April, 2012
April Client of the Month – Ashtead Performance Group
April’s client of the month is Simon Aldridge, MD of Ashtead Performance Group (APG).
I’ve worked with Simon for the last five years, ever since he asked me to write the words for APG’s website.
APG works with senior teams to equip them to achieve excellent performance across their business. And therein lay the challenge.
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Cut-out quotes: beautiful papercut art from Ant Design
If you’ve visited my blog before you’ll know I like images created with words: I’ve written about several artists who work in this way.
I discovered Ant Design’s papercuts the other day and I love them. I know Ant Design as a graphic design agency founded and run by the very talented Kashmira Jhaveri. I also knew that, as well designing materials for corporate clients, Ant Design also has a gift range but I’d no idea these lovely delicate pieces had been added.
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Grabbing the headlines
Grabbing the headlines
Whatever we think of the reporting standards in our national newspapers, they have given us some great headlines over the years.
One of my personal favourites is The Sun’s “Super Cally go ballasitc, Celtic are atrocious” following Inverness Caledonian Thistle’s 3-1 win over Celtic in the Scottish Cup in 2000.
I spotted one of a slightly more sophisticated nature on the front page of The Guardian in April and have been meaning to write a post based on it ever since. It accompanied a front-page story by the paper’s Paris correspondent, Angelique Chrisafis. She was writing about the alleged outrage of notorious French riot police – the Compagnie Repulicaines de Securite (CRS) on hearing they would no longer be allowed to drink alcohol with their lunch.
Apparently, up until now, even packed lunches provided to the CRS out of riot vans while they were patrolling demos, came with a can of beer or glass of wine. And the headline?
“Riot squad sees rouge as police vin gets bottled.”
It’s tempting to think that good headlines are the result of a flash of inspiration (an old stalwart, by the way, when I was Head of Press and PR for Nikon UK and writing about the company’s flashlights – yes I know, I know). But the majority of strong, memorable, and more importantly, effective headlines take time and a great deal of hard work.
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A lesson in clear, succinct copy… from an estate agent
I’m sure I’m not the only one to be inundated with leaflets from local estate agents clamouring to sell my house. And I’m sure I’m not alone in consigning the majority of them to the bin without reading beyond the headline. Especially the one with the headline that read ‘Recent Let’s Agreed’. Sadly, I kid you not.
Anyway, one day last week a leaflet dropped through the letterbox that really broke the mould. It was from the Surbiton office of Hawes & Co and it grabbed my attention immediately.
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Marketing confessions of a shy, retiring copywriter
When I saw Jupiter Jasper Marketing’s blogging competition, http://bit.ly/lpyv7p, I thought I’d give it a go and enter. For one it gives me a topic for a blog post – not always easy to find when you’re busy. And it’s a chance to share some of the things I’ve learnt in business. The topic for the competition is ‘My biggest lesson in marketing so far’, so here’s mine: consistency.
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