Copywriting 101 - What Was That Number Again?

Neil Hedley

Description

The intersection of art and science is where legends are born. Luminaries as diverse as Beethoven, Rembrandt and Frank Lloyd Wright knew that a thorough understanding of the fundamentals allowed for a seamless handoff to seemingly unbridled creativity. Now, no book can teach you to be talented. However, this one aims to find the sweet spot between the time-honored foundational principles of marketing, and the stories behind iconic works to serve as inspiration and unleash talent. And while the primary focus is on the copywriting that leads to great radio commercials, there are plenty of takeaways for anyone creating any kind of advertising. Even your next Craigslist add will benefit from the information contained here.

Need a different metaphor? It's cool to be able to throw a baseball at 102mph. Except that tons of people can throw a ball 102mph. If you're lucky enough to get the guidance to show you where the strike zone is, the wisdom to know when to throw the fastball versus your other pitches, and the inspiration to pursue mastery, you might just wind up in the Hall of Fame.

More than four decades ago, someone saw raw talent in Neil Hedley. They gave him exactly the same information you'll find in the pages of this book. Six months later, Neil won the first of a laundry list of national and international awards for commercials he's written.

Your mileage, as they say, may vary. But you'll have access to the same foundation that led to an entire career.

Sujets

• Communication persuasive
• Marketing de contenu
• Industries
• Marketing et communication
• Radio advertisement
• Copywriting
• Small business
• Television advertisement
• Broadcasting
• Economics
• Advertising
• Business
• Communications
• Marketing
• Media
• Communication médiatique

Informations

• Publié par: KNOPP Studios Ltd
• Date de parution: 15 juillet 2021
• Nombre de lectures: 5
• EAN13: 9780987857545
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 3 Mo

Extrait

C O PY W R I T I N G 1 0 1 - W H AT WAS T H AT N U M B E R A G A I N ?

Copywriting 101 - What Was That Number Again?

C r i m e s A g a i n s t Ad ve r t i s i n g , a n d H o w t o P reve n t T h e m

NEH E D LI L EY

KNOPP Studios

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Preface

Introduction

Con t e n t s

In The Beginning Were The Words

Dick Who?

Claude C. Hopkins

David Ogilvy

Dick Orkin

The 4th Member Of The Trinity

What Makes A Great Radio Commercial?

What Makes People Buy?

The Copywriter's Toolbox

Exploring The Battlefield

Finding The Right Approach

How To Write A Great Jingle

Writing For Theater Of The Mind

How To Write Straight-Read Commercials

How To Write Funny Radio Commercials

How To Write Funny Radio Commercials, Part Two

How To Tell The Client They're Wrong

Things To Avoid

The Nitty-Gritty

The Red-Headed Stepchild

That's A Wrap

One Final Thought

Copyright © 202 by Neil Hedley All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews. First Printing, 202 Second Edition, 202

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Preface

When it was first conceived in 2011,What Was That Number Againwas intended to be a 150-page business card. I was considering the idea of taking on a limited number of clients as a consultant and copywriter but wanted to have a vision statement of sorts, so that prospective creative partners would have a clear picture of my thought processes, my philosophies and, by extension, my expectations. What ended up happening instead was that my business card became a #1 Bestseller. A series of invitations followed to speak in front of Chambers of Commerce, as did media appearances as one of those “talking heads” that gets to weigh in on things like SuperBowl commercials, and a rewarding experience that allowed me to create the curriculum for a post-graduate writing program at o ne of the most highly respected college programs for radio broadcasting in North America. As the tenth anniversary of the original’s release approached, I learned that it was still being carried in some college libraries, and even remained on the reading list in a few others. Just as I couldn’t envision allowing the same script to run in a radio commercial for ten years, I decided the content of the book could use a touch-up. However, as I looked through the pages of the first edition and thought about how many things had changed, I was struck by how many t hings have also stayed the same. The principles outlined in the first edition of the book are still as sound and as relevant as when they were originally conceived. The legends of the industry are still legendary. And people still buy stuff for the same reasons they always have. One thing that has exploded in the ten years since I wrote the first edition is that there seem to be more voices than ever, screaming for our attention. Attention is currency. It’s why we use the expression, “payattention”. Attention is a finite resource; perhaps that’s why in many circles it is coveted even more than cash. The pursuit of attention, in its most egregious forms, is why people spend mo ney they don’t have on things they don’t need and can’t afford, in order to get m ore likes (more attention) on social media. It’s why the effort to attract attention leads to people saying and doing things that just seem to get crazier and crazier, even in the face of irrefutable proof of the contrary. Sadly, however, the explosion of media platforms ha s meant that virtually everyone has access to the bullhorn, while an ever-shrinking percentage of people have truly taken the time to make deliberate choices about wha t todo with it based on sound judgment and enduring principles. One of the most glaringly obvious examples of this phenomenon is so pervasive that it’s hard to escape: There was a time when, in orde r to get a job with a news outlet - whether in print, radio, television or otherwise - you had to go to journalism school. Now, it sometimes feels like good looks will get you on TV faster than good grades, and

