A few tips about crisis comms based on the dozens of emails that have landed in my inbox during the pandemic. It's also based on my experience of seeing this happen first-hand while weeping into a handkerchief.
Read MoreCopywriting inspiration
A colleague of mine recently asked for some tips on creative copy, and out came a bit of a stream of consciousness with books, links and bullet points. So I thought I'd clean it up and write a few blog posts. Here are the copywriting books that have inspired me:
Ogilvy
Confessions of an Advertising Man. You don't need to be an advertising nerd to have heard of David Ogilvy, but if not he's basically a bit of a legend in that world. 50s Manhattan and all that jazz. This is a humorous insight into the industry with quite a few creative tips along the way.
As an aside, something that really affirmed my thoughts about copywriting was this letter from Ogilvy. It takes time to produce good copy and there's no better example than this.
Read MoreGeneral copywriting tips
As Ogilvy implies in this letter – edit edit edit. Get ideas written, then edit them.
Write down everything, no matter how crappy it is. It might be a good idea but poorly expressed. You can work on that in the edit.
Don’t amend what you’ve just written. Re-write it underneath. That way you can see all your versions and how your thinking has progressed. You might find later on that you amalgamate a couple of different versions.
Once you’ve got some solid ideas try and refine them down to a minimum amount of choices. Get opinions from immediate colleagues (and include that time in your estimate for how long the work will take)...
Tips: 4 reasons why something short might take a long time to write
One
You simply don’t have all the information you need.
Two
There is too much information to portray in the required space.
Three
The offer / product has no discernible benefit (in which case, either point it out, or don’t bother stressing about it. Get a plain description done and stop worrying about moving mountains).
Essentially you need to pick your battles, certainly when working in-house. You need to know when to challenge things and when to let things go.
Four
It’s difficult to portray a sentiment / tone / idea with only a few words so make sure that anyone requesting this kind of copy allows enough time. If someone rings you up and says “I just need a couple of quick lines of copy” then alarm bells should start ringing.
Set expectations and allow yourself half a day to investigate and research.
Death penalty for anyone trying to pay for HBO content
HBO has reversed its position on TV piracy, insisting that anyone trying to pay for its television programs be burnt at the stake.
In a move that pays homage to the acclaimed fifth season of Game of Thrones, an HBO spokesperson confirmed today that anyone utilising virtual private networks, moral compasses or years of corporate IT training to pay for its US-only HBO Now service, will be tied to a stake and burnt alive.
Gerald Pine, spokesperson for HBO, stated: "We're delighted that Game of Thrones now sits proudly as the most pirated TV program of all time. The last thing we want to do is put this prized position in jeopardy."
Mr Pine went on to say, "If you live outside the USA and want to watch our TV shows, please use your favourite torrent sites. From April 21, anyone found virtually clambering up our 700-foot firewall will be snatched by dragons and subjected to a gruesome death - even by Game of Thrones' standards."
He added, "Jon Snow will not be there to quicken your end with an arrow to the heart."
Tim Hargreaves, a software developer from Walthamstow commented, "I can't believe this. I love HBO shows and as a responsible member of the IT profession I felt that masking my geographical location was a great way to get access to quality programming while also paying HBO the subscription it is rightly due."
He continued, "I felt it was the only way I could reconcile my unwavering benevolence with my thirst for gritty storytelling."
A source close to HBO confirmed that any further money landing in the HBO coffers would be spent solely on killing off the most popular Game of Thrones characters, no matter what that old bastard wrote in the books.
Epicureanism in marketing
Every month or so when I worked at PlayStation we had an event called the "lunch and learn". We in the marketing team would watch a presentation from an external company while they would watch us eat Domino's pizza. A win-win for PlayStation employees I think you'll agree.
The topics were all fairly recent findings and marketing research; the speakers were usually from an agency doing some work for PlayStation.
The topic I found most interesting was about the rise of epicureanism in marketing, presented by Chris from 2CV, where he compared two different approaches of marketing - hedonism and epicureanism.
- Hedonism is all about getting the most that you can get, appealing to status and aspiration.
- Epicureanism is about quality, functionality and common sense. It's about getting a more prolonged sense of pleasure rather than a quick dose of ecstasy.
Chris argues that there has been a significant shift from hedonism to epicureanism...
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