How Copywriters write... Andrew Rutherford

One of the more outstanding books about how copywriters write has got to be 1995's "The Copy Book" (by the D&AD ISBN 0-8230-6506-5)

When it came out I spent a couple hours in the bookstore reading through it (and all the small type on all the ads reprinted in it). Probably only a handful of copies made their way to Seattle and I should have bought a copy way back then. (US $55 at the time, as of this posting $174.95 + $3.99 shipping through Amazon)

Anyway, I thought I'd share what I picked up from reading the book. (and produce a few posts in the process.)

First installation:

Andrew Rutherford

1. Get attention.
   
2. Intrigue (relevantly) the reader.
   
3. Single out the targets (problems, hopes, needs) ignore everyone else.
   
4. Demonstrate product superiority if you can.
   
5. Facts are more persuasive than empty claims (and a little humor helps with that.)
   
6. Create a desire - a shortage helps.
   
7. Give the product some creadability.
   
8. Close the sale.
   

(More to come...)

Have you heard the one...?

David Thorne writes stuff that is ridiculously interesting. Combining that with a understanding of human nature and he's been very successful at making things go viral. Read his site and see if you can resist the urge to pass a story along, or read something aloud to someone. (I couldn't)

In addition to his personal site I'll point you to a pair of interviews he did with Marketing Magazine Australia. here's part one, here's part two.

Engaged, interesting, relevant

One of the best ways to build a relationship with your customers is through interesting, relevant content. This means ideas, stories, words, pictures. A great example of a retailer that does this is the uk retailer Howies. (PS: Their print catalogs are also great. Download a PDF version and see for yourself.)

Pike Place Market: revisited

That Pike Place Market project from a couple posts ago has morphed into a more general guide to Seattle project. But one directed to those (like me) that are not fond of crowds.

It's become support material for, and a site containing, regularly updated webisode guides to some of the areas best attractions and how to enjoy them with minimal hassle. Plus, viewers can participate by uploading their photos of tourist spots. (A guide to places mentioned in the webisodes is likely in the future.)

(Click on any image to see it larger)

Here's a "Brochure" for the literature racks:



Here's the "blast email" directing people to a website:



Here's a simple website containing a Homepage, a page for people to upload their photos, a page to contain an archive of past webisodes, and an about me page.






And finally, here's a script for a 3 minute webisode "The Pike Place Market Photo-op Tour."

An obligatory post, post.

Guess it's time for another post.

If you explore food reviews you probably already know about Yelp.com. It's actually about more than food. It's about whatever people want to review. For a quick in-class writing assignment I wrote about one of my favorite fish & chips places: Jack's Fish Spot in the Pike Place Market. (It's a favorite more for it's ambiance than strictly it's food.) Anyway, visit Yelp and you'll find my reviews sprinkled among the much better written ones by other people. Have a look.

Pike Place Market: "Take One"

A challenging class project to sell one of the most popular destinations in all of the State of Washington: Seattle's Pike Place Market. Well, technically not sell the destination, but rather direct people to a website where they can learn more about it.

My take about the Market is if you don't like crowds, don't go. Or better still, plan your visit to best see what you want and minimize that bad part of going.

Like any marcomm project I start with a brief. Here it is:

Pike Place Market Brochure

View more presentations from DF Hobbs.

With the brief done and the idea articulated, it's time to write.


(Click to see larger)

Now, what have I done here? Seems I have used my "default voice," the FKA (Friendly Knowledgeable Authority). I fall into this voice when I do things in a hurry. It's a useful voice for selling many things and I'm comfortable enough with it for it to be OK in this project. (You have no doubt noticed I use it a lot in this blog.) If I had more time I think I'd try some variation.

No matter. Now this project has changed. Watch for a future post.

Something short about something long (get your mind out of the gutter)

George Demmer (who I don't know from a painted stick) did me a great service in putting together in one article the value of the long-copy ad as put forward by David Ogilvy, John Caples, Claude Hopkins, Maxwell Sackheim, Victor O. Schwab, Bob Stone, Walter H. Weintz, Robert W. Bly, Gary C. Halbert, Craig Huey, Jay Abraham, and Jay Conrad Levinson. (Famously successful copywriters each.) If you only advocate short copy ads perhaps you should give it a read.

"Do long copy ads work?" George Demmer

(Caveat: Don't write long to write long. Write as much as your reader is interested in reading. But not so much you bore them.)

Another interesting post on the long/short copy issue relates the experience of a split testing experiment. If you are interested in looking at the issue from this angle: Long Copy vs Short Copy Tested (And if you REALLY want to get into the topic, follow the additional links bellow the article.)

Are you an interesting retailer?

Writing for retail is tricky. Describing what someone can clearly see for themselves provides no value. Brand messages are communicated by your writing, your design, by everything about your presentation. When your presentation has no personality guess what that says about you.


