I call this putting a treat in your copy. It's putting something in the copy that rewards the reader with more than straight information. My thought process is that, if they are rewarded with a little treat for reading, even when they aren't really interested in what you have to say they will happily stay with you for the treats.
I doesn't work in a lot of written mediums but is perfect for public notices or DM mailouts or website and google searches, Why, it even helped build a brand at Innocent
Anyone who spends anytime reading this blog will know that Howard Gossage is a bit of hero of mine. He was smart and when I want to look smart I repeat what he says. Stuff like, 'People don't read ads, they read what interests them. And sometimes it happens to be an ad.' Well, here's the proof.
The above is an ad for a wet suit. It comes with some pretty long copy in the description, which if I'm honest, isn't as well written as it could be, but the effort put in to it is commendable and it's effective is in the viewing figures which, currently stand at over 25,000. People are even engaging with him via email.
So, the next time some brain dead parroteer wants to tell you that no one reads anymore, send him this link and politley explain that it's all a question of content.
I promise you that is not an exaggeration. 'His personality is so magnetic he can't carry credit cards' - quality.
This is a compilation of the campaign. Enjoy.
Apologies about the cropping - probably best viewed here.
This has done the rounds on a few blogs, but it's right up my street and so I'm adding it to mine. It's from the Guardian. Part One. And Part Two, My personal favourites
Do it every day. Make a habit of putting your observations into words
and gradually this will become instinct. This is the most important
rule of all and, naturally, I don't follow it. - Geoff Dyer
Description is hard. Remember that all description is an opinion about the world. Find a place to stand. - Anne Enright
It's doubtful that anyone with an internet connection at his workplace is writing good fiction. - Jonathan Franzen
Remember: when people tell you something's wrong or
doesn't work for them, they are almost always right. When they tell you
exactly what they think is wrong and how to fix it, they are
almost always wrong. - Neil Gaiman
Style is the art of getting yourself out of the way, not putting yourself in it. - David Hare
By the same token remember how much time people spend
watching TV. If you're writing a novel with a contemporary setting
there need to be long passages where nothing happens save for TV
watching: "Later, George watched Grand Designs while eating HobNobs. Later still he watched the shopping channel for a while . - Will Self
Turn up for work. Discipline allows creative freedom. No discipline equals no freedom.- Jeanette Winterson
I wrote some poetry recently. Never done it before It happened because I was reading something on the subject where they defined poetry as, making the familiar unfamiliar and the unfamiliar familiar. I don't know if that is true or even a good definition of poetry, but I liked it and I thought I'd give it a go.
Of course I've no intention of subjecting you to it up here, that wasn't the point. But I did discover something useful.
Usually when I have to write something, the number of words aren't too important and so I can ramble on a bit, even when I write to a short(ish) word count. Stuff like this.
Poetry is something different in that each and every word counts. And counts massively. You really have to think about it's value, you really have to search for the exact words. It's fucking tough. It's not like polishing a draft or rewriting something to make it flow better, poetry only works when you give each and every word complete consideration.
And so I'm going to write some more, not because I want to be a poet, not because I'm any good, not even because I enjoy it, but because I think I will be a better writer for it, I think I will respect words more.
One of my many theories, I have one on pretty much everything by the way, is that we in comms who write comedy as a means to sell consumers stuff need to look at the wider, broader spectrum offered by comedians and not jut look at ads for guidance. Obvious one that I know, so why the hell doesn't the average creative bother then? I blogged about it here.
I also believe that there are 3 stages in the life of a brand's brilliant voice. 1) The creation of something original, thus creating stand out 2) The copying by many, thus making it trite and ubiquitous 3) A strong reaction against it, which is normally the opposite to it, and is implimented by an equally talented company, but not necessarily in the same sector.
So, if we take the the once brilliant and much copied (badly) Innocent drinks, where life is good in whimsical, middle England's very own Nappy valley. When it came out it was inspired, it connected in a way that most brands didn't (and don't) and success followed. (phase1)
Then came the many imitators. (phase2)
So what of phase 3? Well I'm coming to that. If my theory is right then we could soon see a brand soon that deliberately provokes it's audience/consumers with it's anger and bad-temperedness. It's already happened in the wider spectrum of comedy where to offend is the material de jour, (So with two theories combining I had to post, right?)
