The Care and Feeding of Ideas - Hardcover

Backer, Bill

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0812919696 ISBN 13: 9780812919691

Publisher: Crown, 1993

Synopsis

An advertising expert shares anecdotes from three decades in the ad business and his own "Backer's Laws of Ideas," showing readers how to apply his insights on creativity to their own careers. 30,000 first printing. Tour.

About this title

From Kirkus Reviews

Songwriting adman Backer (as in Backer Spielvogel Bates Worldwide) tells, in some detail, how he did it. What Backer did was spawn the Coca-Cola commercial that evolved into ``I'd Like to Teach the World to Sing.'' His pride in his accomplishment is, unfortunately, unbounded. The author--sort of the Barry Manilow of ``the song-form commercial'' (don't call them ``jingles,'' please)--uses the story of the successful soft- drink campaign as a peg on which to hang a book full of bloated expostulation. With the pride that is emblematic of his trade, Backer offers some big talk about ``big ideas,'' the profane Grail of the knights of Madison Avenue. His theory is that original ideas require nurturing from ``families''--sponsoring uncles, aunts, and godparents--and powerful folk who can give the affirmative nod to new notions. Reasonably, he reminds us to separate ideas from their execution. But it's all inflated and never strays far from the author's singular creative accomplishment. (He simply wanted to sell the world some soda pop with ``I'd like to buy the world a Coke''--a real example of pop culture.) To be sure, it's not uniformly dull. The narrative picks up with a description of the Coke shoot, and a few bits of Ad-land gossip help to relieve the tedium. Curiously, Backer has a tin ear for the English language. He innovates with the odd inverted clich‚ (``far and few between'') or inattention (someone ``is yet'' to perform a task). A false self-helper in which the author helps himself to some congratulation. Persuasive texts in this genre are few and far between, indeed. (Illustrations--not seen) -- Copyright ©1993, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

From Library Journal

Backer is the advertising man responsible for the 1971 commercial featuring a chorus of young people on a hilltop asking the world to buy a Coke. The idea came to him when he was stranded by bad weather in the Shannon, Ireland, airport with passengers from all over the world who started talking to one another over bottles of Coca-Cola. Backer uses the advertising campaigns that he has worked with in his career as illustrations of how ideas can be developed and nurtured in any type of organization. He presents a number of "laws" concerning ideas such as "the more educated the gut, the truer the feelings," which he demonstrates with his many advertising successes, such as changing the image of Miller beer from a patrician drink to a beverage for working stiffs. Though the idea segment is not as developed or interesting as the inside accounts of Backer's advertising campaigns, the book as a whole offers insight into the creative process. There may be demand for this book because of heavy promotion and an author tour.
- William W. Sannwald, San Diego P.L.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: Crown
• Publication date: 1993
• ISBN 10: 0812919696
• ISBN 13: 9780812919691
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 284