I recently bought a huge consignment of used words. I got them in a private sale before they went to auction. There are over 2 million in the lot, which is a very decent bundle. Now all of these words... [more]

Why your copy might well cost more than your site

"But how can writing the copy for a website cost this much?" the gentleman on the other end of my phone asked. "We spent less than this on having the site built." Well here's your answer, matey. Your site has... [more]

Now...where's that Post It note?

This is not a commercial plug. It's not an affiliate link. It's just one of those moments when you discover a product you love and want to tell everyone how cool it is. I have long been a fan of... [more]

The copywriter's obligation

If you click this link you'll be able to read the story which BBC News carried this week about a direct mail pack sent out by the Reader's Digest which appears to use particularly suggestive phrasing to lead its readers... [more]

The problem you share with Selfridges

I don't know whether you've ever been to Selfridges in the West End of London? Selfridges has a lot of entrances. It has entrances all along its face on Oxford Street. There are 5 of them. Depending which of them... [more]

Feeling lucky

San Francisco Ad strategy planners Rapt report that 1% of all searches on Google hit the 'I'm Feeling lucky' button, and so bypass a page of search results containing ads and get flashed straight to the top choice returned against... [more]

Look rich for less today

"Look rich for less today." Good line, isn't it? I pinched it from a piece of SPAM in my inbox selling fake luxury-brandname wristwatches. The interesting thing about it is the cultural difference between the person who its author wrote... [more]

Why Gordon Brown is such an awful webpage

Tony the Webpage. He was well laid out. He had a sharp, tightly constructed headline that delivered its message, and a few short and well utilised paras of copy that underpinned the message with some salient (even if untrue) facts... [more]

These other people called Copywriters
I smell confusion. It's odour has been in the air for a couple of years, but now its stench is there every time I surf around and it's time to reach for the copywriting air-freshener and dispel it. Copywriters. We... [more]

Where That Sale Went

I need a piece of slate to cap a brick pier. I want it 36cm wide x 24cm deep x 2.4cm thick. And I want a hole drilled in the centre to pass a pipe through. I was driving in... [more]

Writing the words of the copy that no one will hear

Father McKenzie, according famously to Lennon and McCartney, was busy "Writing the words of a sermon that no one will hear" because "No one comes near." And so I wonder if it must not be, increasingly, for any number of... [more]

Direct Mail, Internet Marketing and Short Skirts
I threw a valuable morning this week at the Direct Marketing Fair at Earls Court, which was sharing the hall, conveniently, with the Internet Marketing Fair. On one side of the room: database-genius companies whose solutions I don't pretend to... [more]