Sep 29, 2026 · 44 min · 15 segments
Meet **Russel Howcroft**: advertising expert, TV panelist, radio presenter and one of Australia’s most familiar faces in advertising and communications. With a career spanning decades advertising…
Russell HowcroftGuest
Bob MilsteinHost
I know you've been in that field for a long time and you've obviously had extensive experience in an industry that's flooded with noise and competing messages every day.
What, Russell, separates communication that people remember from communication that they instantly forget?
uh brevity probably is a critical component uh an old boss a very famous gentleman called frank low now sir frank low he had an agency called low howard spink he would explain it very simply he would say if i had three tennis balls and i threw all three at you how many would you catch and obviously the answer is none you might get lucky and catch one but you know The story is three, catch none.
And to write funny, I actually think genuinely, maybe... maybe the skill, the creative skill that I would put at the top of the ladder of all creative skills, I might put writing funny.
That doesn't mean you're funny when you're faced with a pen and a piece of paper.
Is it sometimes the case that the clients who take that to heart and they say, look, make it funny and you push back saying, well, that's not the necessary or appropriate message.
No, it'd be very unlikely if a client said it can be funny for the agency to say no.
It is one of the very, very tough things to do is to get genuine comedy in advertising.
I know you've been in that field for a long time and you've obviously had extensive experience in an industry that's flooded with noise and competing messages every day.
What, Russell, separates communication that people remember from communication that they instantly forget?
uh brevity probably is a critical component uh an old boss a very famous gentleman called frank low now sir frank low he had an agency called low howard spink he would explain it very simply he would say if i had three tennis balls and i threw all three at you how many would you catch and obviously the answer is none you might get lucky and catch one but you know The story is three, catch none.
And to write funny, I actually think genuinely, maybe... maybe the skill, the creative skill that I would put at the top of the ladder of all creative skills, I might put writing funny.
That doesn't mean you're funny when you're faced with a pen and a piece of paper.
Is it sometimes the case that the clients who take that to heart and they say, look, make it funny and you push back saying, well, that's not the necessary or appropriate message.
No, it'd be very unlikely if a client said it can be funny for the agency to say no.
It is one of the very, very tough things to do is to get genuine comedy in advertising.
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