Copy Cabana: blazing hot takes on the hottest copywriting event of the year
From poetry smuggling to the rise of Copytron 5000 with gobs of writing wisdom at every turn.
Copy Cabana is a rare event for professional writers; we can be officially excited about words, collectively embrace our social awkwardness, and immerse ourselves in deep, fun writerly conversations. With booze. And cake.
Major props to Vikki Ross, Andy Maslen and Matt Desmier for organising this fab celebration of the life linguistic.
There was a brilliant line-up of speakers, each with their own perspective to add on the thriving, vibrant copywriting industry in the UK. One of the big takeaways of the day is that a writer is never just a writer. We’re insatiably curious information hoarders, business therapists and strategists. We drink and we know things.
TL;DR we do a hell of a lot more than just words. It’s time we recognised that.
Every talk appealed to a different niche. Here are the three that warmed my writerly cockles.
Smuggle the poetic into the everyday
We’ve probably all written some truly soulless garbage, where the life is throttled out of our copy by a prescriptive grammarian with a red pen and a grudge. But if we’re clever, we can smuggle lines in that cause the mind to grin.
Infusing business with a little joy and soul is basically my reason for being, so I was delighted to hear Rishi Dastidar speak about poetry and the craft of writing. Among the many gems peppered throughout his talk is one idea that I love so much it’s made it onto my post-it therapy wall:
Wow. Now that’s dynamite. Because it’s true. Even in a time where we have the dubious privilege of accessing more cynical drivel than ever before, words still have power. Words matter. Writing that comes from a place of truth, a place of empathy, and speaks directly to your heart, that’s still worth striving for.
Often, that’s poetry. But sometimes, it’s copy. And when wage war with the red pen and smuggle a little poetry into that final draft?
That’s when magic happens.
Rishi’s first poetry collection, “Ticker-tape” is a jolt of neon electricity. He does wonderful things with words. You should buy it. On Amazon. Today. Preferably now.
Follow him on Twitter here.
Wine is a wank in a glass
Nosediving with the tone, it’s Joe Fattorini and his completely hilarious take on wine writing. I mean it really is a bunch of pretentious shite isn’t it. A herbaceous nose with blackberry undertones? Sod off mate. I just want to know if it’s good plonk to guzzle in front of the telly.
This talk had particular relevance because I do a lot of brand writing and strategy in the food and drink biz. Which means that I’ve probably been responsible for some proper wanky copy in my time. Sorry about that.
Like Joe, I’ve learned that actually, people don’t give two figs about high-brow flavour profiles. They just want to know what it tastes like in everyday language, and what to do with it. The third point is the most interesting; are they the kind of people that drink this wine? Is it too fancy? Is it not fancy enough? What wine is right for their level of poshness?
Social status plays a particularly interesting role in food and drink. With a few poorly chosen words, you can really alienate people who might otherwise buy your stuff. You don’t need to impress the experts. You need to talk to your customers.
That’s where we come in. Let’s all just say no to poncy nonsense from now on, okay.
Joe is hilarious on twitter. Follow him immediately @joefattorini.
Tone of voice: officially not bullshit, kids
Given that over half my work involves creating brand guidelines and nailing a tone of voice, I was relieved to hear from Nick Parker that I’m not out of the job just yet.
Tone of voice is an ephemeral area of copywriting; it’s bloody hard to describe how you create a voice for a brand. Basically, you interrogate clients until you unearth who they are, and who their audience really is, then you write until the style crystallises.
Luckily, Nick’s created a handy framework for writers and clients alike to understand how different tones of voice might sound, and how that can change the entire positioning of a brand. It’s a bit like MBTI for copywriters, which means I’m totally down with it. The dreamy, introspective INFP that I am.
Innocent is playful. Skype is a big friendly giant. Jack Daniels does storytelling brilliantly; in real life the bloke was a right arse. Ronseal is well, ronseal. The right tone can absolutely make your brand, just like the wrong tone profoundly pisses people off. It’s worth the time to get it right.
My personal tone, since you asked, is foolbiscuit — that’s Lewis Carroll levels of whimsy — meets Creative Review with notes of bargain bin erotica. I am absolutely okay with that.
Nick writes hilarious things twitter about words and politics, give the man a follow here.
Other highlights included gobs of brilliance from Kerry Thorpe, a lambasting of lazy writing from Steve Harrison, and a warning that we must in fact stop raging against the machines immediately from the brilliant team over at Ogilvy One Business.
All in all, a fab way to spend the day. I’ll be back next year for sure.
Shameless Plug Klaxon
If you require words that change the atoms of your customers’ souls, or will at least let me attempt to smuggle a dash of the poetic into your copy, then let’s chat! Find me at Rebecca@rebeccamagnus.co or @beccamagnus on Twitter and Instagram.
