Thomas L. Collins of Oregon shares his creative brilliance in a regular column for DIRECT Magazine. He starts by showing us a real ad, ostensibly a DM ad, then makes it over, carefully explaining his thinking.

He does this with no hoo haw and with an astonishing humility in a man so talented. Every now and then an advertising guy will write a letter to DIRECT taking Collins to task for some “creative” blunder. By “creative”, advertising people mean artistic.

Collins’s reworks are always plainer and simpler than the originals. They’re also much more clear, easier to read and the copy is compelling.

In the July, 2008 issue, he shows us a Bounce ad with a vague, soft focus drawing, a blind headline, a blind subhead and body copy set wide with tons of leading that overwhelms the tiny sans serif yellow type. In other words, it’s unreadable. The whole ad is nearly indecipherable but it looks nice.

His makeover is much less artistic but it’s easy to read. No drawing; instead there are photos of people. The new headline is as clear as can be and the copy is as easy to read as the front page of a newspaper.

The lesson of every one of Collins’s columns is that Advertising people should not be designing or writing DM ads.