Created by Rebecca Martin from Sable, in Devon
A call to arms for words-first marketing
An ode to rediscovering the power of words in a world of more noise and less budget.
Introduction
Bread and butter. Bacon and eggs. The Two Ronnies. Socks. Some things are better together. Like copywriters and designers. ‘Adorer of art seeks literature lover for long-term relationship…”’ Like any marriage, one not without its bickers and blows, but ultimately a beautiful union of two very different people working towards the same life goal: client wins.
Fast forward to today and divorce rates have soared. Fewer of us are choosing marriage and agencies are no exception. Let’s take a look at why the beautiful union of copywriter and designer may well (but really shouldn’t) be over, and how a return to the heyday of words-first marketing could be the secret to more bang for an ever-shrinking buck we have all been searching for.
Rebecca Martin, Founder of Sable
In the 50s and 60s, writers were the lexical yin to a designer’s visual yang. But it wasn’t always this way. Before Bill Bernbach, the two lived quite separate lives. Copywriters would write an ad, slide it beneath the door of a pensive art director and wait for the concept to come alive on paper. In time, being the mastermind of advertising that he was, Bernbach decided two heads would be better than one. And so, with Cilla Black levels of matchmaking prowess, copywriters and art directors were paired. The result was more than just a match made in heaven, it was a creative revolution; one marriage that would change agency life forever.
Bill Bernbach
But that was then and this is now. Ad agencies still lean towards a more traditional union, but marketing and digital agencies are increasingly leaving this writer/designer partnership in the past. This new norm doesn’t seem to care so much for words as the days of Bernbach passed. Where once dynamic duos would create campaigns that married words and pictures in blissful harmony from the off, this more modern approach can sometimes be one of near-finished layouts and Lorem ipsum holder text. “We’ve figured out most of the copy already…” is a sentence often heard in this new image-first, copy somewhere down the line eco-system. Are we teetering on the brink of an ‘everyone can write’ era? A recent IPA job advertisement looking to partner copy and design expertise in one centaur-like creative seems to suggest so:
Creative Art Director & Copywriter
Are you brimming with ideas? Able to express them fluently in pixels and ink? Love the craft of art direction, design and copywriting? Can you collaborate and take the team on a journey, sharing brilliant ideas executed with craft and care?
It isn’t only an agency change, but an in-house one too. In times of shrinking budgets, some might say that full-time copywriters have become more of a nice to have than a necessity for digital and marketing agency teams. Are copywriters really needed at all? Anyone can write, right?
‘Everyone is a copywriter, right?’ by Clare Barry
In the widely-shared, often applauded and sometimes criticised Medium article ‘Everyone is a copywriter, right?’ Clare Barry explains why being able to write doesn’t make you a writer. In her explanation of consciously ignoring basic grammar rules in the name of impact or tone of voice, Barry says: “...these are conscious decisions from a copywriter and an art director. Be gone, pesky full stops! You’re useless to us now! Our job is to make sure that the tone of voice matches the message. A copywriter will know the difference. An art director will know the difference. Jean, from accounts, will not know the difference - and there’s no point trying to explain it to her.”
On the magic of seeing text come alive on the page, she continues “Another point to make here is that copy that has been written on a word document looks completely different to copy, typeset on an advert. Your copywriter only knows what they’re really working with once they’ve seen the words applied to the creative. Full stops might have been included in the word doc they supplied, but once they see it on the advert…they’ll remove all of them. Equally, they might have removed all punctuation from the supplied copy, but once they’ve seen it on the design…put it all back on.”
Barry’s argument that there is more to copywriting than filling a space on a page echoes that of original Man Man, David Ogilvy. Before becoming the ‘Father of advertising’, Ogilvy worked as a researcher, conducting studies in human behaviour and the powers of persuasion that would eventually become the foundation upon which a legendary career creating ad copy was built.
