Plane Lands Safely At Airport: Luke Sullivan speaks to the importance of conflict

Luke Sullivan, one of the industry greats and author of Hey Whipple, spoke last night to a variety of Atlanta AdClub members and guests. Drinking his Diet Coke, Sullivan was nothing other than wise and earthly. He spoke simply and directly and without pomp or expectation.

The idea of the lecture was identifying and leveraging the central conflicts within your clients production category. To create this conflict, creatives can leverage this tension to push creativity. Sullivan identifies four kinds of tension:

1. Our brand vs. their brand (think: coke vs. pepsi)
2. Cultural Tension (think: fat kids)
3. Thematic Tension (you vs. them)
4. Category specific tension (think: banking)

By finding these tensions (and if there really isn't any, then make one up), you can create conflict, and damn, humans just love conflict. It's nearly essential to every good story.

Using Sullivan's example; what good is Luke Skywalker without Darth Vader?

Thank you AdClub!