The Advertising Concept Book: Think Now, Design Later

In creative advertising, no amount of glossy presentation will improve a bad idea. That’s why this book is dedicated to the first and most important lesson: concept.


Structured to provide both a complete course on advertising and a quick reference on specific industry topics, it covers every aspect of the business, from how to write copy and learn the creative process to how agencies work and the different strategies used for all types of media. This edition has been updated to include expanded chapters on interactive advertising and integrative advertising, a new chapter on branded social media, and fifty specially drawn new roughs of key campaigns.


Pete Barry outlines simple but fundamental rules about how to “push” an ad to turn it into something exceptional, while exercises throughout help readers assess their own work and that of others. Fifty years’ worth of international, award-winning ad campaigns—in the form of over 450 “roughs” specially produced by the author, fifty of which are new to this edition—also reinforce the book’s core lesson: that a great idea will last forever. View Less