Archived Posts Listed By Category

Careers
Check out the posts listed in this category if you're considering a career in copywriting. You should probably read through the 'Copywriting' category posts as well.

Copywriting
The posts in this category are all to do with copywriting. They will usually be concerned with either the skill itself, or the business of practicing as a copywriter.

Marketing
These posts are all to do with marketing, and should be of interest to you if you're an entrepreneur, business owner or manager, as well as to copywriters.

Ramblings
Posts in this category are usually just musings, observations or rants.

Sample Projects
These posts are for the benefit of students and rookie copywriters who would like exercises on which to practice. (I'm unable to critique your work on these, I'm afraid.)

20 Most Recent Posts from All Categories

• The 32 million pound word
  I have been a Manchester City fan since I was 8. That's 41 years. When I was 8, being a Manchester City fan was a fine thing to be. Within the space of a very few seasons we won the...
• Seeing how your copy looks
  I write visually, and almost always have done. If someone asks me to rewrite their website, I take a screenshot of the site, import it into an editorial layout program, block out the existing content, approximate the font, size, leading...
• My mate Nick
  If you are prone to clubbing in South London, you might have come across my friend Nick, working his magic behind the decks. Equally, if you're an avid South East of England water-skier, you might have spotted him wetsuited, skimming...
• When the maths doesn't work
  I've just been offered an interesting little project. A chap who has authored a small software application which does one very technical task which might, in principle, be of use to certain people with a professional or keen amateur interest...
• That will be 25 guineas
  I am thinking of invoicing in Guineas. Why? To confer upon the commercial practice of copywriting some professional mystique and lustre which it doesn't deserve. What's a Guinea? Well..OK. Maybe you're under about 40, or maybe you've never lived in...
• What's a Sarah Jessica Parker?
  "We have the Sarah Jessica Parker", I heard the girl pushing the trolley filled with in-flight duty-frees offer. "Would you like that?" Now as she'd already passed by my seat, I couldn't see what the 'Sarah Jessica Parker' was. (In...
• The word cloud
  About 750 years ago, I found myself trying to write an ad campaign for a brand of sun-tan products called Hawaiian Tropic. Rather than write a traditional headline and couple of lines of copy, as was expected, I tried to...
• The confusion surrounding the coffee pot
  I am not a student of the aviation industry. I know a little about the scheduled carriers I make use of here and there, but almost nothing about holiday carriers, charter airlines and the brands under which these operate. So...
• The edge of copywriting
  When I used to work in ad agencies and write TV commercials, people outside of the business would often ask, "So what part do you do? Do you write the words?" I would then explain patiently to them that though...
• 5500% return on investment? No thanks.
  I like small clients. (Don't get me wrong, all you petite marketers out there.) I like large clients of course. In fact in some ways I like them more, with their understanding timelines and their appetising Purchase Order pads. But...
• The touch of a client's hand
  "This guy is a sweet enough guy", my ex colleague, who is an agency Account Director, grumbled. "And he's not a bad client", she went on, "but he just holds onto my hand for a bit too long when he...
• I have a pen... therefore I am a copywriter
  It's amazing how often people who've called to discuss the possibility of having some work done feel the need to excuse themselves by saying something to the effect of "I usually write this kind of thing myself but I don't...