Barnaby Benson on copywriting

The power of blogging: the story of Gradulthood

2012-01-18T17:21:00.000Z

The heartwarming tale of how starting a blog changed one ‘gradult's’ life...

It's not going to write itself

I finished university in 2009. When it comes to badgraduation years, that one’s got to be up there with 1939. Okay, perhaps that’sstretching the limits of hyperbole somewhat. Let’s just say it wasn’t ideal.

Upon graduation, I decided to shun the undignified scramblefor the last remaining grad schemes. I just didn’t want it enough. 500applicants battling it out for a place on the Rent-a-car management programme?Nope, not for me. Instead, I worked in a stockroom and a nightclub –before hotfooting it over to America.

Reality sure is cold and hard

Upon myreturn, I was faced with two unfortunate realities: I had no job and myparent’s house was beckoning. On the plus side, I had a killer tan. I soonfound myself working as a call centre temp for one of the legal loan sharksthriving on the bloodied carcass of Britain’s economy.

It was at this stage I decided to start a blog. I’d always lovedwriting, and with nothing else on my plate, I thought: what have I got to lose? They saywrite what you know, so I began blogging about that awkward time in life betweengraduation and adulthood: no longer a student, not yet in a career. Gradulthood was born.

Infiltrating the bloggerati

Along witha fellow ‘gradult’ we started posting almost every day. I’d scribble notes atwork and write them up in the evening. It was fantastic. We started to build upquite a following. After a monotonous day blighting vulnerable lives at thecall centre, it was great to go home and continue the project. Our stats keptgrowing and soon we were up to 250 visitors a day.

We posted light-heartedarticles about specific graduate issues such as online job applications,recruitment fairs and work experience. Then there were fun posts aboutalarm clocks, haircuts and the Daily Mail online comments section. We even had a weekly money-savingseries entitled: Now that’s what I call thrift. Finally being tight waspaying off.

Going global

As the blogcontinued to expand, we started receiving tales of woe from gradults all overthe country. It seemed frustrated graduates welcomed having a forum, other thantheir mum’s shoulder, to vent their spleen. We were happy to showcase theirwork – editing is such a power trip. Naturally, the next stop was worlddomination; soon we had ‘gradult correspondents’ in South America and South Korea. Different currencies, same issues.

Media darlings – in literally the most minor waypossible

Always lateto the party, the media finally picked up on us. We were featured on the Guardianwebsite a couple of times and name-checked on numerous other blogs. We even gotasked to contribute to an article on graduates by the New Scientist. However,the ungrateful geeks chose not to use our material in the end.

During these six months of intensive blogging, I was also readingnumerous books, blogs and articles on copywriting. (It’s amazing what you canachieve when you forgo a social life – human contact: it’s so overrated). Penningbrochures, websites and sales letters seemed like a varied and interesting wayto make a living and I was also intrigued by the psychology behind sales.

Buoyed by finding something I was actually interested in, andeager to have a go myself, I began hassling each and every copywriter Googlecould throw at me. I sent countless emails to writers and advertising agenciesall over the UK, pleading for a job, an internship, work experience or even justa response.

The power of the blog

Gradulthoodhad energised me. Now I actually had something to talk about in my emails. What’smore, I had an example of my writing other than the email itself. I’d somehowmanaged to wriggle free of the dreaded catch-22 which affects so manygraduates: ‘can’t-get-experience-cos-I-have-no-experience’. I’d heard ofinitiative before, but I’d never actually used it. It felt good!

A couple of months into the campaign – and it was a campaign,I had a spreadsheet and everything – Barnaby Benson Copywriting got back to me.The offer: two weeks copywriting training in exchange for building a databaseof potential clients.

I jumped at the chance, not least because it would meanspending two weeks in London, a city I’d wanted to move to ever since I was akid.

Isn’t that database finished yet?

Nearly ayear has passed since the original two weeks and I’m still here. My first copywritingjob was writing some web copy for a UCL backed start-up company sellingflight-socks. It was enough to get me hooked.

