sad thing is that this is largely still the same, and the number of amazing young writers who are never hearing about copywriting is a miserable state of affairs.
I got asked to join the Creative Writing programme at Lincoln that the students - all focused on life in writing in some form - get to know about this incredible (and very available) path they could take.
Who do you most admire in business, academic or creative circles and why?
This would take way too long and sound way too indulgent, so let me single out two in particular. Firstly, a fellow I'm lucky enough to work with, Gyles Lingwood - author of an excellent book on copywriting called Read Me. He's one of the great unsung driving forces behind educating young creative writers and advertisers in the UK.
And then there's Vikki Ross, who is the tireless champion a profession like copywriting needs. I'm not saying any more, as I tend to gush, but let's just say our corner of the industry is happier and healthier because of their efforts.
Outside of your professional/work area, what hobbies or interests do you have or what other areas of your life are of real importance to you?
I swim outdoors and then bore people by sermonising about the many benefits of swimming outdoors. But, of course, I could fill this entire interview with very dull thoughts on how wonderful it is, so all I shall say is that, for creative people, there's not much better for clearing a busy mind.
Has the pandemic had a positive or a negative effect on you and/or your business, and how have you managed it?
Neutral, I suppose. Given what it's done to so many people and businesses, I certainly can't grumble and have largely come out of things unscathed. The saddest part has been the students who have been deprived of some important moments in university. I think the programme did an incredible job adapting to lockdown conditions, but there is an awful lot that the students lost beyond the teaching side of things.
Do you have a mentor, or have you ever mentored anyone?
I have always been a little wary of mentoring anyone, as all I'd be capable of doing is telling them about the way I do, and have always done, things - and what use is that? However, having said that, I remain in contact with a handful of old Lincoln grads, and while not exactly mentoring them, I make myself available if they want to chat about a creative or a career problem.
I've always thought that if mentoring is something you want to pursue as a young creative, then you need to have a very clear idea of what you want the relationship to achieve. I see so many mentoring situations that fizzle out because there was no aim to it in the first place. In our line of work, I wonder if the best plan would be to get a collection of micro mentors, a broader set of experiences and ideas, instead of putting all your eggs in one creative basket.
What advice would you have for someone looking to get into the same area of work or interests?
Start writing. The most valuable and rarest commodity in copywriting is a craft. It takes years to develop it, and perhaps it's something that never actually gets perfected. But if you are a junior writer who has an early appreciation for craft, then you are a huge leap ahead of the competition. And, like all sorts of craft, the best way to acquire it is to seek out people who do it brilliantly, learn from what they do and practice as often and as purposefully as you're able.
What do you feel is the most common reason for people failing or giving up?
I really don't know. I'm not sure I've met a lot of copywriters who have given up necessarily, but all of us fail, frequently and spectacularly. It's a hideous old cliche, but it's those failures, those disasters, that help us get to a better and smarter solution. I would be worried about any copywriter who wasn't failing as it'd simply mean they were noticing when they get things wrong.
Is there a phrase, quote or a saying that you really like?
There's a passage from a Joan Didion essay that's as true as anything I've ever read about why we write: "Had I been blessed with even limited access to my own mind, there would have been no reason to write. I write entirely to find out what I'm thinking, what I'm looking at, who I see and what it means."
What companies, brands, or institutions do you like or do you think are getting it right?
There are some incredible creative agencies who I really admire, especially the smaller, independent ones who seem to have established a very clear sense of who they are and what creativity means to them. The one I want to single out is an agency in Madrid called Officer & Gentlemen. They're pals of mine, and we do some projects together, but what I love about them is that they have fun as creatives. Unfortunately, too many creative people and businesses forget that part of it, but that's why we all chose to do this kind of work instead of grown-up jobs.
How do you define success, and what lessons have you learned so far that you could share with our audience/readership?
It sounds trite to say that happiness is the only real measure, so I shall put a minor twist on that answer. Achieving the stuff we've always wanted to makes us happy. That's what achievement and ambition really are. But too often, we mistake it for a mechanical kind of elevation, climbing merely to get ourselves above somebody else. If you can't see how the thing you're chasing will make you happy and see it really clearly, I suspect you may be pursuing the wrong things.