Copywriting: why it pays to go plural

Clients are increasingly turning to teams of agency writers over individual wordsmiths. We think we know why.

The case for the defense

Don’t get us wrong: sometimes hiring a one-man band is the right call. Knowing you’re only dealing with one person can simplify the briefing, delivery and feedback processes.

These are compelling benefits – a little too compelling given our title – but there are plenty of reasons why using a team of writers can deliver more effective copy.

When it comes to copywriting, you need a crew.

Two or three minds are better than one

Some of our best work comes from kicking ideas around in a group. Two or three of us will all have a go at the brief. Then we’ll compare what we’ve done.

Consider some of the most highly acclaimed TV dramas of the last decade or so. We’re talking Mad Men, Breaking Bad, The Wire and The Sopranos. What do they have in common?

They all focus on flawed anti-heroes you secretly want to be? Yes, but not that.

The end of compromise?

We recently pitched for a FTSE 100 retailer’s writing account and proposed a bold new tone of voice. We’re talking lots of character, lashings of wit and plenty of quirk. It was a risky pitch strategy. Yet we won.

Around the same time, a long-standing client asked us to crank up their tone of voice on an important new product brochure. So, do we have a trend here? Are clients finally embracing risk-taking?

Unique – but not too unique

What's life without a little risk?

The unusual can be unnerving. So it’s not uncommon to answer a brief to ‘push the boundaries a bit’ so well that it makes a client pause. After all, not many of us enjoy that feeling of being stared at for being different.

So the temptation is always there to do the opposite of what branding is meant to do: make something distinctive and maximise its appeal. And that’s the big paradox. Everyone wants their brand to stand out. But, intuitively, most people (and brand marketers are people too), don’t want to stand out too much. At some level, we’re all afraid of doing something outstanding.

Beginning, middle, sell: brand storytelling

“What’s the story?” That’s the first question a producer asks when you pitch a movie. Now brands are following suit. They want to tell tales too. Brand story books, story-led campaigns... strong narratives for brochures. So, how do we deliver a story experience?

Gather round the fire

Let’s get the obvious out the way first. A story is anything that has a beginning, middle and end. Through the ages, every society has told them. In fact, the need for stories seems hard-wired into the human mind.

This may be because they’re an unbeatable way of conveying insight. Hooked by the need to know what happens next, people will always stick with a good story until the end. In doing so, they’ll learn a little about what it is to be human through the choices the characters make and the consequences these bring.

Ten tips for writing speeches: part two

Last month we revealed our first five tips for crafting the perfect speech. Here are five more.

6. Keep it brief and script it

Apparently, the average human being can only concentrate on someone talking for around 15 to 20 minutes. So it’s no surprise that TED talks are limited to 18 minutes. The average speaker says 110 scripted words a minute, while ad-libbing it’s nearer 70. So, if you’ve got a lot to cover, don’t give a speech: write a book. And, unless you’re a natural with plenty of time to rehearse, type up your speech and read it rather than ad-lib.

7. Be yourself
Identify your natural speaking style and try to capture that in the script. If you’re an orator, then let rip. If you like telling stories at parties, then use stories. If you’re quietly spoken, concentrate on a simple style. Whatever works for you.

Ten tips for writing speeches: part one.

Lots of conference and event agencies ask us to help write speeches for their clients. No matter what the sector, or whether it’s an internal or external audience, there are some principles that it always pays to follow. Here are the first five. And there's five more to come in the next post. To guarantee you don’t miss them, sign up here - and receive copywriting insights direct to your inbox every month.  

1. Open with a gift

This can be a joke. It doesn’t have to be a belly laugh, although that’s ideal. But just going to the effort of saying something humorous puts your audience at ease. It shows you’ve got enough respect for them to have put some thought into what you’re saying.

Not feeling funny or is comedy not the right tone? Then a brief, personal anecdote that sets up your main message can work well. It lets your audience know a bit about you. Self-deprecation is always good. It breaks down the barrier between speaker and audience.

2. Don’t be boring

The advice used to be, ‘Tell them what you’re going to say, say it, then tell them what you’ve said’. That’s still sound structural advice. However, try to set up your main message without a phrase like, ‘Today, I’d like to talk about …’ Audiences expect more engagement. If they don’t get it, they’ll be straight on their smart phones and you’ll lose them.

Discover the most underrated communications tool of them all

People fall in love with them in childhood and that love can last forever. They're revered as sources of wisdom and great stories. People value them as gifts and rarely throw them away. They are stored in our living rooms and workspaces and looked at again and again for years and years. We are talking, of course, about books. With qualities like these, you'd think they would be the communications medium of choice. But companies rarely commission them. Are they missing out?

As you may or may not have been aware, April 23^rd was World Book Day. An annual celebration of reading and publishing, it shows that despite mounting competition for our time and attention, there is still something about books that captivates us.

In fact, no other medium is revered in quite the same way. It’s probably a childhood thing. We’re almost pre-programmed to associate books with wonder, thoroughness and expertise. Therefore, when we pick up a book, we do so in a positive frame of mind. We expect to put it down a better person.

So, you would have thought that companies, with their many different communications needs, would be attracted to books. They are used to gather together reference, such as brand guidelines and company histories. But as persuasive tools or elements in campaigns, they are rather rare. Why so?

What’s Shakespeare got to do with brand writing?

As someone who likes books, has an English degree and makes a living from writing, I get asked who my favourite authors are a lot. There are too many to mention them all. But here are four, along with some thoughts on what they have taught me about writing for brands.

Hemingway – tight prose and the power of implication

At his best, in short stories such as Indian Camp, Big, Two-hearted River and The Snows of Kilimanjaro, Hemingway’s economic, repetitive style suggests the emotions of the characters without making them explicit. Because so much is left unsaid, the reader senses the epiphany as if the significant moment was happening to them. You are being given the information: you are not told how to feel. A great lesson. If you provide the evidence for a claim, sometimes, if it’s powerful enough, you don’t need to make the claim itself. The audience will discover it for themselves.