(This is Part 1 of 4) Note: I'm not an Architect. Content within this deck was discovered on a trip to Athens, Greece where I stayed at the home of an architect. Amongst the hundreds of books he had, I chanced upon this gem - "Letter to a Young Architect" - which I've collated and will share with you here. Contained within that book was the author's life learnings, to be handed down to future architects. But what surprised me was that, on every page, each of those learnings could be directly applied to advertising as well. And such good lessons they were that I felt compelled to keep a record of those lessons, for my own learning and to share with others. Hope it's as eye-opening for you as it was for me. Enjoy!

1. Part 1 of 4
By Alex Goh,
Associate Strategic Planning Director,
M&C Saatchi, Kuala Lumpur.
12 Lessons
On Advertising 101
From an Architect
Image credit: Getty Images

2. All image contents is credited to Alexandros N. Tombazis, a
Greek architect, from his book “Letter to a Young Architect.”

3. A quick guide to this deck
1. All instances of the word “Architecture” has been deleted
(leaving only the “A”). What is most striking is that by
merely replacing all mentions of “Architecture” with
“Advertising”, the advice given is still relevant in its
entirety. Try it yourself and see.
2. I have also included personal notes/tips to make the
advise applicable to the practice of advertising. This will
be denoted by ✪ .
This deck features a compilation of advice to young architects
that came about as a result of a series of lectures given
mostly to students of Architecture in Greece and abroad.

4. ONTHENEEDTOPRACTICE
✪ Practice means being
a DO-er – be it big or
small actions. It’s time to
put those thoughts into
action. Make s**t happen!
#1

5. ONMAKINGMISTAKES
✪ As long as you learn from
it, any mistake transforms from
a “loss” to merely being a
“cost” of investing into a better
YOU.
#2

6. ON“USER”NEEDS ✪ Consider that the earliest “users” of any project is
your clients. It’s very likely that your client’s needs will
be different from the needs of your end-consumers. You
will have to strive to meet both needs.
#3

7. ONCREATING
✪ For various reasons, much
of the work we see lately is
simply derivative of works past
(or worst, actually regressing).
A significant part of CREATivity
is actually to CREATe.
#4

8. ONTHINKINGHOLISTICALLY ✪ In this era of digital
connectedness, we need to think
of communications more in terms
of “cycles”, and not “campaigns.”
#5

9. ONIMPORTANCEOFCONTEXT
✪ To increase our odds for success, communications need to
consider both the context of “Place” (external factors such as
religion and economy, and environmental factors e.g. time and
weather) and “Climate” (the feelings of the customer and his/her
social context).
#6

10. ONOVERCOMINGCLUTTER ✪ When things get complex, you are only
half-way through. Stick to it and work towards
reduction by “distilling” it (and NOT by
“pouring” out its contents and thus erring on
simplistic – rather than simple – thinking).
#7

11. ONIMPORTANCEOFCRAFT ✪ The “skin” of advertising lies
in its execution. “Craft” (or more
accurately, “strategic craft”)
needs to feature more
prominently as a creative
evaluation criteria internally.
That means discipline is
required on both Client and
Agency ends of the work.
#8

12. ONEXECUTIONVSCONTENT ✪ Execution catches scarce
attention. Content ensures
awareness actually translates
into business.
#9

13. ONTECHNOLOGY
✪ Social
media, AR, VR, 3D
printing, projection
mapping and what-not –
start to understand the
merits of the technology
(the “Why’s”), even while
it may not always be
necessary to understand
the “How’s.”
#10

14. ONADVERTISINGRESPONSIBLY
✪ Advertising is probably the single “artform”
that pays huge sums of money for an
audience. That mass imposition itself should
make you question – “Am I making it
worthwhile for someone to pay attention?”
#11

15. ONPERSONALRESPONSIBILITY
✪ Think of the hundreds of
physical
billboards, thousands of ad
pages, tens of thousands of
web banners and millions of
seconds in airtime – find
purpose in your work by
embracing your
responsibility in influencing
the attention, sentiments and
conversations of a whole
society.
#12

16. Now, go be the
best version of you.
By Alex Goh,
Associate Strategic Planning Director,
M&C Saatchi, Kuala Lumpur.
alex.goh@mcsaatchi.com.my
Part 1 of 4
12 Lessons
On Advertising 101
From an Architect