I even wrote a blog to experiment along these lines - until I forgot my password which was then sent to an email address that I no longer have access to and so haven't been able to contiue with, which really, really pissed me off, I can tell you. Anyway I digress.
Should a brand talk to it's consumers like a Jack Dee or a Ricky Gervais? I believe 100% yes,but only if it's as brilliantly written and presented as guys like this. So that means a probable no then.
I was listening to the Radio 4's Front Row programme the other day, Russel T Davies was on talking about drama. For him the new drama is reality shows. He even went further and said that the piece of drama that had impressed him most recently was the Susan Boyle saga.
He went on to say that he wasn't just talking about her coming on stage and belting out her song but the way in which her story was played out afterwards keeping her in the public's mind for weeks. He had real admiration for the people behind it.
For me, the most impressive drama has been the Katie/Jordan V Peter split. Don't get me wrong, I'm no fan of them or their desperate desire to live their lives in the public eye, but I do think that like Paris Hilton, they have shown those of us in the comms industry much in the way of how campaigns can be structure and played out in the future.
And I'm chuffed to bits that Russel T Davies thinks along similar lines.
I’ve been working up this theory on writing for blogs to support a presentation and possibly create a new revenue stream for us. So I thought I'd share my thinking with you guys see if anyone wants to contribute.
It’s about blogging - I'll share my thoughts on tweets later - and how brands should approach it in a more focused way
Right now brand blogging in the UK is in its infancy and because it’s cheap and quick and readership numbers are currently relatively small for most brand blogs, it gets treated with more contempt than this years BB contestants.
However, a quick glance across the pond will tell you that that doesn’t have to be the case. In fact a well-written, focused blog that serves and articulates a purpose, one that rewards readership can and does deliver a meaningful relationship that can be incredibly valuable to the brand.
But, this will not happen if you treat it as a freebie bolted-on to the main campaign because, well it’s cheap, trendy and so now, and that’s the kind of brand we are, so why not do it? Plus there’s a box here I have to tick, right next to the iphone app and the facebook widget. And, anyway, isn’t that what interns are for?
So the outcome is something that resembles a personal diary packed with minor milestones such as –
The sun is shining today, so why not go out and buy one of our new limited edition range of choc-ices. There are 3 to choose from lemon and lime, mango and multi-berry. Hurry and do let us know which one is your favourite. Yummy.
All written by someone who loves to replace full stops with :-) and can’t wait until a computer allows them to dot i’s with smiley faces.
The alternative to this, of course, is the dullard who thinks people love to read instruction manuals about products.
In short then, the kind of thing that no sane person can tolerate. And so a self-fulfilling prophecy that blogs aren’t important or effective.
And so, the next campaign gets the same blog treatment.
Now consider an alternative approach. Consider one where a blog is given a real purpose or positioning in a campaign, with a real benefit to consumers and is skilfully constructed and written by someone who understands narrative structure and the power of the written word.
What would that look like?
Well, I think a blog closely resembles two modern day narratives. Those of a reality TV show, like say, The Apprentice and that of a sitcom or soap.
How so, you say?
Well, a reality TV series is built around a script that is flexible enough to incorporate the unpredictable, the reality element, it doesn’t dictate the outcome but does add structure and order where there possibly isn’t any.
Characters are selected based on their personality traits and assigned a potential role in the series (the fool, the bitch, the quiet one who will flourish etc).
These roles are then clearly defined in the early stages and reaffirmed in subsequent episodes. So the dimwit character is edited to confirm his dimwittedness, the nasty bitch has only her bitchy acts included in the final edit and so on. Now established these characters can play their role in a pre-determined - albeit loosely plotted - script that has been drawn up from the beginning.
A manipulation of reality, but a reality none the less.
Having become familiar with the characters we the audience can sit back and enjoy the drama unfold, safe in the knowledge of who is who and how they will react in certain situations.
Not too dissimilar to characters in a sitcom or soap.
In this genre the characters have clearly defined personality traits that don’t change. It’s one of the few genres where this happens. Normally in a film or other drama, the lead character goes on a journey, a character-arc that changes him/her in some way forever. The workaholic at the beginning of the film discovers the importance of community and/or family. The idealist gets dealt a blow by fate preventing him from escaping his past and leaving him resigned to accept his lot etc.