Since then I’ve worked alongside Barnaby on a variety ofprojects. I’ve written for some of the biggest companies in the world, including:Coca-Cola, Anglo American, HSBC Private Bank and Jumeirah. I’ve alsoghost-written articles, blog posts and pitches for a variety of clients.

All this was made possible by Gradulthood. The bloggave me the example of writing I needed to get my toe in the copywriting door.And the reaction to it was enough for me to start approaching writers andcompanies with conviction. Never underestimate the power of the blog. Icertainly won’t.

We ended Gradulthoodduring the summer of 2011 after deciding we were no longer part of thedemographic we were writing for. My co-gradult now works in television. He alsocredits the blog with helping his career.

Advertising is the art of the concept. Copywriting is the art of words

2012-01-10T16:35:00.001Z

Ad agencies employ copywriters. But they tend to work alongside a designer in a creative team, focusing on creating ad concepts. Using a copywriting agency to do the word-based work can free ad creatives to focus on what they’re best at.

Lousy punctuation... Apostrophes absent without leave or in the wrong place... Flat vocabulary... Advertising copy can be a real source of wonder. But it can also look as if it was a last-thing-on-Friday afterthought. It’s understandable really: when you live for the big idea, the fiddly bits can seem slightly underwhelming.

Ask a top-flight agency creative copywriter to research and write a 28 page sales brochure and they’ll think you’re having a laugh. Draft an 80 page website so it’s consistent with the campaign? Get out of here. Write this trade flier? No can do, I’m late for lunch and it’s sushi day.

Keen, but do they understand the target audience?

Call in the cavalry

Straplines are often pivotal to a campaign. They’re prominent, appear on everything and if they’re any good, they last for years. Often they’re the campaign concept encapsulated in words. And they’re notoriously difficult to get right. The whole brand essence in five words or less? Not easy. So, we can be brought in to create some ideas to add to the mix.

Good times, great clothes

That one's ours. Boden ran with it for eight years. Its replacement, ‘Wear life out’, lasted six months. Top tip: avoid the negative – especially references to death.

Strapline stories

Does my strapline look big in this?

Apparently, Saatchi’s were so stumped trying to come up with a strapline for British Airways they piled their entire agency into a huge conference room – everyone from the receptionist to the MD – locked the doors and didn’t let anyone out until they’d cracked it. The result? 'The world’s favourite airline'. A strapline which ran for 12 years and helped cement their status as, well, the world’s favourite airline.

Then there’s Vodafone. Whenever they need a new strapline they sling the brief out to every single one of their creative agencies. Call it a numbers game, call it the scattergun approach, call it whatever you want: it brought them ‘Power to you’. So it must be working.

Down and dirty below the line

Brochures, fliers, sales letters, point of sale, blogs, emails… They’re all copy heavy and probably not the type of work that’s going to get an ad creative that coveted D&AD pencil glory. They’re also all essential to a successful campaign.

It might not always be glamorous, but we love this stuff, particularly creating collateral that coordinates and complements great ad campaigns.

Take a break from hackneyed travel copy

2012-01-09T15:55:00.004Z

The brochure did say 'off the beaten track'

By avoidingoverused phrases and describing destinations in a fresh way, you can revitiliseyour travel copy.

Where can you go to absolutely guarantee ‘crystal clear water’, ‘friendly locals’ and all manner of ‘breathtaking views’? Somewhere ‘off the beaten track’? Or perhapssomewhere in the ‘beating heart of thecity’? The standard travel brochure,that’s where.

Unfriendly locals and unspectacular views

Anyonewho’s ever written any travel copy will be guilty of using some of these gems.I’ll hold my hands up and admit I’ve placed a few hotels in ‘picture perfect’ locations.

The problem with using these trite phrases is that, they’reso worn out they’ve all but lost their meaning. And if copy loses its meaning, itceases to do its job. When a consumer reads a travel brochure they should beable to feel the sand beneath their feet and taste the local cuisine. The wordsmust evoke the destination in such a way that the consumer isn’t just willingto hand over hundreds or thousands of pounds – they’re eager to.

