Tired of junk mail? Of too-loud commercials blasting your ears? How about those full-screen pop-up ads you can’t close until you play an asshole game of “Click the Tiny X
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Author: The Cranky Creative
Copywriter. Ad critic. Blogger. Head crank at The Cranky Creative.
Meet Flint McGlaughlin, mad marketing genius
In a world where every Tom, Dick, and Jane on the Internet is a self-proclaimed marketing expert, it’s refreshing to see someone share no-BS marketing insights derived from rigorous testing
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54 percent of copywriters feel lack of respect: UK survey
The United Kingdom’s Direct Marketing Association surveyed 433 British copywriters and found . . . a lot of cranky creatives. See why they’re so unhappy. The 2014 survey—the first and
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Please, do not “hit me up” on a Friday afternoon
I hate receiving job requests on Fridays. I work hard all week, and by the time Friday rolls around, I just want to see all of my current jobs through
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“The Beekeeper’s Secret”
A Very Short Story. Some years ago, I worked for a creative director who regularly organized activities meant to inspire her copywriters and designers and reset our creative brains. One
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How video games made me a marketing copywriter
Unofficially, my career as a marketing copywriter started in 1980 when I was 10. Then, as now, I loved video games. I loved the technology—cool-looking plastic boxes that pumped colorful
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Liberty Mutual ad review: no safe harbor from bad humor
I hate most TV commercials with the white-hot fire of a thousand suns—so it takes something special to get me riled. Enter Liberty Mutual, the company whose car insurance commercials
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Anxiety and creativity: How they’re linked, tips to cope
The Cranky Creative explores the link between creative people and anxiety. Plus, tips for keeping the demons at bay. I jolted awake, gasping for breath. My heart was racing. My
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Start the New Year right with wisdom from Pema Chodron
The Cranky Creative shares life-changing words from someone a lot smarter than he is. Happy New Year, Cranky readers! I’d like to tell you about a book I’ve been reading
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The company holiday card that never was
Back when I was a young copywriter in 1992 or ’93, I was asked to write the company holiday card. This was no small honor—the place employed six or seven
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Critiquing the creative of a ransom email scam
“Hello! I’m a hacker who cracked your email.” Last week, I received an email from my own email address. It was sent by a purported hacker who claimed to know
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