copywriting
A cornucopia of collective nouns
I love Woop Studio’s collective noun posters.
These limited edition prints are visual depictions of some of the wonderful terms we use to name groups of things. They’re beautiful to look at as well as revealing quite often charming and evocative words such as:
a zeal of zebras
a blessing of unicorns (which I’m convinced are real by the way. I mean, why bother giving them a collective noun if they don’t exist?)
an aurora of polar bears (yes, really!)
a murder of crows
a murmuration of starlings (what a lovely word!). And my favourite if only because I’ve was privileged to see two of these rare Cornish birds in flight: a chattering or clattering of choughs
I could go on, but I won’t. I’ll just direct you to Woop’s website so you can become obsessed too.
Woop Studios was founded by Miraphora Mina, Eduardo Lima, Harriet Logan, and Mark Faulkner. United by a love of graphic design, words and images they set up Woop to showcase the fascinating and quirky world of collective nouns.
They aim to be the definitive website for anyone who shares their fascination, and who enjoy words, images and learning.
I hope you enjoy them too.
Coast magazine feature on Dungeness artist
In my post of I September, ‘Painting with Words at Dungeness’ I wrote about the work of Dungeness artist, Paddy Hamilton who is working on series of paintings that use words. Well, more correctly, they use letters because Paddy is developing a new font called Dungeness.
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There’s a fabulous six-page spread in this month’s Coast magazine on Paddy and his partner and fellow artist, Helen Gillian. And there, in the background of one of the photos is the piece of work I bought from Paddy on our last visit!
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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What’s the connection between beekeeping and a literary figure? It’s elementary!
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I’m working on a project at the moment that makes me feel very lucky to be doing what I do to earn my crust. I’m editing a book on beekeeping for novices by a talented photographer, David Wootton. And it reminded me about something my beekeeping friend, Jules, told me about a connection with Sherlock Holmes.
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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Wimbledon tennis commentators serve faulty phrase
So Wimbledon is over for another year and I’m trying to adjust to tennis-free days. One thing I won’t miss though is that horrible phrase ‘the business end’ that too many of the match commentators used too often.
I got tired of hearing, ‘well, we’re at the business end of the set now.’ Ugh. Not only is it plain ugly, but like all phrases that become over-used, it jars. You have to be very careful, in writing as well as in speech, about becoming reliant on certain distinctive words, phrases, and devices.
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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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Don’t make marketing promises you can’t keep
I’m in the business of writing succinct, punchy copy for my clients. It needs to engage their audiences and persuade them to buy a product or service. But neither my pithy, persuasive copy nor their eye catching designs count for anything if my clients can’t back up their claims.
Yet all too often we are lured in by smart advertising and clever words, only to find out that the service doesn’t live up to our expectations. And if my experience this week is anything to go by, I’d suggest banks are the worst offenders.
Warning: over-used devices can drastically damage your copy
Less is more so they say -whoever they are. That has just been rammed home to me while reading a book by and about a company that I really admire. I love what they do and am a big, big fan of their copywriting.
However I found one device they use in the book very irritating and that’s only because they’ve used it so often. By the time I got to the end of page two and had counted ten instances (because that’s the kind of sad person I am) it really began to rankle.
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One hundred million trillion ways to sum up your business
Whatever you’re writing, whether it’s a business letter, web page, newsletter item, or brochure, finding the right words isn’t easy. You have to choose words that clearly and succinctly sum up your business, service or product . And they have to resonate with your audience. But if you think that’s difficult how about this for a fact? There are up to one hundred million trillion ways you could write a 20 word sentence.
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