But not so in the world of Soaps and Sitcoms. The reason they don’t change is because familiarity is what makes a soap a Soap, a sitcom a Sitcom. Dell Boy has to always chase the dream of being a millionaire, it’s that that determines the comedy. He can never become one nor can he change and discover less materialistic goals.
Likewise, Phil Mitchell of Albert Square is doomed to forever be the violent petty criminal he is. So, whatever situation he finds himself in he must act accordingly – not for him the enlightenment of learning the power of arbitration and peaceful compromise.
The reason both of these genres follow this path is because of why they are viewed and their relationship with the viewer.
They rely on repeat and frequent viewing, so they need to be consistent - people enjoy and need this familiarity, it allows them to build connections and feel a sense of loyalty to the characters.
And these character can’t be too complex and instead need to follow a simple human desire or personality trait because these genres also need to stand alone as pieces of entertainment and drama in their own right, so that infrequent or new views can easily grasp what is going on and quickly decide for themselves whether this is something for them.
What does all this sound like from a user experience, well to me, blogs.
So, before establishing a blog, define it’s role, define the narrative arc - what’s it’s purpose, what is it offering, what’s the story (know the beginning, middle and end). Establish who the characters are (people or product points) and what their role in the story is.
Oh and finally, give it to a writer. Someone that wants to write and who understands these things (which is why we have been quietly recruiting screenwriters, gag writers, comedy writers, journalists and novelists to write treatments and plot narratives for clients blogs).
Then you might have a blog that will attract considerable loyal readership who will engage and return to it time and time again and share their experience of it with others – much like a good Soap or Sitcom
If this does or doesn’t make sense, or you want to challenge it some more, or you fancy joining the writers’ database, feel free to get in touch.
And now, just for fun and as way of a thank you for getting to the end, a completely unrelated video clip, other than featuring Alan Sugar, I present Cassetteboys best
There was an article in The Guardian at the weekend, featuring Paul Fieg sharing his wisdom on comedy writing. It was pretty lightweight if I'm honest but there was still one or two gems of wisdom which would benefit any copywriter about to tackle his/her next script
Stuff like:
There are so many comedies that portray people living in the suburbs as
living ridiculous or hypocritical lives. But I grew up in the suburbs
of Michigan in midwest America and tend to think that everyone is just
trying to get through life as best they can. You don't have to sneer or
poke fun at them to get a laugh."
"A great comedy is about real characters who make you laugh because you
appreciate their personalities and how they react to particular
situations. They have to be believable human beings, not just vehicles
for gags."
"If you're trying to make a great comedy, most of your time and effort
should go into casting. Find the right actors and let them do their
thing."
Once again, I'm reminded of a particualr bug bear of mine. The lack of time and effort that contemporay ad agencies spend on the craft side of what they do. And yet, this is for me is where the effort needs to be applied especially now, especially the written word.
I get down from my soap box now, before this becomes a full on rant
Above is a freebie magazine from Vice. It's for students and while I most certainly can't claim to be one of them I dis pick it up and had a read. And I'm so glad I did.
Not since the first time I picked up an Innocent bottle have I been so impressed by the writing - no lazy adspeak here, no lame jokes, no pandering to the lowest common denominator. No siree, this was a joy; original, funny and risk-taking.
And before you start, well of course, it's for students, it's a niche brand, they can get away with murder blah blah blah- that's simply bollocks and I'll produce any number of student, niche brand marketing material to prove it.
Sure it's not a tone that's suitable or desirable for a lot of brands (although it is one that's exactly right for them and their audience). But that's not what I was excited by. It was the freshness of picking something up and actually being engaged enough to read more.
Some time ago I posted about the Apple ads being quintessentially American, and doubted that we English could get the balance right. Well, now they've gone and recreated them with English comedians so, you can judge for yourself here. Personally, I think they confirm my argument. The charm, the rhythm, the gaps in dialogue, even the slight of performance and gentleness of delivery have all been lost.
Here's one of the originals that has been copied. I'd love to know what you think.
I've lifted this from an interviewCreative Generalist did with Steve Callaghan, writer and producer of the Family Guy cartoon series. Here is how he describes the process of developing and writing a script.
