Reviewing a piece of copy I’d been working on, the great American copywriter, John Forde, made a brief note in the margin that read: I know you love this bit, and it’s very good. But you need to delete it. Of course, I was outraged. I knew the line he was referring to immediately. It […]
Tag Archives: Copywriter
Karl Marx money pot. Receipts. Trio biscuit bar. Bust of Marcus Aurelias. Fluffy mic. Small painting of Apollinaire. Dog biscuits. Ceramic ghost. Rickenbacker bass guitar. Glass of peach squash (yes, peach). Pen. Hello… Don’t worry, I’ve not gone mad. No madder than usual, anyway. It’s just I’m just sat in my office and those are […]
Before we get into today’s email… You’ve no doubt opened an email that starts with a line like this before. But by that point, you’re technically in the email already, aren’t you? So that’s nonsense. It’s too late to say Before we get into today’s email. But people do this in email marketing all the time […]
“What you working on, Phil?” asks Barbara as she brings a cup of lapsang to her husband. He doesn’t look up, seemingly absorbed by the image of a large chicken egg he’s drawn in the middle of the A3 sheet of paper in front of him. “What is it, Philip?” She sees him jump as he […]
I want to talk to you about liberating ideas… But before I do, I want to bring some more attention to a campaign fellow copywriter Jane Evans is running. Jane is a fantastic copywriter and previous guest of the podcast… (You can listen to her share her story back in the Christmas episode here) But she’s […]
I’m a weird person. But I don’t mind. Being weird means I’m free to say weird things and come up with weird ideas. As a copywriter, I see that as my job. It’s my responsibility to question the norm and wonder if there might be a different way of doing things. But here’s the problem… […]
You’ve got your idea… You’ve been floating it around your head to make sure it plays… And you’ve been figuring out how you’re going to express it in your copy. Now you need to sit down and start writing. Before you do… Here’s my advice: Take a run-up. Huh? I mean, literally. Open the word document, […]
In 1919 Walter Gropius was appointed head honcho at the Grand-Ducal Saxon School of Arts and Crafts in Weimar. Hardly the catchiest name for a school, is it? It’s one reason you’ve probably never heard of the Grand-Ducal Saxon School of Arts and Crafts in Weimar. But you’ve heard of the Bauhaus, right? That’s because […]
Sometimes ideas are right there in your face, shouting at you like an arrogant teenage kid who thinks they know best. Other times they’re nowhere to be seen, like your broke mate Steve who’s always in the toilet when it’s his round at the bar. I’ll tell you what… From now on, let’s boycott ideas. […]
That old Greek thinking guy, Socrates Johnson, is reported to have said something like: If I know anything, it’s that I know nothing. No one quite knows exactly what he said as it was all jotted down by that Phil Plato guy. He could have been making it up himself. No one knows. And that’s […]