Perhaps the best - and most used - textbook example of the powers of copywriting is Oglivy’s 1959 advert for a struggling Rolls-Royce. Then a rookie writer, Ogilvy wrote an ad so good it sold out every Rolls-Royce in America, created an 18-month waiting list, and cemented copywriting’s reputation as the go-to marketing tactic in times that need maximum impact on a shoestring budget.
At the time direct response advertising was seen as a decidedly low brow way to market any business, not least a prestigious brand like Rolls-Royce. But his years of experience in both research and writing had taught Ogilvy that the combination of both could be intoxicating. He understood that powerful writing could bring together the science of human psychology, consumer behaviour and emotion to persuade, influence, nudge and push people to take action. In one of his most referenced quotes, Ogilvy proclaims: “Advertising is not a science. It is a craft. It is an art.” Copywriting is the art of manipulating people towards desire.
(Img: Ogilvy for Rolls-Royce, 1959)
And so he set about turning the Rolls-Royce into the object of every driver’s desires. For three weeks, David Ogilvy researched everything there was to know about the car. He visited the factory, spoke to engineers, read every technical report and research paper he could get his hands on, and wrote hundreds of pages of notes. Then he wrote what is widely considered one of the best headlines ever created.
“At sixty miles an hour the loudest noise in this new Rolls-Royce comes from the electric clock.”
On a vehicle built to the highest of specifications, with the finest exterior and the most advanced of engines, Ogilvy had chosen to concentrate the world’s attention on an electric clock. In the seven hundred words of copy below, readers discovered thirteen more hallmark attributes, from the French walnut picnic table to an optional extra Espresso machine and telephone. A paragraph on pricing along with a ‘book a test drive’ call to action rounded off the ad, and he put it out into the wild via the two newspaper and two magazine ads to which the measly budget would stretch. And then he sold every Rolls-Royce in America. They continued to sell for weeks, so successfully that the factory couldn’t keep up with demand and had to pull the advertisement. Ogilvy had used copywriting to inform, persuade, pique the interest of his reader and hold it, triggering enough of a response to completely change the fortunes of a company staring down the barrel of becoming obsolete.
David Ogilvy wasn’t the only master of advertising to have his roots in copywriting. Charles Saatchi, Mary Wells and Dave Trott are just some of those who cut their teeth on copy. From those roots grew world-leading ad agencies that kept copy at the heart of everything they did. They knew that copywriters and art directors could work miracles in silo, but that by working together they could make pure magic.
The magic of words-first marketing
Just do it
Every little helps
Because she’s worth it
Think different
Vorsprung Durch Technik
A diamond is forever
The best a man can get
The happiest place on earth
I’m lovin’ it
Take away the words and some of the biggest brands in the world become less recognisable.
Taglines are one of marketing’s long games, a way of weaving the brand story into a customer’s psyche until that penny drop moment of recognition cements it as a reliable product. While direct response marketing sells by waxing lyrical about the benefits of a product or service, a tagline captures the essence of a brand and what it offers its customers in just a handful of words. They speak to customers, employees, investors and stakeholders the same, uniting everyone with the same sense of familiarity.
Exceptional copywriters work as shrewd psychologists, taking the time to enter the minds of his or her target audience and speaking their language. The result is words that resonate…and sell. Take the ads below, each its own example of when the psychology of copywriting sells a dream and creates desire from somewhere it is lacking.
Volkswagen - Think Small (1959)
Before the Volkswagen Beetle became an icon, it was a clunky, chunky set of wheels in a time when people favoured American muscle and sleek lines. DDB had to sell an ugly German anomaly in a way that convinced people it was superior to the slick and speedy alternatives they were used to. Enter self-deprecating copy that pushed the envelope of anything that had been done before and created a whole new category in the car market - and droves of sales.
The Economist
The Economist has lived through two World Wars, numerous recessions, Prohibition, the arrival of the internet and the declarations of ‘print is dead’. Remaining not only relevant but desired throughout all of this takes not just a damn good product but damn good advertising too. Enter the Economist’s now iconic ‘White out of Red’ campaign ads. Thought up by the late David Abott, the words-first ads said ‘this magazine helps successful people become even more successful’ in a way that didn’t lack an element of cheek but somehow never felt crass.