"Well, as you might imagine, it is a highly collaborative endeavor. There are about 100 people or so who are in some way or another involved in putting together an episode. The process begins, of course, with the writing staff. My fellow writers and I will come up with a concept for an episode and discuss the general storyline that it would contain. The episode is then assigned to a particular writer who will write the first draft of the script. The whole writing staff then takes that first draft and, as a group, rewrites it -- improves jokes that might need some help, fixes any story issues, etc. -- before the show gets recorded by all of our voice actors. Once the audio has been recorded, then our animation team takes the baton, creating an animatic, which is a rough, pencil-sketch version of the show. Once we all screen the animatic, the writers take another pass at the script to address any remaining writing issues. A while later, the show comes back in color. We then do one more, smaller rewrite on the script before the finishing touches (music cues, sound effects, etc.) are added and then you've got yourself an episode of "Family Guy."
Now, compare that with how the typical creative team in the typical ad agency creates their script.
Account person and/or planner explain brief to creative team. They leave. Creative team spend anything from a day to a few weeks sweating it out. They present their ideas to the CD, who says yes, no, maybe, perhaps etc. What is very unlikely is that he will spend any time working with the team beyond this verbal input. Not through laziness, but because the script 'belongs' to the team. Work is then presented back to the account person-planner combo, who are allowed to comment on it, but only within the confines of their job title remit. God help them if they mis judge this and over step into the creatives' domaine. Conversations between planner and account person, account person and client, planner and creative director, planner and client all take place in a isolation to one another. As a result nothing much changes in the script until a director is selected. Now the creative team will listen and make changes, because a) the director is also a 'creative' and b) the team really want to be him.
I've been fortunate enought to have been a part of both processes and I know which one delivers the better work.
I've been spending more time with clients discussing the craft of writing than at any other time in my career. Not that surprising really, more of them are writing more themselves. Several are doing company blog's or undating their websites themselves and another is handing their own newsletters.
In fact I'm going to go as far as say the craft of writing has never been so important in the communication mix in recent times as it is right now.
So, I thought I'd start Write Club, an occasional series on writing.
I got this email sent to me before Christmas, interesting enough proposition tucked away at the bottom - 'unusual gift no effort', but for Conde Nast that really wasn't the hook. They'd rather tell you how they feel rather what they can do for you, as a result they lost me with the subject line. Because frankly, it's for me to decide whether or not it's a generous offer.
I mention this not to pick fault (or a fight) with someone's work but to highlight a very common problem and that is clients and their agencies writing from their perspective (i.e. I'm sure Patrick thinks he's being incredibly generous). But in doing so he has completely removed me any connection I might have.
It's like having a conversation with a chat show host or someone on
cocaine.
(Possibly the finest example of this was when a senior exec at a agnecy I was at sent an email to clients notify them he was leaving with the subject title: Great News. Great news for who? The rest of the email was equally self-congratulatory.)
So, the First Rule of Write Club is;
Understand the perspective of the reader. And remember what interests you about your business probably doesn't interest them.
As my main man Howard Gossage once said; People don't read ads, they read what interests them and sometimes it happens to be an ad.
Roger was kind enough to let me know that there are Japanese versions of the Apple ads I've been taking about and so I clicked over to YouTube to see them. (Isn't that brilliant. I can now, in a matter of seconds, find material that was referenced in a post to me. Every now and then I get an overwhelming sense of the enormity of the change that the Internet brings. And when it does, I find myself loving life that little bit more. My son on the other hand will only know a world connected to wide web, in the same way I've only ever known a world with flying, I wonder what huge changes he'll experience?) Anyway I digress.
Putting to one side the cultural and language differences. Doesn't it seem altogether less authentic to you? The wardrobe, the casting, their performances - all seem to lack the comfortable, lived-in feel of the original. And so lose charm, the very essence of what makes them appealing. The PC character in particular seems completely fake, lacking any of the appeal/authenticity of the original character.
I thought the Japanese version helped make my point - that the skill sets and sensitivities
required to make these particular ads work in such a familiar/intimate way could
only come from Americans. Not unlike the writing of Sopranos, WestWing and The Simpsons, now I come to thing of it.
I'm a big fan of this campaign. Partly I'm sure because I'm a big fan of all things Apple - seldom do they get things wrong, everything from the packaging to the stores to the products to the customer service is an articulation of the brand. But mainly I'm a big fan of these ads because they're so, well, charming.