Fresh, dynamic language is the only way to achieve this. Inlate 2011 we were given this very brief by Planet Cruise. In addition toevoking their destinations and the cruise experience, they felt they offered adifferent proposition to competitors. However, this wasn’t shining through intheir literature. Our task: make the selling points come alive.

Johnnie Boden, Richard Branson, Jenny West

We rackedour brains on how to do this before realising the answer was staring us rightin the face. Literally.

Mrs Planet Cruise herself

Thecompany’s founder, Jenny West, hosts a weekly show on a shopping channel. Herinfectious enthusiasm meant she’d picked up something of a following. What’smore, she embodied everything that was great about Planet Cruise: she was fun, knowledgeableand utterly devoted to cruising. So we suggested we write the copy as if it waspenned by her. She became the company’s new tone of voice.

This departure from standard travel copy gave the brochure anew vitality. Our new tone was quirky, enthusiastic and a little playful. Butit was always well informed and never flippant. It gave a fresh energy to theproducts.

Suit not sombrero

Of course,this route isn’t always an option. For a start, not all companies have such anobvious spokesperson like Jenny. And secondly, not all target audiencesappreciate a slightly offbeat tone.

Last year also saw us encounter the more corporate side oftravel copy. We were charged with writing the company profile for Dubai basedluxury hotel brand, Jumeirah. The brochure was mainly to be used as a point ofreference for the CEO when he was in meetings with potential investors andbusiness partners.

This dictated that it had to be more about cold, hard factsand less about warm, soft beaches. Of course, that’s not to say it could becompletely devoid of flair.

Despite being aimed at different audiences, both brochureswere selling distinctiveness. By avoiding the laborious, cliché-riddensentences and evoking destinations in new ways, they both have a far higherchance of doing just that.

Is your annual or CSR report writer a perfect five?

2012-01-09T15:00:00.000Z

Annual andCSR report season is fast approaching. Before you commission anything, take a lookat this list of criteria. Does your writer fit the bill...?

How are we going to spin this!?

1. They’vedone it before. Let them gainexperience on someone else’s watch. When it comes to corporate social responsibility(CSR) and annual reports, familiarity with the subject matter is vital. Beingaware of the pitfalls and steering clear of them makes life a whole lot easierand the project a lot more enjoyable to manage.

We’ve written a shelf worth of annual reports for companiesincluding De La Rue, BT and Uniq.

We’re also experienced in the writing about CSR. Last year wewere entrusted with Coca-Cola’s European CSR launch site. You can check it out here.

Pluswe have a geographer-turned-writer working for us who is something of a CSRenthusiast. His dissertation covered environmental attitudes, behaviours andimpacts. (It takes all sorts.)

2. They’recomfortable in the boardroom. Interviewing skills are a must. Anannual report writer doesn’t have to be Jeremy Paxman but they can’t be ashrinking violet either. You need someone who can strike up a rapport with seniormanagement and gain their confidence quickly.

It’s also important that the writer preserves theindividuality of the interviewee when it comes to writing it up. Otherwise youcan end up with one of those identikit statements which could have been writtenby anyone.

3. They canadd some flair. Annual reports have to be published each year. But they shouldn't be viewed as a chore. Far from it. They’re actually an opportunity toshow investors and other stakeholders what makes your company great. Thestrategy has to come alive. The numbers need to sing. When it comes toattracting investment, you can’t bore people into submission!

With communications budgets under strain, the annual reportcan be used to achieve objectives that might have had their own campaign budgetin years gone by.

Take the annual report we wrote for banknotefirm, De La Rue. The CFO complained that, here he was, working for acutting-edge tech firm. Yet everyone thought they were just a printer. Tocounter this problem, we used the first page and opening spread of their annualreport to debunk this myth in an engaging and persuasive way.

4. They canachieve the vision of the agency. (No matter how strange.) With so manyannual and CSR reports produced each year, agencies will seek to give theirclients’ reports a twist. Just a little something to help separate a firm fromthe herd. You need a writer who’s able to work to this vision and make it areality. A wordsmith unafraid of throwing his or her own ideas into the ring isalso a bonus.

