
What’s it like to be an Advertising Copywriter? The Inside Story on Iced Tea and Rejection
Advertising Content & Strategy Copywriting SkillsHoused along many inner streets of major cities across the world, there’s a magical place where scatter-brains get paid to think and dink around all day. To pump nerf balls and adjust swivel-chairs from the ground up and then back again. A…

From Socratic Dialogue to Communication Brief
Advertising BrandingAs many of you who’ve done Copywriting in Action will know from experience, the Communication Brief is a remarkably effective and reliable vehicle for getting the mind focused and the thinking clear. But harvesting knowledge and insight from…

WHY EXCLAMATION MARKS ARE NOT YOUR FRIEND
Advertising BrandingI’ll let you in on a little secret. One of the biggest giveaways that a client has written their own copy, without hiring a copywriter, is the over-use of exclamation marks. The world’s most over-used punctuation mark has a lot to answer…

5 Places to Find Photos for Your Spec Ads
AdvertisingWhen you’re creating spec ads, whether on your own or with a design partner (recommended!), you’ll need to find images to use. And, since it’s bad karma to steal other people’s pictures, you’ll need good places to find them. Read on…

Why You Don’t Know Your Audience as Well as You Think
Advertising Content & StrategyBefore I begin writing content, one of the first questions I ask my clients is, “Who is your target audience?” For some reason, it usually stumps them, or the answer I receive is incomplete. I talk all the time about writing for people,…

Nike v Adidas: the battle of the boots
AdvertisingThe Nike v Adidas rivalry always intensifies ahead of a World Cup, and this year has been no exception. A little known fact (and perhaps one for the conspiracy theorists out there) is that the last four finals have seen a Nike team play against…

A different world: How advertising has changed
Advertising Agency LifeAs society evolves, so must the advertising used to persuade consumers to make purchases. The very first advertisement reportedly appears in England in 1472, taking the form of an announcement from the Catholic Church that prayer books are for…

Why is advertising in Russia so uncreative?
AdvertisingWhat makes it so bad? Russia is a huge developing market and it's experiencing a consumer boom. Nearly all international brands have already jumped in. Visit Moscow - and you will easily feel this rush, this flow of free money everywhere. Advertising…

Why advertising sucks
AdvertisingLet’s face it. Advertising sucks. Although it’s difficult for me to face up to the fact that I’ve wasted the last twenty years of my life I have finally come to this very sorry realisation. At best it’s completely superficial while…

Thinking outside the (charity) box
AdvertisingPractically since the dawn of time, the best advertising agencies have been more than happy to do charity advertising for next to nothing. It’s a mutually benevolent arrangement. The charity advertising gets memorable, visible work, raising…

Writing ads
Advertising Copywriting SkillsThe great thing about being creative is that you can break the rules if you like. Do your own thing. The only trouble is, before you break the rules you have to learn what they are. For the newbie copywriter, here are a few basics about writing…

Long copy ads: gone but not forgotten
Advertising Content & StrategyOf course, everyone will tell you that long copy is dead. Copy should be short and punchy. People don’t have long enough attention spans any more. People don’t like reading nowadays. Everyone will tell you that people are too busy in this…
