Following my recent blog posts about stuff like Agile marketing and ‘give it a go and see what happens’ and Developing a digital marketing strategy in the real world here’s something a bit more random and based on the stuff which rattles around in your head. My head anyway!
On my way into the office I cross a busy road junction and four pedestrian crossings. Sometimes the man is green … but sometimes the man is red. When the man is green I walk and so does everyone else. When the man is red I sometimes walk but more often than not everyone else waits for the man to turn green. That’s the rule. That’s the procedure for crossing the road safely. Sometimes the road is reasonably clear and with good timing and appropriate care you can still cross safely. Sometimes the road is entirely clear of traffic. But people still wait. Because that’s the rule.
Rules and procedures are there for a reason. They provide us with a prescribed direction and a basis for progressing a particular course of action. But we must think and make sure we apply the rules appropriately – in a way that does not prevent us from reaching our end goal, take us an unnecessarily long time to get there or even undermine the very thing we are trying to achieve.
But often people don’t think. In fact some rules are there so people don’t have to think. A pilot’s pre-flight checklist for example. But not all rules are like that. Not all rules are to be applied blindly and indisciminately. Sometimes it is safe to cross the road when the man is red.
Tags: organisations, process, random thoughts
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Now more than ever before, in our new world of conversation culture, brands must have a distinct tone of voice to help project a unique point of view. So when it comes to freelance copywriting where do the poor blighters start?
Robert Hoberry author of the book I’m still reading – Brilliant Copywriting dismisses the usefulness of big brand development projects as they often produce long winded vision and values statements and lengthy descriptions of the target audience and segmentation.
“Radical simplicity and a healthy dose of honesty are the answer. In fact to write for a brand, a copy writer usually needs to understand just two components the big idea and the brand personality. Everything else is a distraction. A brand’s big idea can steer your general direction: a brand’s personality can help steer the tone”.
So now I’m reaching for another book on my shelf The big Idea by Robert Jones. It’s an oldie but goodie. I remember the pennies dropping when I read his summary of the 50 biggest ideas around at the time. He scored them each up to a maximum of five stars based on how big the idea, how radical, how social and how tangible they were. Below are some of the top scorers. It’s interesting that 10 years on these ideas are still firmly positioning these companies as ‘different’.
Ikea – Democratizing design
John Lewis – A better form of capitalism
Apple - Usability
Virgin – Iconoclasm (I looked that one up – breaks established conventions)
Tesco – We like our customers
Orange – Optimism
Gap – Democratic fashion
The Guardian – Outsider
Channel 4 – Curious
National Trust – places for people for ever
If a copywriter understands the big idea and can formulate a clear picture of the personality traits associated to the big idea then they’re ready to write, but not before answering another bunch of question related to expression, content and audience.
How would that person speak? What words and phrases would they use? (expression). What would they chose to say? (content). Who would they choose to say it to? (audience).
Whilst I agree that brand development projects often end up on the shelf - too wordy and descriptive to be useful. My experience is that the really useful output of any brand development work is the production of a simple set of guidelines. Hats off to the brand team at Visit Wales. Check out www.walesthebrand.com for a brilliant example of articulating an organisations’ ‘tone of voice’ and ‘point of view’ simply and more importantly usefully. I love inclusion of what not to say.
I suppose my point is that freelance copywriters as well as designers, directors, editors etc need help getting started. Marketing departments must answer two killer questions before looking to the creative industries to describe the solution. What is your big idea and what is your brand personality?
I’m a firm believer in ‘The tighter the brief the more creative the solution’.
Tags: branding, Copywriting, tourism marketing
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