Everybody probably does want to good but not many are prepared to make the sacrifices it takes.

To some people being nice, to be liked is more important. There's equal merit in that too.

But you must not confuse being good with being liked.

There may not be one person in this room who truly wants to be great.

Most of you have come here for a solution. The way to become good. I have to tell you I have no such solution.

I can't teach you anything.

I can tell you, but you won't hear me.

The only way to learn is through your own experiences and mistakes.

There is no instant solution.

But I can offer some guidelines, things that have helped me.

Most of us are content to compete locally, with our neighbours. Change your scale of thinking and compete with the world's best.

It's 75% of the job. If you haven't got it, be nice.

Find out what is right with your clients products and dramatise it, like a cartoonist dramatises an action.

Do not do negative advertising, it may win awards, but it does not win business, and it doesn't win sales

Do not try and justify your salary with witty ideas. Cleverness is simplicity. The issue itself is often the message.

Blame no-one, but your self, if you have touched something accept total responsibility for that piece of work. If you accept responsibility you are in the position to do something about it. If you are involved don't blame others.

When you show somebody a piece of work, ask them what is wrong, not what is right. It might help improve it. Note how most people simply want praise, what good is that to the job?

We are trained to think advertising is all about selling products. That is often not the case. The motivation may be quite different. Always find out what a client wants to advertise for.

Give away everything and more will come back to you. They are not your ideas anyway they are God's.

Very often having given him what he wants he will give you what you want. There is also the possibility he may be right.

Time and again, photographers, film directors, illustrators are selected on the basis of their affability or familiarity with a style of work, not on the basis of talent.

The best people are the best because they are the best.

The best can be intimidating to someone young. Don't let them phase you, stick to your guns. They will respect you afterwards.

A new idea, is either silly, unfamiliar or both. It cannot be judged by description, it cannot even be judged as a storyboard. It needs to be done to exist.

No one will sanction the cost, therefore you have no choice but to do it whatever the cost.

Be true to your client and you wil create something that's not transient but lasting. That's where the true art lies.

Seek your influences from beyond it's walls.

Some tips

1. Doing a layout means having an idea.

Don't just arrange the words and pictures, invent a brand image for your client. Your advertisement should be recognisable at 500 paces.

Magig markers and Pentels are not the only ways to make marks on paper. Change your tools, it may free your thinking.

3. Rough layouts are better.

The client can interpret them his way and it gives you scope to change.

4. Compose your ad from the weakest point.

If you know a logo or a pack have to big don't hope it will fit in the corner somewhere unobtrusively, it won't. Start your layouts knowing that is a problem to be solved as an integrated part of the idea. Remember God is in the details.

5. Posters are seen fleetingly

3 words please. 5 maximum.

6. Suppliers are only as good as you are.

Dont hand work over to a suppliers hoping they will provide the magic. They won't. You are the magic.

7. Stotyboard in detail.

Every cut, every action, every angle, every word. Once you have a base you know works, you are free to make clear decisions on further input from directors.

8. Make it your business to know who the best photographers are.

This can simply mean turning your head sideways in French or Italian Vogue. But better still, visit museums and galleries regularly.

9. Avoid using models.

They spend their time looking at themselves. Use actors or intelligent people who spend their time observing others.

10. Cast against the part.

If you want a greengrocer, cast a brain surgeon. If you want a brain surgeon cast a greengrocer. Life is like that.

11. Attend to every single detail of a commercial.

Every edit, every recording session, every dub. Trust no one. You are the only person who knows what you want or should know.

12. Music is 50% of the script.

13. Do the opposite of what you did last.

14.Take a corny idea, execute it elegantly.

People like corn. Your job is to make it fresh.

15. Build a library

Of pictures, music, illustrations, film, theatre, type, words, whatever your interests are.

16. Do not ask people to like you. Earn their respect.

Good ones sum up what the client has been trying to articulate

To some it means a jungle. To others it means give me the same as I've had for the last 20 years. To me it means something Ihave not seen before.

If he doesn't like it you're probably dead anyway. If he does he will listen to the planner or the medie person; at least you have not treated him like a twat.

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