Copywriters: day two
Some quotes that stood out for me:
‘There is hardly any writing in it, is there?’ – Tony Brignull on social media. Tony, Tony, Tony… That is simply and clearly untrue. Maybe you’ve never seen a Facebook page or a blog, or perhaps you’re just being wilfully obtuse. Either way, it doesn’t reflect well on your ability to contribute to this debate. Even if we don’t count blogs as ‘social media’ (Tony might have been referring only to Twitter and Facebook) the number of words cranked out is hardly an indication of the quality of the argument. In fact, I once heard a great copywriter explain that ‘a 48-sheet poster is a wonderful opportunity for a copywriter to use five or six words and one picture to tremendous effect.’ That writer was Tony Brignull in the video I posted yesterday. If you can have a great impact in five or six words, why not in 140 characters? Some Tweets get retweeted many thousands of times, and not just because they were written by Justin Bieber.
‘We have a youngster…who loves the craft, and he reads a lot,’ – Nicky Bullard, CD LIDA. I’m sure it was just a throwaway comment, but using ‘he reads a lot’ as a justification for the quality of a copywriter is the kind of thing that makes me laugh and cry. I laugh because everyone who aspires to any kind of professional writing career should read a lot. It’s the lowest bar of all, like saying a young guitarist ‘listens to lots of music’. I cry because we must be in some kind of society where reading a lot is unusual enough to be remarkable. Was it Mark Twain who said there’s no difference between being unable to read and being able to read but not doing it?
‘Copywriter is a bit of a misnomer now,’ Matt Longstaff, ACD at AKQA. He didn’t get a chance to explain that, but I’d like to suggest the ‘nomer’ is just fine. If we take copywriting merely as written communication on someone’s behalf (that doesn’t take into account scripts etc., but I’ll use that smaller definition to make my point), it now exists in many other media while retaining its original locations, none of which have become obsolete. The ‘Mavens’ then seemed to agree that a copywriter should be able to work in all disciplines (although Matt then made the excellent observation that ‘just because I can drive it doesn’t mean I can win the Formula One’. I’m not sure that was relevant to the versatility of a writer, but it’s a good lesson in general). This was countered by Mr. Brignull who pointed out that print writers aren’t always great at TV and vice versa. Tony is absolutely right, and has been proven so by the careers of many print creatives who ‘can’t do TV’, and TV creatives who can’t put together a 500-word argument in a press ad. So I wonder if the same is true of the new disciplines: can a great tweeter write a script for a branded video game? Would a blogger be able to manage the narrative of an experiential event? I think the ability to produce writing that is intended to be read should cross media, but other writing may be more specialised.
Let’s see if I can cobble any more nitpicking together for tomorrow.
Best line for me was Barbara Nokes “Edit, edit, edit: there’s hardly anything that can’t be made shorter”.
Didn’t one bloke once say something along the lines of “It’s not how short you make it; it’s how you make it short.”?
“The factory visit”
Bollocks. I went on a factory visit a while ago. I learnt nothing, and it didn’t help at all.
The brief had already been written, the ‘prop’ decided on, and ‘what you need to say’ already agreed with the client.
So anything new I learned was… pointless(?)… as it was discounted for being ‘not on brief’.
Hi Dave. That was another one I wrote down.
Can I stretch it out to a post? Let’s see…
“I love words. Words are my thing. I love em to pieces. Love playing with them. Love doing stuff with them. Love em. But obviously I’m supposed to be coming up with ideas. So I come up with ideas through my words. So yeah, I’m a Copywriter.”
– Head band girl
I’m a copywriter and I fucking hate all this “I love words” business. It really sticks in my fucking throat. What does it fucking mean? Doesn’t it mean you’d rather be a novelist?
Which is kind of fine but I’d rather hear a junior copywriter saying “I just love selling stuff. And I love changing people’s opinions about things. It makes me feel big and clever and powerful. So yeah, I’m a Copywriter.”
Maybe I’m just getting old but I found this incredibly annoying and quite depressing. And then happy again because I realised the younger generation might not put me out of a job just yet. As long as they’re in love with words and how clever they can be with them, then the rest of us might just be able to carry on selling stuff and actually, like, you know, answering the brief which is, like SUPER EXCITING.
Sorry.
I think that there’s an interesting correlation between the rise of the Art Directional CD/ECD and the fall of Copywriting as a valued craft.
It’s quite rare to find someone of an extremely visual bent who genuinely gives two shits about, say, dialogue in scripts.
They think in pictures, so they’re not that interested/impressed by words.
55 seconds of visual wank with a super at the end is a major part of the problem.
That’s why UK ads are so humourless/wanky, whereas writing-heavy US spots continue to do well (and aren’t afraid to SELL stuff).
Hands up if you’re a writer who’s sick of hearing “we just need a paragraph and a key visual”. Fucking irritating.
You could also make a case for the general dumbing down of Creative Departments – we’ve gone from ECDs who read Classics at Oxbridge University (wherever that is) to thick cunts who did an HND in Creative Advertising at the University of Aberystwyth.
No wonder no-one can string a bloody sentence together…
When I was at WCRS absolutely fucking years ago, the suits used to go, every year, to the BMW factory in Munich to uncover new things to put in briefs and accumulate massive hangovers.
Yet every year, as sure as night follows day, the briefs would be 50:50 weight distribution, rear wheel drive and the estate that thinks it’s a sports car.
Still that’s better than these days where every brief for everything from mobile phones to cars to computers to paint to bog cleaner to beer is “Carpe Diem.”
Go fuck yourself Carpe Diem.
In my opinion, the unavoidable issue with this video is how poorly it’s been edited. Some of the comments that were most intriguing (like you note with Matt Longstaff’s comment), were never allowed to develop. So we’re left with real gems from self-important junior copywriters.
It’s hard to believe that the young writers are really as inarticulate as they seemed in the video. I’m going to blame the editor and keep my fingers crossed.
Trying to compare Michelangelo to Banksy was and is a non event. Both incredible artists with a POV backed by particular mastery of skills pertinent to their respective times. Both served their ultimate patrons admirably – metaphysically and tangibly. However, taken out of chronological and/or cultural context they both become incongruous and irritating. This isn’t about mavens and madmen at all. That would have been interesting. Poorly conceived and edited this isn’t a fair or intellectually honest debate. However, because it is about advertising it is still sufficiently unedifying to muddy thinly disguised prejudices about class, age and talent.
@Bob, I think the young writers seemed to rush everything out without considering, much like they must (have to/choose to) work these days.
After all, you can often change it quick enough now upon reactions, client or consumer.
I would love both groups of writers, having watched this, record a second version where they might have though and considered what they’re saying and ‘edit, edit, edit’ or say nothing rather than any old ‘real-time tosh’… That might be interesting.
Maybe get the young ‘uns on the wine and the oldies on the ‘special tea’