We’ve seen all kinds of annual and CSR brochures down theyears. One that stands out was from an online company called Nettec. Theywanted their annual report to resemble a landscape computer screen with lots oftext. We achieved this by crafting headlines that shouted the main messages yetacted as section headings too.

Then there was ex-MOD research company, QinetiQ. Their ideawas to bring the investment potential of their technology to life. We did justthat by using classic narrative techniques to tell a series of compellingstories. They read more like an engaging series of articles rather than anannual report.

5. Theyknow a misplaced comma when they see one. Reports are all about externalrelations. While website and even advertising copy these days is often riddledwith errors reports have to be grammatically correct. As Annual and CSR reportsare usually fairly hefty, you’ll need a writer with good organisational skillsand a keen eye for detail. And a good proofreader!

So thereyou go. When it comes to CSR and annual reports, you’ll need a writer who ticksall five of these boxes. Naturally, modesty prevents us from suggesting acompany which does just that. Based in London.... Begins with B…

2011 copywriting trends

2012-01-04T15:19:00.001Z

2011 was a busyyear in this office. But what were the top five copywriting trends at Barnaby Benson...?

Jumeirah don't do budget

1. GoingGlobal. We live in changing times. The established order hasn’t justbeen challenged, it seems like it’s been well and truly overturned. East is the new West, andin the Americas, South is the new North. In 2011, the majority of our clients hadone thing on their mind: accessing these developing markets.

Luxury hotel chainJumeirah were peppering the desert with jaw-dropping hotels. FTSE 250recruiters, SThree, were operating in 15 countries - including the likes of Russia and Qatar. And HSBCwere pointing to their established links in Brazil and China and scurrying to attract the staff to service growing demand. That's right, last year was all aboutbuilding a global empire, BRIC by BRIC.

2. CSR. That’scorporate social responsibility to those not up on their acronyms. Public demandand Government policy mean it’s an increasingly important field. Companies arestarting to take responsibility for the impact they have on the planet.

Demonstrating environmentally responsible activities is now an absolute must if you're going to be a major player. We recently worked on a CSR website for globalgiants Coca-Cola Enterprises Europe. Did you know they make bottles from plantsthese days?!

3. Online Security. Anonymous...LULZsec... Julian Assange... online security was a big deal in 2011, givingpasty-faced basement dwellers their moment in the sun all over the world. Withmore and more sensitive customer information being stored online, companiesneed to ensure their security and their employees are capable of safeguardingit. Failure to do so leads to government penalties and loss of trust. And loss oftrust leads to loss of customers. Therefore online security is an area wherecompanies are happy to get the chequebook out to change attitudes.

Last year we worked on a fantastic internal online securitycampaign for HSBC for agency Blue Goose.

Wearing socks to meetings is so 2010

4. Conferencevideos. I was watching a documentary the other day and the headoffice of Innocent Smoothies looked more like a playschool than a place of work.Google has a campus full of ping pong tables. And flexitime is now commonplacein the city. This demise of formality has blurred the lines between corporateand consumer.

Take conferences. In 2011 we wrote the scripts for multipleconference videos for Novartis – and each one sought to entertain. Thesedays we don’t need to be in the same room to get together, so when people domake the effort, they expect something in return – and not just a deluge ofinformation. Click here for tips on how to do this.

5. Life inthe English market yet. OK, so HSBC are headquartered in London and SThree arean English company, but they both have very global outlooks. Were there any UKfocused clients who invested in communications last year? Actually, yes. Planet Cruise.An English company looking for English custom. We helped them develop a newTOV and put together an exciting new brochure. Perhaps next yearwill see more of an active UK market...

Overall it was a fantastic year full of interesting andvaried projects. And our clients were just as satisfied. Let’s hope for more of the same in2012.

What does your site’s tone say about your company?

2012-01-03T16:11:00.002Z

What makes your company stand out from the crowd?

Companywebsites are an integral part of a brand’s image and increasingly the firstthing a potential customer sees. So it’s vital that yours reflects what you’re companyis about and what sets you apart.

Every company needs something to differentiate them from thecompetition. Their USP, as they call it in business textbooks. Or their ‘valueproposition’ as they call it in the updated version of those textbooks.

