“The best, most creative advertising you ever write will pale in comparison to word-of-mouth.” – my copywriting professor at the outset of our first class, 1995 Fact: Every company on the planet has a product or service. Fact: The better the product or service, the more people will use (buy) it. Fact: People will tell others about their experiences with your product or service. For good and bad. I know it’s hard to believe, but the idea of word-of-mouth has been…
Last night at some point I went onto Facebook to see people raving about an ad for 84 Lumber that caught everyone’s attention. I’m a big proponent of advertising that’s different, and this one was. It was beautifully shot, directed, acted, and scored–it was an Oscar contender. But … it was a cliffhanger. You had to visit the 84 Lumber website to see how the story ends. Only, the site crashed due to traffic. Do you mean to tell me…
I never show clients what they want to see in the initial round of branding copy. My job as a copywriter requires that I be two people. One is to think tactically about goals, benefits, target audiences, and so on. The other is to be completely disconnected from the brand. It’s an absurd way of thinking. And yeah, as you can imagine the process can get weird with two contradictory voices in your head. But the results are almost always…
You’ve seen it a million times already–in their recent Presidential debate, Clinton was ripping into Trump when Trump muttered to the camera, “Such a nasty woman.” It was a stupid thing to say for obvious reasons, but had he changed one word it could have made a world of difference. After the debate, internet memes went crazy with the line, “Nasty women make history.” It was a reference to the Laurel Thatcher Ulrich quote, “Well-behaved women rarely make history.” It…
Whether you realize it or accept it or not, the core principle of modern America is that money makes everything better. When you have more of it, you’re doing well. When you have little, you’re doing poorly. It’s the same concept for businesses. When sales are up, everyone is happy. When people have jobs, they can afford to pursue their idea of the American Dream. People don’t start businesses to fail. And since revenue makes everything better, businesses try to make as much…
There’s something about being a writer that doesn’t conform to social norms. Namely, that in order for us to do our jobs, we have to be completely alone. No writer writes, listens, and talks concurrently. Over the years, I’ve worked in plenty of places where this doesn’t sit well. As a result, I’ve been labeled a recluse or renegade, despite crafting effective messages that mobilize audiences to act favorably. For some of us, this idea of isolation seamlessly spills over into our regular life…