if you lack the credibility to work at a major news outlet, you can simply start your own “news channel” online, or start your own “news” website simply by writing a pile of crazy garbage, stamping the word “news” on it, a nd wait for fellow crazies to come flocking. To put it less delicately: More bullhorns equals ex ponentially more bullshit. In the current media landscape, quality seems inversely proportional to quantity. The same is true in the advertising world, where pe ople are writing things - and actually having the gall to sell those things - without having a clue what they’re doing. You paid for this book. (Well, Ihope you did. Three-year-olds don’t pay for their own groceries.) Youpaidmoney, you’respendingtime and you’repayingattention. I’ll do my best over these pages to respect all thr ee expenditures and give your attention the honor it deserves.

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Introduction

Most radio advertising is bland, boring, poorly written, shoddily produced, offers little value for the advertiser’s investment, and insults the listener’s intelligence. Seth Godin, the Godfather of all modern marketing w isdom, refers to radio and television advertising as “interruption marketing”. That is to say, we’re enjoying a particular program when an advertiser barges in, pu ts a kink in our enjoyment like it was a garden hose, and unilaterally decides that right now is the best time to listen to what they have to say. They’re not far removed from the drunk at the party who knocks over the cabinet with the stereo equipment in it. Seth has become an icon in the marketing business ( and deservedly so) while predicting - and usually calling for - the death of advertising as we’ve come to know it. The statistics appear to cheer Seth on; an Edison M edia Research/Arbitron study showed that radio stations lose as much as 42% of their audience when an “intrusive or annoying” commercial comes on. But it doesn’t have to be this way. WHAT THIS BOOK IS FOR I mentioned earlier that the ideas expressed in this book led me to be able to create the curriculum for a post-graduate writing course in a heavy-duty college Radio Broadcasting program. I remember those earliest ses sions where I tried to convey to the students just how impactful radioused to be. We talked about the biggest moments in radio history, and not just the famousWar Of The Worlds broadcast that we'll cover in detail shortly. We talked about the S.W.A.T. team that showed up when a local radio host had himself "assassinated" live on the air as an April Fool's joke; in fact, we coveredtonsApril Fool's jokes that huge numbers of listene  of rs fell for, including some that didn't justfoolthey caused them to take significant people, action. We looked at a point in history where, if people saw their favorite radio host walking down the street with Paul McCartney, they might actually pause for a second to think about whose autograph to get first. Several of the students had a hard time envisioning such a scenario, and it was at that point I realized just how important it was to keep some of these ideas in the conversation. Indeed, as I prepared the audiobook version of this special second edition, I decided early on that because I wouldn't be able to do justice to some of those original award- winning performances, I would include the original commercials themselves. It was then I discovered that due to a variety of circumstances, most of the incredible work that inspired the early days of my copywriting career is just... plain...gone. Collections have fallen victim to disasters and tragedies. Digital archives have gone mysteriously