You’re sitting in a windowless conference room. Some account executive is droning on about "brand synergy" and "leveraging multi-channel touchpoints." Your brain is basically oatmeal. Then you remember that one book with the weird name about toilet paper.
Hey Whipple Squeeze This by Luke Sullivan isn't just a book. Honestly, it’s more of a survival manual for anyone who has ever had to sell something without losing their soul. It’s been around since 1998, which in internet years is basically the Bronze Age, but here we are in 2026 and it's still the first thing creative directors throw at new hires.
Why? Because most advertising is still garbage.
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The Man Behind the Squeeze
Luke Sullivan didn't just wake up one day and decide to write a textbook. He was in the trenches. We’re talking legendary runs at Fallon McElligott and The Martin Agency. He’s got enough One Show pencils to start a small forest.
The title refers to Mr. Whipple, the fictional grocer from the old Charmin commercials who couldn't stop squeezing the toilet paper. Sullivan hated those ads. Most people did. But they worked. That tension—between ads that are effective because they’re annoying and ads that are effective because they’re brilliant—is the whole heart of the book.
Sullivan argues that you don't have to be the annoying guy. You can actually be smart.
Why Everyone Hates What You Do
People don't buy magazines for the ads. They don't watch YouTube to see your 15-second unskippable pre-roll. They’re there for the content. Sullivan hammers this home: you are an intruder.
If you're going to interrupt someone's day, you'd better have something worth saying. Or at least make them laugh. Most "corporate speak" fails because it treats the consumer like a line item on a spreadsheet rather than a person with a pulse and a low tolerance for BS.
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The "Whipple" Process: How to Actually Have Ideas
Concepting is hard. Like, staring-at-a-blank-wall-until-your-eyes-bleed hard. Sullivan’s advice? Write hot, edit cold.
Basically, you need to vomit every terrible, cliché, embarrassing idea onto the page first. Get the "dog with sunglasses" ideas out of your system. Only then, once you've cleared the pipes, does the good stuff start to trickle through. He calls it "the sudden cessation of stupidity."
- Tell the truth: Find the one thing that is undeniably true about the product.
- Simple is better: If you have to explain the joke, the ad failed.
- Don't "see-say": If the picture shows a car, the headline shouldn't say "This is a car."
The 180-Degree Rule
Sullivan talks about going the opposite direction of common sense. If everyone in your category is showing happy families in a sun-drenched kitchen, show a messy divorce in a dark basement. Okay, maybe not that dark, but you get the point.
Visual storytelling is king. In the latest editions of Hey Whipple Squeeze This, Sullivan (along with Edward Boches and Anselmo Ramos) dives deep into how this applies to TikTok and Instagram. The medium changed, but the human brain didn't. We still crave story. We still love conflict.
Surviving the "Ad Land" Meat Grinder
The book gets real about the industry. It’s not all craft beer and beanbag chairs.
He covers the "Pecked to Death by Ducks" phenomenon. That’s when a great idea goes into a meeting and gets nibbled away by middle managers until it’s a gray, lifeless husk. Sullivan teaches you how to protect the work. He explains how to present without sounding like a used car salesman.
"A problem well-stated is a problem half-solved."
That quote from the book is basically a mantra for modern strategy. If you don't know what you're trying to fix, you're just making pretty pictures that don't do anything.
The Digital Shift
Let’s be honest, the first edition of Whipple didn't have to worry about "the algorithm." But the 6th edition is a different beast. It tackles the shift from interruption to invitation.
In 2026, you can't just shout at people. You have to invite them in. Whether it's a "boring" B2B LinkedIn post or a viral stunt for a sneaker brand, the fundamentals of Sullivan’s "Simple, True, and Human" approach still hold up. He talks about being "T-shaped"—having a deep specialty but knowing enough about everything else to be dangerous.
Actionable Steps for Your Next Project
If you're looking to apply the Hey Whipple Squeeze This philosophy today, start here:
- Ditch the Ad-Speak: Read your copy out loud. If you wouldn't say it to a friend over a beer, delete it. Words like "innovative," "solution," and "robust" should be banned from your vocabulary.
- Find the Tension: What’s the "elephant in the room" for your brand? If the product is expensive, admit it. If it’s ugly, lean into it. Authenticity starts with honesty.
- Kill Your Darlings: That "clever" pun you love? It’s probably getting in the way of the message. If it doesn't serve the central truth of the product, cut it.
- Think Small: Don't try to appeal to everyone. Pick a specific person and write just for them. It makes the work feel personal rather than processed.
- The "Sound Off" Test: Look at your visual. If you stripped away all the text, would the viewer still get the "vibe"? If not, your art direction is doing too much heavy lifting for a weak concept.
The reality is that Luke Sullivan wrote a book about being a human in a world of robots. Even as AI starts to churn out "content" at a billion frames per second, the "Whipple" approach remains the gold standard because it relies on empathy. Robots can't feel the awkwardness of a bad TV spot or the joy of a perfect headline. You can.
Go read the book. Then go make something that doesn't suck.
To take this further, grab a notebook and write down 50 headlines for the most boring object on your desk—right now. Don't stop until you hit 50. By the 40th one, you'll start to see the "Whipple" magic happen.