The Best of Dave Trott
“Creativity helps us look at everything everyone else has looked at and see something no one else has seen.”
Dave Trott is a legend in the advertising world, famous for his no-nonsense approach.
In a career spanning more than forty years, he’s created some of the UK’s most memorable advertising, including Toshiba's ‘Hello Tosh gotta Toshiba’ and Ariston's ‘Ariston-and-on-and-on’.
He also found time to cofound three successful agencies Gold Greenless Trott, Bainsfair Sharkey Trott and Walsh Trott Chick Smith.
In 2004, he was awarded the D&AD Presidents Award for lifetime achievement in advertising.
It’s no surprise, given his gifts as a copywriter, that he’s written several best-selling books too. Oh, and since 2008, Dave’s written frequently on his blog, and it’s chock full of gems.
There’s so much you can learn from Dave. With that in mind, we’ve gathered a collection of his work that will inspire, entertain and inform.
1. Dave Trott’s Books
Dave has written six books to date, with one more due out in 2023 that you can preorder via the link below.
They are all brilliant and will make you smile as well as think. Dave is a master storyteller; reading his work will teach you much about the craft.
You can read the books independently of one another, and below are brief synopsises of each one.
Dave’s first book is perhaps unsurprisingly focused on his experiences of working in advertising agencies. It’s an insight into that world for those interested in discovering more and also contains Dave’s reflections on what it means to be creative.
Must-read stories include ‘Change The Rules’ about how Muhammed Ali undermined his opponent's confidence, and ‘Really Creative People’, which reveals the one thing all great creative people share in common.
How do you beat your competition no matter how big and nasty they seem? Or when you’ve got a fraction of the resources?
Answer: You have to outthink them.
This is the central theme of Dave’s second book, which caters to a broader audience than his first. It’s a collection of wonderful stories about gaining an advantage by thinking differently.
Some particular highlights include ‘Those Who Can’t, Teach' about how the founder of the Wetherspoons pub chain got his own back on a teacher who didn’t believe in him and ‘The Train Is Leaving The Station’ - a story about how an ad agency sold a client on an idea by getting him to believe it already existed in the market.
One Plus One Equals Three: A Masterclass in Creative Thinking (2016)
A book that does exactly what it says on the tin. A brilliant collection of stories on everything from big data to Vidal Sassoon - with a powerful lesson about creativity contained in each one.
Top stories in this book include ‘What Aren’t They Doing?’ about how the producer David Geffen got his start in the industry, and ‘Choice Architecture’ which references a genius idea to stop kids littering.
Creative Blindness (And How to Cure It): Real-Life Stories of Remarkable Creative Vision (2019)
Dave does it again. Where does he find such great stories? This fourth book builds on the theme of creative thinking with more inspiring tales about creative thinkers from all walks of life.
Standout stories include ‘Killing Two Birds With One Stoner’, a glorious account of a young girl maximising her cookie sales by selling her wares close to the local stoners and ‘Strategy Is Sacrifice’ about the groundbreaking design of the Mosquito bomber.
The Power of Ignorance: How Creative Solutions Emerge When We Admit What We Don’t Know (2021)
This book focuses on one of the most important elements of creative thinking: the power of not knowing. Knowledge or expertise can be a barrier to uncovering creative solutions because we can’t see beyond what we already know and don’t question the established rules.
Stories worth reading include ‘Don’t Outplay Them, Out-Think Them’ about the clever tactics employed by Liverpool to beat Barcelona in the 2019 Champion League semi-final and ‘Another Glass of Wine?’ which describes the ingenious marketing of Austrian glassmaker Claud Riedel.
Crossover Creativity: Real-life stories about where creativity comes from (2023)
‘When two unrelated things come together, something new springs into existence, they form a third thing, and that becomes a new idea. That’s Crossover Creativity. The more you read, watch, observe and consume, the more fuel for ideas you have in your brain, the more crossover creativity will happen for you.’ (Amazon’s blurb)
2. Key Themes In Dave Trott’s Work
Below are ten themes that pop up in Dave’s work. Of course, he talks about plenty of other things, but these topics appear frequently.
Most advertising is ignored.
Around 90% of all advertising goes unnoticed and unremembered. At last count, this was around £16bn flushed away. So the first job of advertising is to get noticed. If you don’t get over that first hurdle, it doesn’t matter what you’ve got to say.
Be obsessed with what doesn’t change.
Dave is a big fan of Bill Bernbach, who was obsessed with the idea of the ‘unchanging man’ - the idea that despite our modern technology, we are driven by the same motivations as our cavemen ancestors. Good advertising focuses on this fact. So ignore the latest fads and concentrate on the fundamentals.
