The UK bookseller Waterstones [sic] has been doing some odd things lately. Last week, much to the horror of grammarians, the store announced it was dropping its apostrophe. This is not the first instance of the company’s strange behaviour though. Just before Christmas I spotted one of its posters, shown on the left. So, what’s […]
An error marketers sometimes make when judging creative work. The other day an agency asked me to do something odd. They wanted me to rewrite the endline of a new campaign that was at concept stage. It was strange because I reckoned the existing one was very good. So did they. Unfortunately their client didn’t. […]
A long time ago a businessman came to me for advice. He was starting a men’s clothing store and wanted to know what to call it. I asked him his surname. “George.” “That’s a great name,” I said. “George. The name of kings.” I didn’t tell him it was also my dog’s name. He shook […]
Whatever happened to the advertising slogan? It hasn’t disappeared; you still see endlines under quite a few logos. McDonalds still says “I’m lovin’ it”. Barack Obama used “Change you can believe in” to help him get elected. And a lot of local brands here in the UK continue to use endlines/straplines/slogans or whatever you want […]
According to Mashable, Groupon are preparing for an initial public offering that would value the deal-of-the-day website at $15–$20 billion. It was only last December when Google tried to buy Groupon for $6 billion. So how did this company, just over two years old, become so successful so fast? Well I don’t know. If I […]
A famous DM copywriter – I think it might have been Steve Harrison – once said that direct marketing isn’t sending customers a folded press advertisement. Nor, I would add, is it a press ad with an email address attached. When you communicate directly with an individual, it’s an opportunity to build a one-to-one relationship. […]
Have you ever experienced this: The other day I saw a very funny commercial. It was well shot. The casting was excellent. And the dialogue between the two, very antagonistic characters was worthy of Raymond Chandler. It had a simple, clever idea – usually the basis for an award-winning ad. The trouble […]
Did you know that copywriters are also translators? We often have to turn gobbledygook into English. Last week, for example, I helped a multinational firm rewrite its mission, vision and brand values. Having worked in these areas a few times now, I’ve noticed common mistakes: lots of long paragraphs full of long words, clichés and […]
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