• by Cory Treffiletti , Featured Contributor, November 19, 2024

When I was in college, I studied advertising as a major.  I always knew I liked advertising, but I never really knew why until a professor I had at Syracuse University gave me the single best piece of advice I ever received in my career.  He said, “If you want to be good at advertising, be a student of popular culture.”

That advice crystallized my love for advertising because it made so much sense. If you are a student of popular culture, you can see the through lines that connect people, and you can observe what motivates them and gets them excited.  You can start to predict trends, or at the very least recognize them earlier than others and apply the insight from a trend to the brands you work on. In doing so, you tap into the same spark and can find ways to drive engagement.  Advertising is psychology, but with a more immediate and commercially focused intention.

That professor connected the dots for me in a way  I hadn’t understood before.  In fact, he made it easy for me to be confident in my choice of a career -- and OK for me to tie my hobby, and all the things I unknowingly read and already studied, into a job. 

My reading never consisted of business books.  I read Rolling Stone and Entertainment Weekly.  I read biographies of musicians and actors.  I essentially studied people who made art, because to me these were infinitely more interesting than the people who built businesses.  Eventually I opened my aperture and read about businesspeople and even politicians, but primarily to find the through lines they represented, as brands and politics became more of the daily conversation.

 Along the way, advertising even became popular culture.  Think back to the California Raisins, or “Where’s The Beef?”  Great advertising can jump from a commercial intention to an art form itself.

Being a student of popular culture means you cannot simply consume the culture.  Part of you has to be aware of what you are consuming and always asking why -- why is this trend striking a chord?   What is the underlying motivation or situation that is creating this opportunity?  Is the audience disgruntled and seeking an escape?  Are they looking for someone or something to believe in or look up to?  What groups or aspects of life are becoming more dominant as the pendulum swings from one side to the other?  You can see all of this in what movies are popular, what songs are on the charts, what people are wearing and who they are watching on TV.  Popular culture is a barometer for society, and it manifests in very different ways every day and every year.

Understanding what the audience is looking for and being able to tap into that journey and insert your brand in a way that can resonate is the fundamental core of advertising.

All that is what makes advertising and marketing a great career path, and I hope students today can apply that same great advice that was given to me.  That’s the advice you never forget.