Most marketing ignores real people.
Dave argues that many people in the marketing and advertising industries aren’t in touch with the real world. As a result, they create communications that speak to other industry folks instead of actual customers.
Beware of being misled by data.
Everyone loves to talk about data being the new oil. Whilst it can be helpful, it can also be misinterpreted or weaponised. Dave points out that big data shouldn’t be followed blindly or used as a substitute for common sense.
Don’t blindly trust experts.
The problem with experts is that their own rules bind them. This prevents them from being able to find novel solutions to existing problems. Dave believes we should listen to experts as we listen to everyone else: with a healthy dose of scepticism.
Creativity is everywhere.
Some of the best ideas come from outside the creative department. Creativity is everywhere if you’re willing to look hard enough. And it’s essential to do so because you never know where your next idea will come from.
Creativity takes guts.
Creativity is a departure from the status quo. Most people and nearly all companies resist change, so it takes courage to break with convention. You have to figure out how to do what you’re not allowed to do.
Chance favours the connected mind.
Ideas come from connections in the brain. The more diverse your inputs, the better your outputs. All the great creative minds were and are avid devourers of information on a wide range of topics.
The value of ignorance.
Some of the best ideas come from those unaware of conventional wisdom. Being ignorant doesn’t mean you are stupid. Instead, it gives you the license to try new things.
Simple is smart. Complicated is stupid.
People get hypnotised by complexity. They think complicated things are clever, but the opposite is true. Simple ideas are easier to explain and communicate and are less likely to go wrong.
3. Dave Trott’s Talks
There are plenty of videos on YouTube featuring Dave, but here a some of the best to save you time:
Dave explains how real creativity is the ability to solve a problem you can’t solve by getting upstream of it and changing it into a problem you can solve.
Copywriting Conference 2013: Predatory Thinking for Copywriters
Dave shares tips on how copywriters can give themselves an unfair advantage, how form follows function and how to understand the media.
Ads That Changed The World: 44 Club
Join Dave on a journey as he reminisces about past advertising in this talk given at the IPA (The Institute of Practitioners in Advertising).
The Art of Persuasion: APG
The APG, the self-described home for advertising planners and strategists, invited Dave to share his take on the art of persuasion. It’s a long talk, but here it is in three parts to make it more digestible:
In Conversation With Dave Trott: Renegade Inc.
Dave talks to the Renegade Economist channel about ‘predatory thinking’ and creativity.
4. Dave Trott’s Podcast Appearances
There aren’t many podcast episodes out there featuring Dave, but we’ve tracked down some of the best ones that do:
Dave Trott on 30 years of advertising creativity - A Load of BS: The Behavioural Science Podcast with Daniel Ross
Dave talks to Daniel about the conditions for creative outcomes, serendipity and mistakes, the nonsense of ad awards, getting upstream of problems and selling tampons to lorry drivers.
Simple is Smart. Complicated is Stupid - BrightonSEO podcast
People think complicated things are clever, but the opposite is true. It’s why the value of a brief is inversely proportional to the length of words used.
The Value of Creativity - NudgeTalk RADIO
Dave sits down with Ogilvy’s behavioural science team to explain how creativity helps us 'Look at everything everyone else has looked at, and see something no one else has seen'.
Dave Trott In Conversation - IPA Adtalk Podcast
Dave talks to Paul Bainsfair about creativity and what 'going viral' actually means...
Dave Trott On Beating Creative Blindness
The host of the Eat Sleep Work Repeat podcast sits down with Dave to discuss his book Creative Blindness and its colourful stories and powerful lessons.
5. Dave Trott’s Best Quotes
Last but not least, below are some of Dave’s best quotes that give you further insight into how his mind works:
“It's easy to appear intelligent by being negative about everything”.
"Reality is irrelevant. What the mind believes is reality, becomes reality".
"A great line needs to be simple, powerful, memorable, and capable of repetition."
“Our business is all about changing things. And we can't do that unless we get attention.”
“There's a lot of money in knowing what ordinary people want.”
“Real creativity happens when different people from different disciplines get together to overlap and have ideas about what each other does.”
“Creativity helps us look at everything everyone else has looked at, and see something no-one else has seen.”
“If you’ve got a problem you can’t solve, get upstream and change it into a problem you can solve.”
“Our job is to stand out, to provoke, to get noticed, and get remembered.”
If you enjoyed reading the above and want to build your creative muscles, why not check out our range of courses on the topic, including Creative Thinking, Creative Leadership, and Creative Effectiveness.
Oh, and if you can’t get enough of Dave, you’ll find him making a guest appearance in our intrapreneurship course.
