T: You always talk about the importance of copy.When you are flicking through a magazine, for example, you see a lot of images, and you keep flicking. Should a good ad be like a good book that you don't want to stop reading?

NF: Well, the short answer is yes, of course. But while you're flicking, you need an art-director to make you stop flicking and start reading! Only then can you concentrate on making the copy work. There's one recent ad I wrote that many people have asked for reprints of; it's on walls of copywriters' offices all over the world...if not on the walls of art-directors. The headline is "Nobody reads long copy anymore. Here's why." And of course there are columns of copy. Basically what it says is that if you can write interestingly then people will read. And if they don't, it's your fault for not being interesting.

See Interview with Neil French at Taschen.

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