Brooklyn Fare (Grocer, Catering, Cafe)



JAQK Wine Cellars (Online Wine Retailer)



Base Camp (Project Management Software)



20 x 200 (Limited Edition Art Prints)



Mia and Maggie (Products for pets)

Rewriting history {or Butchering a classic}

If one is going to rewrite a paragraph of marketing copy, one might as well rewrite something that was worth reading in the first place. The following is my attempt to rewrite a classic Howard Gossage ad.


-- MY REWRITE --

{The question isn’t should billboards be allowed to block your view, the question is should billboards be allowed at all.}

Billboards have been around for so long we’ve grown used to them. Most argue about where they are placed, or what is on them. No one thinks to wonder why they are allowed period.

Why is this? How have billboards acquired a right of way across our minds like they have over our views? Somehow outdoor advertising has become such an institution it requires conscious concentration to remember they have the same objective character as graffiti or other forms of vandalism. But while those messages are given the shrugging tolerance we grant juvenile delinquents, outdoor advertising is accorded the respect of an established industry. And it's become un-American to question them.

-- ORIGINAL --

{how to look at billboards}

Howard Gossage

While it is easy to see billboards, it is hard to look at them objectively without getting bogged down in trivial or secondary criticisms; nevertheless let me try.

It is so strange that billboards exist at all that the current controversy about whether outdoor advertising should be allowed along federal highways achieves the unreality of a debate on whether witch burning should be permitted in critical fire areas. Apparently no one has thought to wonder just what in the hell billboards are doing anywhere.

Why do you suppose this is? It must be that billboards have somehow acquired an easement across our minds just as they have gained squatter’s rights on our visual air space. They’ve been there–everywhere–for a long time and we have grown used to them. It requires a conscious effort to recognize that a billboard has the same objective status as a “Jesus Saves” scrawled on a culvert of men’s room poetry; it is there by public sufferance. But there is this difference: while those other gratuitous messages are accorded the shrugging tolerance that we grant to eccentrics, outdoor advertising has come to be regarded as an institution like any other overtly respectable industry. This is where the confusion starts, for if one accepts this premise all sorts of preposterous assumptions seem worthy of consideration; indeed, it would be positively un-American to question them.

-- LINK TO THE COMPLETE ORIGINAL AD: --

how to look at billboards

How to get people interested in your blog without wrapping it in bacon.

This is supposed to be "5 examples of good web writing". My only real problem was narrowing things down to 5. Good writing is good writing and the following are writers and sites I suggest are a "must read" for anyone interested in capturing a readers attention and presenting a message.

1. Nothing else like him. Neil French. The man can write. This site has great writing in two places: First in his introductions to the work he's presenting, and second in the work itself. You won't go wrong studying this work.

The Neil French Site


One of my favorite pieces (click for the larger version)
And one of my favorite campaigns


2. Ken Segall is a long time Writer and Creative Director that's done some amazing work. He's the master of simplicity and focus. And he's brought that to IBM, Apple, and Intel (among others). His Blog "Observatory" is a insightful look at technology and marketing. And it's well written too.

Ken Segall's Observatory




3. Do you read the Onion? You should. It's not just funny, it's well written. And once you start reading it's hard to stop.

The Onion




4. Do you write? Well, if you do here's one blog you don't want to miss. It's a collection of writers each bringing their own thoughts on a variety of issues related to writing for the internet, most specifically geared to the world off blogging.

Copyblogger




5. Apparently I have a soft spot for grumpy old advertising men. George Tannenbaum is a great writer that draws you in with nearly every post. This is a personal blog, but he covers sooo much territory.

Ad Aged




--

And a few runners up:

--

Mark Fenske is a legendary Wieden & Kennedy Copywriter and advertising instructor at VCU AdCenter. He had a great blog that seems to have disappeared for the moment. Anyway, if you find more examples of his work, study 'em. Closely.

Here's what he can do with an infomercial: (27min long)




Bob Hoffman writes "the Ad Contrarian" and he's "fucking amazing". He mostly writes about advertising, but he sometimes writes about other stuff. Read him. Now.

The Ad Contrarian





Gerorge Parker is another one of those "old guys" that tells it like it is. He's a blast. AdScam


Hayes Thompson (The Naked Copywriter) doesn't actually take his clothes off. Instead he "strips ideas bare" and presents them for your enjoyment. Enjoy his blog here: The Naked Copywriter


Sally Hogshead is a great writer. Period. She's largely moved into the world of offering career advice. Here's her blog: Radical Careering


The Hidden Persuaders not only has a great blog, they have a fantastic blog roll. Check it out: The Hidden Persuaders

Oh, and for foodies, those that hate them, and anyone desiring a good read: check out the Surly Gourmet :)

OK, I think that's enough for now.

They laughed when I sat down to write..

My goal isn't to become funny. The headline is from a famous ad (by John Caples) that ran for years and made the makers of mail order piano lessons very rich. Try as they did, they never came up with a headline that brought in more response.

