Creative Insights

Creative thinking from the world’s leading copywriters

A row of identical numbered metal mailboxes, one of them open — a visual metaphor for choosing one name from a shortlist of interchangeable candidates

The Shortlist Is the Worst Way to Hire a Copywriter

A marketing director rang me last month with a request I've had a thousand times. "Send me three writers. I'll pick." It's an entirely reasonable thing to ask. It's how you buy nearly everything else — three builders' quotes, three agencies…
Retro cassette tape — a story copied from copy to copy loses fidelity with every retelling

Your Brand Narrative Is What Strangers Can Repeat

Before we match a writer to a company, I do something that sounds almost too simple to bill for. I ask three people at that company — usually the founder, the head of sales, and whoever runs marketing — to tell me what the company does and…
Red neon open sign glowing in a dark shop window at night

SEO Copywriting Services: Why Ranking Is the Cheap Part

SEO copywriting services promise rankings. After twenty years placing writers, I can tell you ranking is the cheap part. Persuasion is what you're buying.
An orange origami crane standing out from a crowd of identical folded paper shapes

What a Copywriting Agency Actually Sells (It Isn’t Writing)

After 20 years running a copywriting agency, I can tell you the product isn’t writers. It’s judgement — and the shortlist of one.
Peeling painted wall with torn layers exposing older surfaces beneath

The Copy Brief That Was Really a Brand Strategy Problem

After 20 years placing senior copywriters, here’s how a simple copy brief exposes a brand strategy problem — and what to fix before you brief a writer.
Vintage metal letterpress printing blocks with Chinese characters in a movable-type cabinet

Transcreation: Why Great Campaigns Die at the Border

Every few weeks an email lands that I've come to think of as the most expensive kind I receive. A marketing director — smart, experienced, fresh off a campaign that worked — writes: "Can you get this translated into German? Nothing fancy,…
Two armchairs facing each other in front of a brick fireplace

How to Interview a Copywriter (When You’re Not One)

How to interview a copywriter: after 20 years placing writers and hearing how every hire turned out, here's what actually predicts great work.
Copywriter's desk with a laptop, coffee and printed drafts

Copywriter or Content Writer? You’re Hiring the Wrong One

A client called me a few months ago, frustrated. They'd hired a writer six weeks earlier — sharp, well-reviewed, fair rate — and the work was landing flat. "The blog posts are fine," they said, "but the campaign line we asked for is just...…
A writer edits a manuscript with a red pen beside a vintage typewriter

The Revision Where Good Work Goes to Die

A writer I'd placed called me a few months ago, a week after wrapping a campaign for a brand most people would be thrilled to work with. I asked how it went. There was a pause — the kind that tells you everything before the words do. "The…

See our freelance copywriters

Bart

Belgian copywriter

Lives in Bruges, Belgium
Pure copywriting, that is what I would like to focus on after 25 years as a creative/copywriter. That means headlines, baselines, bodycopy, scripts... Read more
AutomotiveChemicalFinancialFood and Drink
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Gracjan

Polish copywriter

Lives in Szczecin, Poland
I specialize mainly in advertising, creative direction, creation of the concepts for print and digital media, 360 marketing.
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Dave

English copywriter

Lives in Liverpool, United Kingdom
I am a plain-speaking, creative copywriter from the UK who writes everything from killer slogans to entire websites for global businesses, brands... Read more
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Iris

Italian copywriter

Lives in Milan, Italy
As a storyteller, I love captivating people through words. The most complex is the concept, the easiest should be the related communication.... Read more
Transport
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