Chew with Your Mind Open

Book excerpt: Allow me to blast a ray of sunshine through the murky clouds hovering over advertising agencies and marketing departments alike. If you've got talent, I can keep you from rolling an embarrassing string of gutter balls. Chew With Your Mind Open is here to make it make sense to the degree that advertising ever will. The politics. The personalities. The nonstop problems in need of smart and effective solutions. I was lucky. I had a great thinker in my corner for over two decades. A rock-solid, real-live 24/7 mentor. My father, Guy Day, knew the advertising racket well and was no stranger to remarkable creative work. He co-founded Chiat/Day as a writer and was the agency's president, twice. My dad helped inspire some of the best advertising of the 20th century, Apple's "1984" Super Bowl spot for example. He also inspired me. What my father gave me, is what I'm now ready to give you. Just enough big-picture guidance to be dangerous. My advice can keep you from falling into unproductive time-sucks and sinking in conceptual quicksand. I'll help you avoid the chronic wallowing, unneeded politicking, and blame game that's all too common in the business. I'll help you develop good habits that will serve you well in the worst of times. Throughout my book, I'll share how I got -- and still get -- my best thinking through the gauntlet without collecting a huge assortment of knives in my back. Granted, a few of them will be unavoidable. I'll address that part, too. My knowledge comes from real-life experiences, and my book is broken down by subject and is served one easily digestible nugget at a time. Sometimes my experiences are funny, other times embarrassing, but they always reveal an underlying truth and a learning opportunity that could spare you some scar tissue. Along the way, readers will be in the room with me as I present work, defend it, debate clients, and push the best thinking forward.