In an interview, Mr. Gribbin was asked what kind of training
can best qualify a person for success as a copywriter. He replied that
he always 'wanted a writer first and a to business man second,' (Higgins
1987, p.50) because he believed that he can make a good business man our
of a writer, but he can't make a writer out of a business man.
Based on his own experience and observation, Mr. Gribbin concluded that a writer is usually better than a business man when dealing with advertising because he believed that a good advertising man should develop an understanding of people, an insight into them, and a sympathy toward them. And a writer can always see the need of other people (Higgins 1987, p.51).
Mr. Gribbin believed that a young writer, who has not had an 'easy adjustment to living' psychologically, always knows how to sharpen his sense of understanding and sympathy toward people. Mr. Gribben thought that those who came from a very rich and protected family could never develop that kind of sense. Therefore, he said, "I see no advantage in poverty over a middle-class upbringing, but I see an advantage in middle-class upbringing over a rich one." (Higgins 1987, p.51).
Mr. Gribbin also suggested that a good writer should avoid cliche. "[A good writer should] avoid cliche in his speech, not just in his writing. [He should] be careful of not using the hagridden figures of speech in his conversation. If he has a figure of speech that pops out of his mouth, it is more likely to have some originality in the phrasing of it, or he won't use a figure of speech (Higgins 1987, p.61)," said Mr. Gribbin during an interview.
In addition, Mr. Gribbin proposed that a good adman, including copywriter, should be a widely read person. That means, not only should an adman read business magazines, he should also read things not even related to the industry business. He himself enjoyed reading a lot, especially fundamentally classics.
He believed that the attributes of product as well as consumer are two critical elements in developing good advertising copy. Mr. Gribbin said that product and problem had set certain ground rules for the copywriter. And a copywriter should know how to "have [his] ground rules set by having to offer to the reader a benefit of some sort in the product or service [he]'s advertising(Higgins 1987, p.63)."
eorge
