How some of the best copywriters in the world write their advertising.
Copywriting is a craft. In advertising, most of the times it’s what truly sells. A good text can convince someone to buy a product. That’s how influent copywriting is, it can be decisive. That also means, if you’re a copywriter, you have to get better.
I’m myself a copywriter. I’ve been working with copywriting for ten years. Here at Neat, I started writing in English. It has been a challenge that I’m enjoying a lot — but, like any challenge, it defies me to improve.
And because of that, I’m recurring more than ever to books, classes, workshops, and so on. About writing fiction, narrative, creative writing and, of course, copywriting. Which led me to The Copy Book, a collection of copywriting ad pieces, with rules and tips from incredible advertising writers, made by D&AD and published by Taschen. That’s what I’m going to bring here: some rules, tips, insights and knowledge I found that are helping me out to become a better copywriter.
Steve Hayden began his career as a copywriter at General Motors. He, together with Lee Clow, made advertising history as co-creators of the “1984” Superbowl spot for Apple. After joining Ogilvy, in 1994, he became more recently an important piece in pushing the firm to become a leader in interactive media and integrated communications. But we’re not here for his history — we’re here for what someone with that background has to say about copywriting. And he is very straight to the point:
If you want to be a well-paid copywriter, please your client.
If you want to be an award-winning copywriter, please yourself.
If you want to be a great copywriter, please your reader.
That’s a funny way to look at copywriting. But it truly is helpful when you are doing everything you can but getting nowhere. This kind of feeling does get on your way sometimes and, when it happens, maybe it’s time to ask yourself: to whom am I doing it? Who do I want to persuade? What’s the purpose of this piece? After reading that humorous way of looking at copywriting, I did start to ask myself this kind of questions when stuck, and it helps me. But that’s not only it:
Most of us have to adapt our style to our clients, our audiences, our countries, and our mortgage payments. (…) Your job is to create your clients’ Best Self. So look for the angel in them, and bring it out.
Steve also mentions a little bit about the format of the copy:
The opening line of your copy is probably more important than the headline. Most people’s lives are brutish, dull and long. If you can bring a momentary diversion, a promise that there is something interesting going on out there that might make a difference, they will love you.
Did I mention this book is big? It really is. Meaning we have to move on if we want to see more advice. Let’s take a look at what other professionals think about copywriting. Or, even better, good copywriting.
Susie Henry went to the Goldsmiths College of Art. She wrote and illustrated a children’s book that didn’t sell — after that, she fell into advertising. Susie went on to become the first woman creative with her name on the door of a London agency. But, as we did with Steve, that’s just background.
Here in the book, she says:
If it were just about sliding those vital selling points and wrapping things up with a witty endline — I wouldn’t have much of a problem. But good copy rarely happens like that. It’s a complicated process, weaving all the threads into a persuasive argument, creating an empathy that gets the reader nodding. It’s jolly hard, and the great trick is to make it look easy.
Susie also points out a little bit about the historic sexism towards creative jobs in the industry — and how it’s been (finally!) changing:
In 1995 there were very few female contributors to this book. So few in fact that poor old Neil French thought we were all blokes. I hope that this new edition will go some way to redress the balance.
She also mentions how she prefers to work:
If I’m to have any chance, I have to sit in splendid isolation. No chat, no music, no distractions whatsoever.
And she sums up with this observation about magic formulas for copywriting:
What strikes me is there’s no magic formula. At least, I haven’t found it yet.
The way Susie prefers to work doesn’t differ much from what another copywriter, Sean Doyle, thinks:
Avoid brainstorms if you want. I say if you want because some people like them. I hate them. And I’ve always managed to fall mysteriously ill when one loomed on the horizon. If you hate the idea of sitting in a room with lots of other people, throwing ideas out, trying to make yourself heard, try and get out of it. Maybe you’re shy. Maybe you can only work without noise. Maybe you’re a better thinker when you’re holed up in your own space.
This drifts away from the idea we usually have of a group of people tucked in a room yelling ideas. This is what I like best in this book. Knowing how other people create and thinking about creative work gives you perspective to better understanding your own way of doing things. Sometimes they’ll say something that works for you, and other times you won’t agree with them. Either way, it’s helpful.
Sean has some great pieces of advice. He failed to become a journalist and a fireman but then worked at BBDO, Simons Palmer Denton, WCRS, Leagas Delaney, DDB and AMV.
The more ideas you come up with, the less obvious the later ones are going to be, if only because you have to avoid repeating those first thoughts. So you’re bound to a more original idea. (…) Don’t think, just do, and thoughts will definitely happen along the way.
One advice that caught my attention was this: less isn’t always more. That’s something that goes against what we usually think a good copy is. But, only because it contradicts one of the principal “rules” we learn from copy, it stood out for me.
Look at the two sentences below, both saying exactly the same thing.
“Women don’t get the recognition they deserve.”
“Ginger Rogers did everything Fred Astaire did. Only she did it backwards and in high heels.”
Yes, the first one’s shorter. Yes, it’s more to the point. But which one might stick in your mind? Clue: you’ve forgotten the first one already.
And talking about “forgetting the first one”, I think I’ll have to stop it here for now. I’m afraid I won’t be able to cover this entire book. It’s 534 pages long, full of ad examples, with the advice from 53 advertising writers. But I highly recommend you getting it because, first of all, it’s a beautiful edition. It visually reminds me of the “White Album” by The Beatles. It’s filled with examples — the original ads are beautifully printed here so you can peek it while reading what their creators have to say. It’s great material to get some inspiration.
Probably I’ll refer to this book again in the future because we didn’t even scratch the surface here. But I believe you could get the general idea behind this incredible source of insights.
Thanks for reading! If you liked it, let me know by hitting the “applause button” at least two or three times ;)