But sometimes it’s difficult to highlight what makes youdifferent. For example, how do you show potential customers that it’s yourservice that sets you apart before they’ve actually experienced it?

Well, one way is through the language and tone you adopt. Ifyour company prides itself on its straight-forward and personalised service,the tone of the website should reflect this. It should be straight-forward andpersonal too.

Copy that speaksto the right type of people

Last autumn we wrote the recruitment website for FTSE 250recruitment company, SThree. This dynamic firm is renowned for offering thebest training in the industry – which explains their mantra: ‘recruit attitudeand train skills’.

This excellent training is all part of SThree’s USP: the fantasticenvironment they’ve created for their employees. They see it as the perfectplatform for them to grow their consultants’ careers.

However, anybody who’s ever dabbled in sales (or even justmet someone who works in sales) will tell you: this industry is a tough one.

Therefore SThree needed to make sure they attract the type ofpeople who were ready for this challenge. Their website had toarticulate the fact that, yes, they have everything in place to make you aworld beater – but you’ve still got to earn it!

So, how did we do it? Well, by using headlines which were equalparts promising and challenging:

The world.Only the ambitious need apply

We’re proudof our culture. Will it suit you?

SThree’s optimum environment is built on four guidingprinciples: energy, rapport, reward and respect. These are integral toeverything SThree do and are fundamental in separating them from the snarlingpack – so they needed to be articulated too.

We achieved this by putting a big emphasis on case studies of current employees. Leaving in their idiosyncrasies and individualturns-of-phrase meant their attitude, personality and commitment to the guidingprinciples really shone through. These true self portraits also allowed thepotential applicant to better judge whether they would slot into the SThreeculture.

Find your niche

Differentiatingyour company whilst engaging consumers is what it’s all about. And increasingly,websites are becoming the key arena for this. The navigation tabs for differentairlines illustrate this succinctly:

Help and contact – the formalapproach from a company who still think flying should carry a bit of grace –British Airways.

Branson has never been one for the formal approach

Prefer totalk? – The off-the-cuff interrogative effort from Virgin Atlantic.Highly engaging and typical of a company ran in the spirit of a 61-year-old manwho still has the audacity to have shoulder-length hair.

Contact – Ryanair gofor the no-frills, basic option. What did you expect? Punctuation costs extra.

Put your best foot forward

Company websites are now the first port-of-call for potentialand existing customers and clients. You don’t get a second chance to make afirst impression, so you need to make sure the tone and language you usereflect what makes your company special. Fail to do this and Google will haveno qualms serving up an alternative or ten.

Need help?

With ourbackground in developing distinct tone of voices and branding guidelines forcompanies, we can help you decide how you want your website to best reflectyou.

If youalready know what sets you apart - we can make it happen through the languageand messaging.

Conference Videos: Who needs pyrotechnics when you've got a good idea?

2011-12-22T16:22:00.000Z

Mostconferences use an opening video to establish a theme and to ease the audienceinto a day of information. Learn how a successful conference video is all aboutan effective idea.

'This year we've soared over the competition'

‘And then she abruptly ends her tearful soliloquy. Tears streaming down herface, she parachutes from the stricken plane. The parachute unfurls to revealthe company’s logo in all its glory.’

Now that would be a conference video to hook people in. Unfortunately, itisn’t going to happen. When writing conference videos, the budget influencesevery line of the script. We’re frequently asked to work without a voice overand with library pictures and music.

Lights,cameras, animation

The same restrictions apply down the animation route. There’sa big difference between Toy Story and a jazzy PowerPoint presentation. Thatsaid; there’s a happy medium somewhere in between. Give the film characters and alittle narrative and the audience is more likely to be hooked.

Check out thesethree animations we scripted for a Unilever Global Leader’s conference by clicking here. They showthe marketing potential of mobile devices in different cultures around theworld.

We don’thave the budget

Not enough budget for animation or live action? With a goodidea, you can still make a compelling video with just stock photography andmusic. Here’s one we wrote for Novartis to convey the conference theme of notmissing out on opportunities that exist right now and making the most of agreat team.

