Tuesday, December 29, 2009

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...)

Wednesday, December 9, 2009

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.