it helps. At the start of your career in advertising, what you learn is more important than what you earn. Some agencies take great pains to train their people. As in teaching hospitals, their top people devote an enormous amount of time to teaching the interns. Agency employees in countries where advertising is relatively mature do not always welcome attempts to teach them. However wet behind the ears, they believe that they have nothing to learn. But in Asia and other developing areas, they welcome lecturers with open arms and hang on their every word. Not surprisingly, Asian standards of competence are rapidly improving. I now see campaigns in India, Thailand, Singapore, Hong Kong, Malaysia, and Indonesia which are better than many campaigns coming out of Europe and the United States. (See Chapter 17.) Copywriters Like all trades and professions, advertising has its establishment. You will find the names in the roster of 84 men and four women who have been elected to the Advertising Hall of Fame since its foundation 32 years ago. I regret to say that only 13 of them are copywriters. Copywriters may not be the most visible people in agencies, but they are the most important. The hallmarks of a potentially successful copywriter include: Obsessive curiosity about products, people and advertising. A sense of humor. A habit of hard work. The ability to write interesting prose for printed media, and natural dialogue for television. The ability to think visually. Television commercials depend more on pictures than words. The ambition to write better campaigns than anyone has ever written before. ‘Most good copywriters’, says William Maynard of the Bates agency, ‘fall