So, to sum up: you can convey messages, set up conferencethemes and engage audiences with a video if you hook their interest. You don’tneed a lavish budget, just a good idea and a few narrative tricks. That meanscharacters, a little story, a bit of suspense and a dash of humour. Easy.

First words in a new voice

2011-12-21T13:23:00.002Z

Most new tone of voice guidelines only come to lifewhen you write the first piece of collateral. Here’s how you go about it.

But can he design a decent homepage?

Form and function

It doesn’t matter if the roof looks like Gaudi leaned down from heaven to create it… if it leaks, the building won’t be winning any awards. Great design is about form and function. And it’s the same with the first expression of a new tone of voice.

It’s easy to put too much emphasis on what the copy soundslike and not enough on what it’s actually being written to do. Whatever thetone of voice – brochures need to sell and websites need to inform.

That said; we’d all rather look at a Gaudi than a bog-standardoffice block.

We want a unique TOV

This is the holy grail of brand writing: how can I give thebrand a distinctive tone that will mean the audience gets a brand experiencewhenever they read the language?

If TOV guidelines have been written, there should be somethingin them that aims to make the brand’s writing sound unique. If there isn’t,we’ll look at the brand attributes and see if something there offersinspiration. After all, that’s what we do when we create tone of voices forbrands ourselves.

Let’s get practical

We look for practical, easy-to-follow, linguistic choices. Thishelps with consistency throughout the first expression piece. It will also helpother writers achieve the tone for the brand in the future. And that will helpbuild the brand.

No tracksuits, no trainers, no contractions

An example, you say? Well, we had a client, P&O Cruises, whowanted to sound authoritative but approachable. Their competitors emphasisedentertainment. P&O Cruises delivered something different: an authenticcruise experience as befits the world’s most established cruise-line.

To capture this in language we decided to forgo contractions.‘Haven’t’, ‘Can’t, ‘We’ll and ‘You’ll’ were all out. ‘Have not’, ‘cannot’, ‘Wewill’ and ‘You will’ climbed onboard. But always remember that laboured Gaudianalogy: function is vital. Therefore, we dropped the blanket ban oncontractions for direct mail letters – where sounding personal is the best way to sell.

Most brand TOV guidelines encourage contractions. They dothis because they want to sound warm and informal. But forgoing them lentP&O Cruises’ writing that hint of heritage and authority the brand needed.

Another brand will have a different positioning and essence. So,it will need another practical language habit.

Once you find it, you make life much easier for subsequent writers for the brand. As they are often not professional copywriters but in-house staff, that’s an important achievement.

A converted blogger

2011-07-12T17:38:00.002+01:00

Fetch the champagne: let’s crack it against the laptop. For today marks our maiden voyage into the choppy seas of blogging. Now, whilst they may be choppy, they are by no means uncharted. According to Wikipedia, as of February 16^th 2011, there were over 156 million of the things in existence.

It seems every man and his dog has a blog these days - and unfortunately that’s not just a turn of phrase. I’ve encountered a couple of blogs dedicated solely to the author’s canine companion. Interesting to the writer, perhaps, but to the rest of us? Well, I can only speak for myself when I say: absolutely not.

And there lies the principle reason for this delayed entrance to blogging. In a word: scepticism. Given the valuable time blogging eats up, until recently, I’d never been fully convinced by what they can actually do for a company. However, after reading an excellent book on the subject, ‘The New Rules of Marketing and PR’, I’ve been converted.

That said, whilst researching the blogging landscape, I was confronted by reams of rushed, plagiarised and, returning to the analogy of the opening paragraph, rudderless content. This is baffling given that company blogging is a barely concealed form of self promotion. You’d think people would be a bit worried about letting their brand down.

Our approach will be different. We’ll start with some lengthier, more considered articles on the key types of copywriting. These will range from how to write corporate brochures to mastering the strapline. We’ll trawl the opinions of industry experts and express a few of our own. In time, the series might become a useful resource for anyone needing advice on any type of business writing. That’s if we get round to it, of course.