Factor 3: Applied Creativity

Is copywriting still making the headlines?

  Does anybody read copy anymore? Apparently our collective attention spans are now so short that we can barely make it to the end of …

And yet you’re still here reading and I’m still writing. Why?

It’s not like you haven’t got other things to do. Those invaluable Linked-In connections won’t make themselves you know.



We are all meant to be so wired now that simple words are passé. But here’s the irony. Far from spelling the end for the written word (as predicted by the same visionaries who said DVDs would do for cinema and e-readers for books) the digital world and our absorption in it has actually given copywriting a shot in the arm.

Twitter, blogs, feeds, and social networking, whether witty, dippy, catty, chatty or pithy are pulling in audiences who want engagement, dialogue, communication and information. The very same triggers which have always attracted audiences to ‘traditional’ media.

Yes language is evolving. Yes channels are proliferating and yes there’s an awful lot of noise out there.

But well written, well researched and accurately targeted words are still one of the most powerful weapons a marketeer can wield.

Whether online or off and in B2C or B2B applications, copy deserves much more consideration than something to fill the gap between the visual and the call to action.

Done well copy can be every bit as urgent, stimulating and arresting as design and every bit as powerful in defining and distinguishing a brand.

Too often though you’ll see design writing cheques that the accompanying copy can’t cash – the words served up as a side dish rather than a main ingredient.

Copy is a key that can unlock audience participation, convey a message, pull emotional triggers, paint brand personalities and open wallets. To quote no less than Dumbledore from the closing scenes of The Deathly Hollows ‘words are our most powerful magic.’

Click here for a simple demonstration of the power of good copy from a campaign we created for Andrews Estate Agents and which, we’re pleased to report, has been shortlisted for the copywriting gong in the prestigious Cream Awards.