Imagine the script; Open on an empty set. Two men stand side by side talking directly to camera. Hmm, doesn't sound that interesting. But when you watch them they ooze charm. The music, casting, wardrobe and performance, the rhythm of the language, the direction - all make the whole thing very watchable. But also very American.
No other country could have made this, like this. Could it be that as inventors of the modern language of film it just feels right by association and familiarity? Is it that culturally they have more respect for film and a better ear for dialogue because they haven't been brought up in the shadow of a theatre culture? Or is it simply that because of its size, they have a larger pool of talent to draw on than other countries? I've heard arguments supporting each of these, all of which were compelling, none of which were wholly convincing though.
Spent a fascinating time yesterday working with a client on different ways in which to use blogs. We had this thought that a blog could be treated in much a similar way as you would a soap opera or sitcom - a drama that's played out in regular episodes (posts). The more we looked at this and the more we looked at the structure of storytelling within the confines of a soaps and sitcoms, the more we thought we were onto something, so we're going to experiment around this and see what develops. If blogs can be streams of consciousness, diaries or gossip columns, then why can't they also be given a strong narrative structure? The big challenge as we see it will be to adapt the everyday events into story lines that will be both engaging and entertaining while still remaining true to the spirit and honesty of blogging.
Saw this on the tube last night and it really bothered me. What is it doing? Who is it communiticating with? What does it mean, Yum/Young, Free and Single? I read the copy and it's about free puddings being given away, somewhere, sometime, but I can't remember where, but that's not what the line says. How did someone present this?
At least half a dozen people with the power to stop it must have seen this and not one of them did. Why? Was it really the best thing on the table? I have no desire to belittle or insult people, I know how hard it is to
create work, but while this ad obviously recieved a little tlc along the way, the
idea didn't. And I really want to understand why? I got off the tube confused and depressed.
The ads I hate the most are the ones that try and be funny. And the worst of them are radio ads. A shit ad you can ignore, but one where the team involved believe they've crafted something good, something worth listening to is the worst.
In fact I've long harboured a secret ambition to make a sketch show out of the sketches played out in radio ads. I hope that if creatives could see them out of context they would actually notice that what they've written is shite.
It's as if there is a comedy level in advertising that is way below the acceptable comedy level for comedians. As if ads don't have to exist in the real world. (Maybe there's some clue here as to why people have been falling out of love with them.)
As a result we get ads that are no more than weak
sketches loaded with punchlines and puns. it's as if these creatives aspire to be of this world
It's as if they haven't notice that comedy, like everything else has changed and moved on. It's long become one of observational humour, of anger and social statement. Today's face of popular comedy is
So why aren't creatives writing like them? Could it be a lack of talent perhaps?
Saw this quote over at Ben's blog
this morning and have decided we should stick it on our powerpoint
presentations from now on. Apparently, it came from those
smart guys at base camp
Maybe it's because I'm a copywriter, but I love quotes. If for no other reason than, they are a fantastic reminder that even in today's 'visual world' well-crafted words still have the power to resonate in a profound way.
So it used to concern me that when I met today's student teams and asked them what they were you got the same reply from both, we're creatives. Ask them how that works and who's going to write any words that are needed and you usually get something along the lines of; both of us, whoever's less busy, or the all encompassing, dunno haven't thought about it.
Digging a little deeper I discovered that all the major ad courses; St.Martins, Bucks etc. don't teach writing or art direction as a skill. They teach the creation of ideas.
All of which used to deeply trouble me. A lot.
But it doesn't anymore, because I was wrong and they are right (well, up to a point, it's the industry that's creative, not a person nor a department, but that's for another time.)
I was being lazy in my thinking. Why are we asking people to articulate an idea in a particular medium and then once they have, expect those very same people to craft it all the way through? The answer is, for no other reason than because that's how it's always been done. And that's no answer at all.
At Here Be Monsters, we're experimenting with a whole new structure, one that plays to individuals strengths and is loosely based on my experience of writing for Hollywood, where someone has an idea, another person writes it, another rewrites the funny bits, yet another rewrites the female voice etc. and it's all done under the watchful eye of someone (usually a producer) who has a very clear vision of what they want to achieve at the end of it.
And so if the solution to our client's problem requires written words we employ dedicated writers, people who feel the need to write; TV writers, comedy writers, script writers, copywriters, novelist and journalists to write them for us.
As I'm forever saying, now is the time for us to experiment.
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