In advertising there are (or I should say, seem to be) two schools of thought about copy writing. 1. The brand building school 2. The sell something school

On occasion you find something that bridges those schools. It both makes the brand likable AND makes you want to give them your money. THAT is the kind of writer I'd like to be. Skilled enough that whichever type of writing is required for a project I can bring the other kind along into it.

So, I guess this is my "copywriting blog". Feel free to bash the posts all to hell in the comments (but please try to make the comments actionable. "you suck" doesn't give me much to work with.)

Thanks

Old work... Publishing

My earliest work was all in publishing. From production & paste-up to art direction. It was always interesting work. Producing adverts for advertisers, managing supplier relationships, and negotiating with those responsible for editorial material. It was all about coordinating people and technology for Printing, Production, Photography (And at one time spec'ing type. I guess that dates me a bit.)


Nautilus Typegraphics
  Cross Sound Merchant
Wine Brother's Publishing
  the Monthly
  The Monthly's Annual Directory
the Seattle Source
the Freedom Socialist
Martin Publishing
  Robocad’s ICON
  PC Cad Digest
  CAD Evolution
  CAD interface
  CCS CAD NEWS

Spec work... Happy Hearts Video Dating

Wow.. talk about selling antiques. This spec campaign is for "Happy Hearts Video Dating" Service. The idea being you are interviewed on video telling about who you are and what you want, and then you get to likewise view tapes of others who have done the same. With any luck you find your match. Simple enough. However, personal ads were so much cheaper, and then there's the old traditional methods of finding someone to compete with.

This campaign was designed to show off the benefits of video dating and the pitfalls of the competition.

Obviously, this spec work was created long before online dating (eHarmony, Match.com, and 1000's of others) took over. Hell, Video stores still rented video's back then. Still this is something I did that I was proud of at the time. Created the strategy and kept the creative "on strategy." (Print campaign) Click on images to see them bigger, and clearer

Spec work... Tan Cuff

"Tan Cuff" is a simple idea... Put sunscreen into a colorful tube that links around into a bracelet-like ring that can be worn on the wrist or ankle. Figuring one is more likely to wear sunscreen if it's convenient. And one doesn't usually wear a lot of clothing when one is at the beach. Nor is one likely to fumble with sunscreen if one is involved in active sports.

In this post I'm showing you that there is more than one way to creatively communicate the product benefits.

In the TV presentation I utilize sex appeal. Literally stripping things down to showing the product as hero.

Then I put together two print presentations. Version one is a somewhat traditional headline/image presentation. And version two is headline/tagline ("Put your lotion in motion") campaign but with the tag line graphically echoing the sport.

This is not a complex product and dozens of on strategy presentations are possible. (TV and Print) Click on images to see them bigger, and clearer

Spec work... Save The Rainforests

A Rainforest is a beautiful thing. But that's not a good enough reason to preserve it. This spec ad series was designed to influence people into seeing beyond the cuteness of the frogs and the beauty of the flora and fauna into the broader value of one of our planets last great resources. (Print campaign) Click on images to see them bigger, and clearer

Spec work... Goof Off

A simple, classic, and very useful product... "Goof Off - The Ultimate Remover" Use it to clean up dried paint, glue, adhesives. This spec work simply explains the uses of the product and talks about it's ease of use. (Display ad and point of purchase display) Click on images to see them bigger.

Spec work.. Arthur Murray

This is one of my favorite advertising ideas and some of my favorite spec creative. First up is of course identifying a problem that advertising itself has a chance of solving (This was done in a Advertising Workshop.. thus the focus was on using that tool. If advertising is the wrong tool for solving a marketing problem, my philosophy is use a different tool. Duh.)

Anyway, A quick visit to an Aurthur Murray Studio, a "sample lesson", some conversation with the staff, and my analysis revealed a key reason some seek out dance lessons: people (mainly men) being afraid to look foolish at a upcoming social function (wedding, reunion, etc.) So I chose to tackle that point head on. Inferring that if you didn't come in to Arthur Murray for dance lessons you were a "chicken." And wrote a tag line to emphasize how easy the learning would be: "If you learned to walk, we can teach you to dance" (TV, Print) Click on images to see them bigger, and clearer

How Copywriters write... Paul Silverman

Paraphrased from "the Copy Book"

Paul Silverman

1. A Copywriter is like a lawyer building a persuasive case by selecting positive truths and omitting negative truths.
   
2. Copywriting is not about pace. It's about brilliance. Don't waste a word.
   
3. Break through to the reader is problem one.
   
4. Consider your headline your first sentence. Then keep going.
   
5. Visualize one reader and write to that one person.
   
6. Pay attention to paragraph transitions. Don't break, corner.
   
7. Anything brilliant can break any rule. (even the rule against puns)
   
8. Verbs make faster pictures than adjectives.
   
9. The greatest act of a copywriter would be to conceive of a scene in which no words appear.
   
10. When presenting your work, don't let the copy sell itself. Sell your passion.
    

(more to come...)