Employee Spotlight—Mike
If you wonder who’s behind most of the writing for Big Vision — it’s our Copywriter, Mike. He’s great with grammar and an avid reader, but read on because there is oh, so much more!
Tell us about your yourself, Mike.
I’ve always enjoyed writing and I’ve always been good at it. It was always the subject in school where I got attention, which encouraged me to take creative writing courses in high school. My teacher was incredible, so she got me moving down a creative writing path. It was my way to process life.
Outside of work what are your hobbies or interests?
I like outdoorsy stuff and sports. I also really enjoy slacklining, it’s basically tightrope walking on a tension band. Other things I enjoy would be hiking, hanging with friends, and reading.
What’s your favorite book?
If I have to choose one, I would choose East of Eden by John Steinbeck because it’s an epic novel about multiple generations in one family. It tells a story of one man’s life, which has a lot of beautiful biblical symbolism which I really appreciate. Its incredibly well written, it’s just an epic story about humanity — all the good and bad that it entails.
Favorite quote?
One of my favorite quotes is, “A soldier surrounded by enemies, if he is to cut his way out, needs to combine a strong desire for living with a strange carelessness about dying…he must desire life like water and yet drink death like wine.”
What’s your favorite part about being a copywriter?
Learning about someone’s brand and discovering what their brand is. I enjoy creating a voice that really speaks and resonates with their audience. I like to see the effects of those words because the cool thing about copywriting is that it’s trackable. You can A/B test an ad or web copy and see what worked better for an audience. There are rules to creative writing that make it not necessarily subjective, but you can see with copywriting if its good — theres good copy and bad copy.
What music fuels you?
Wow that’s tough, I listen to a lot of stuff depending on what I’m doing. I guess I like folk rock—or indie folk might be a better term? I also like catchy driving music, the kind you would want to listen to while you’re on a road trip with the windows down.
That’s specific, any examples?
Electric by Brett and a different one would be Tech Noir by Gunship.
Where do you pull inspiration for copy from?
One would be the brand itself—the owner’s passion and vision for it is usually pretty inspiring to me. Also, other people who have written before me, and have done a good job inspiring others or telling a story through their writing. When you read a really well written headline or body copy that is really doing its job, that’s some good inspiration.
Can we get an example?
Sure, I pull a lot of inspiration from Urban Daddy, their writing is very descriptive and aways has a great flow. I also check out Mailchimp, Copyhackers and Adweek for inspiration. When I need more of a video script point of view for a client, I turn to Nike and Under Armour.
Do you have any cool or fun facts?
My fun fact is that I backpacked through the Austrian alps for 5 weeks! The program consisted of 40 people from all over the world. We broke up into teams and went on multiple hiking excursions through the Alps, it was incredible!
If you enjoyed this post, keep an eye out for more of our employee spotlights so you can meet the rest of our awesome team.
If you’d like to join us head over to our careers page and show us what you’ve got.
A modern creative agency.
