Nothing much to do with Copywriting, Part 4. Unravelling the Species: Can we Live Forever?

these carrots are not copywriters

Spider silk is stronger than steel, weight for weight. So it would be handy stuff to make stuff with, but it’s always been difficult to harvest spider silk, because spiders are very territorial. They kill each other if you stick lots of them together in a barn / on a … Continue reading

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The Power of Story in Copywriting. Part 2

The Power of Story in Copywriting. Part 2

In my last blog post, I made the outrageous assertion that stories flick on pleasure switches in our brains. Jon says: “I’m going to give you a list of facts and figures.” Jim says: “I’m going to tell you a story”. Who — Jon or Jim — is likely to … Continue reading

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Why are stories so powerful in copywriting, marketing, advertising?

Why are stories so powerful in copywriting, marketing, advertising?

Stories are nailed into our brains right from when we are wee young things. They are how we make sense of everything. From a very early age, we poked around, learned what things are, and linked things up: We grew up drawing pictures of the stories of our lives. Kids … Continue reading

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Advertising, film, and gardening that might help kids ask the right questions

Advertising, film, and gardening that might help kids ask the right questions

Here’s something you could do if you have a second: And if you’ve got more than a second, here’s something else you could do: If kids are brought up asking questions that encourage creative thinking: like What can I do in just one second of film? And what can I … Continue reading

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Deadlines and jellybeans

Deadlines and jellybeans

A deadline is negative inspiration. Still, it’s better than no inspiration at all. Rita Mae Brown In fact, deadlines can help the brain weed out all the stuff that actually doesn’t need doing; deadaliens can kill wandering thoughts — keep things focused. Just as other restrictions can — Picasso painted … Continue reading

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How technology can change writing

How technology can change writing

Every time a new technology is developed, people predict that the old technology that’s being ‘replaced’, will become landfill. Gutenburg kills pens. Video kills the radio star. And screens kill printed books. But the old technology usually lives on. Sales of printed books are still high. And I hear that … Continue reading

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Dedicated Fans of Advertising

Advertising Renault

I like the wackiness of this: I’m not sure how much something like that would withstand a focus group. But then, focus groups ‘analyze’ consciously. And I don’t need to tell you that we act on emotion and justify with logic. So dropping coins into the beaks of peeps in … Continue reading

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Pepsi ‘Refresh’ campaign — How to See with Sound

Pepsi ‘Refresh’ campaign — How to See with Sound

As you know, when a person loses a sense, other senses can become more pronounced: That perhaps shows how we ‘underuse’ senses. Freud described our sense of smell as a casualty, repressed by the fact that we simply don’t need the sense so much in our civilised world. There have … Continue reading

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Why Western Economies Will Get Back on Their Feet and Why the World Might Not Be Screwed Yet

Why Western Economies Will Get Back on Their Feet and Why the World Might Not Be Screwed Yet

There are 7 billion people in the world now and there’s an estimate that it will take just 16 years for the world population to reach 8 billion. So we may be living the ‘ultimate Ponzi scheme’, as David Attenborough has described it. As you know, Ponzi schemes collapse eventually … Continue reading

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Sometimes Copywriters Piddle in Boxes or Limitations Help You Generate Ideas

Copywriting Pills

I thought you might like to see a picture of a shed: The fella who lives in that shed is a copywriter.* He could save even more space and have one of these in the garden: (That’s a urinal-slash-plant-pot.) …though he might get a cold arse in the winter with … Continue reading

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Your Copywriter will steal your electricity for the idea factory

Your Copywriter will steal your electricity

You’re a guitarist. You’ve just escaped from east of the Electric Wall back in the time before the Electric Wall was souvenir bricks in people’s gardens. In East Electrica, the government had forbidden you to play specific notes and riffs. Now you can play only those notes and riffs.* Just … Continue reading

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What do Copywriters know? And what can you learn from a thermostat?

Copywriter's Thermostat

“The most difficult people to find are those that have the capacity to become good copywriters. I have found that they always have well-furnished minds. They give evidence of exceptional curiosity about every subject under the sun. They have an above average sense of humor. And they have a fanatical … Continue reading

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Hey Look At Me. I’m a Copywriter!

Copywriting Peacock

1 zillion years ago we were cavegentlemen and caveladies. We had been cavegentlemen and caveladies for 32 zillion years; and as you know, our basic psychological drivers now are pretty much the same as they were back then — our psychology hasn’t caught up with the society we’ve created. …or … Continue reading

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Copywriters are not the only Creatives

Copywriters are not the only Creatives

When you find something interesting, drop everything else and study it. That’s what B. F. Skinner said. It’s a luxury of course, to be able to do that. People who are employed as thinkers have that luxury — like scientists, and on a mini scale, advertising people… Did you see … Continue reading

Advertising diamonds and democracy

Copywriting for diamonds and democracy

It’s Sunday, so I’m cobbling together a quick post only. In my hurry, I hope I remember to cross my teas… …as products become more and more similar, the perception created by advertising is more and more becoming the thing that sets a product apart. But once in a while, … Continue reading

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