In the late 1950s, advertising legend Bill Bernbach came up with the idea of pairing art directors and copywriters into teams. The strategy worked and DDB ended up creating some of the most iconic work of that era. Since then, the art-copy team structure came into existence at most, if not all, agencies.

They maybe working towards a common goal, but as a creative species, copywriters and art directors are not all that similar. Their differences are best highlighted on a Facebook page titled CW versus AD where Caio Pena (art director), Henrique Parada (art director) and Letícia Hanower (copywriter) share their cool, quirky illustrations on this subject. Check out 17 of their best works below.

1. The brush

2. The file

3. What the account manager wants from us

4. Starting from scratch

5. The colors

6. The software

7. The reason for our anger

8. The vintage version

9. The app

10. The Moleskine

11. Reading time

12. How do we know pop culture

13. Leaves office at…

14. The social network

15. The tattoo

16. Wishing Happy Birthday

17. The dream pet

If we had to pick three out of the list above, no. 7, 13 and 16 would be our favourites. What about you? Share this post with your art/copy partner and voice your views in the comments below.
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Chaen’s View

My first career job was a Copywriter at JWT Kuala Lumpur (previously known as J Walter Thompson). I was paired with a Malay Art Director called Ramli. Our creative processes and approaches were quite different. I belonged to the old school where copy is king, just as a Script is the most important thing in a movie. Although a film script is just made of text and words but it paints the entire big picture of the feel, mood, and the characters, and their interactions.

In advertising I learned from the legendary John Naples that the headline is 80% of the ad. So I spend the most time in creating the best headline I can.

Later I worked in Client Servicing in Leo Burnett Direct Marketing in Hong Kong under 2 American Pros – Ms Chris Robinson (AD from Chicago) and Steve Meltzer (Copy Chief).

What I loved about working in an Ad agency:
Creativity
Researching sexy, provocative, controversial print ads, TVCs,
Client’s adoration when you create a unique ad.
Hot girls and guys. secretaries, funky creatives in weird color hair, well groomed Account Executives and ADs.
Interns. They were mostly fun, wacky, with a good sense of humor.

What I hate about working in an Ad agency:
Deadlines, deadlines, deadlines.
Endless cocking of creative pots (I suppose it’s a plus too)
Writing about something I’m not interested or passionate about.
Bitchy, petty hostile clients.
Office politics, divisions fighting for a bigger pie.

#LeoBurnettHongKong #JWTKualaLumpur #Copywriter #ArtDirector #BillBernbach #DDBWorldwide