The ads won countless awards and became the barometer of clever copywriting. They also almost doubled subscriptions and saw a rise in circulation of 64% in the face of a 20% market decline.
AVIS
It’s easy to sell when you’re number one. But what if you aren’t? Avis was the world’s number two car rental company when Wells Rich Green took on the account and all the advertising budget in the world wasn’t going to change that in a hurry. Rather than go on the offensive and take on its competitor, the agency embraced the underdog mentality. Avis used simple, approachable and down-to-earth copy to explain that, as second in the market, it had to try harder for its customers.
The argument for a words-first approach is an easy one when it comes to print ads, but its reach extends to the world wide web too. Worked into website builds, it can speak volumes about a brand through a clever 404 error message. It can focus the attention of social ads that have just seconds to land with their target audience. Take Land Rover as an example of the good and bad. Land Rover ads of old are a thing of legend, each telling a story of adventure, reliability and taking the path less followed. But can the same be said for today’s social creative?
In a D&AD interview, Eric Kallman, co-founder of Erich & Kallman and Jury President of Writing for Advertising argues that copywriting is the craft of creating focus. “With 30 second commercials becoming 15 seconds and now even six seconds, you need to know how to get a compelling message across quickly. Simple copy, done well, can always do the trick,” he says.
In an age where attention spans are getting increasingly shorter and the competition for that attention is higher than ever, there is still space to create something special by keeping good copy in mind for digital marketing. “I still think the most valuable pure skill to have in advertising, if I had to pick one, is headline writing,” says Kallman. “Especially in a world dominated by social media. Grabbing someone’s attention, and even making them laugh, in two seconds while they’re on their phone or driving by a billboard is an awesome ability to have.”
And so the question arises; if you’re doing digital marketing without a copywriter in the mix, are you fighting for the consumer’s attention with one arm tied behind your back? Do we need copywriters and designers to give their marriages another go in the name of digital campaigns that entertain and excite?
Missed beats and brand slips
Nike is the brand everyone knows. Just Do It. The Swoosh. In terms of brand stickiness, it doesn’t get much better. Their TV ads are phenomenal, their ambassadors are the best in the world at their chosen craft, and their tone of voice never misses a beat. Or does it? From the “...you may disregard this note” to the “Sincerely, Nike.com” sign-off, the corporate tone of this order update email falls a long way short of the inspirational, courageous and resilient tone we expect from the brand that tells us we can do anything. It’s a small slip, but when a brand is built on such strong foundations, any peek behind the curtain has the potential to bring a whole ethos into doubt. Is it all a front?
Keeping up appearances across all touchpoints is one of the most important parts of bringing a brand to life and keeping it there. And the missed potential here goes beyond brand voice; good copy can make people stop and think without all the bells and whistles. The right copy in an email like this could not only soothe the irritations of an order being late, but become another means to instil the sense of community for which Nike is renowned. How could it look if a copywriter with an eye for brand had been involved with email marketing from the off?
Dear Mr Smith,
We’re on a mission to change the world through the power of sport, but sometimes being extraordinary takes a little more time.
We’re disappointed to update your delivery date to XX/XX. If you would like to cancel your order, you can do so here, but we hope you will stay with us, and stay a part of the movement towards pushing past limits and towards potential.
Again, we’re sorry for the hold up. We’re doing our best to get you up and running with your new Nike gear as quickly as possible.
Thanks for your patience.
The Nike Team
What is the answer? Just as everything old becomes new again eventually, is it time for digital agencies to renew their vows, uniting copywriters and art directors again in the unholy matrimony of marketing? Some might say it is, if only until AI do us part.
In 2021, the D&AD Awards Writing jury made a plea for designers and copywriters to come together again.
“I feel it’s so important for the two to integrate and work together,” said D&AD 2021 juror, Kieren Lewis, in a discussion about the Pencil winners in a year that highlighted the role of the copywriter in creative excellence, in stirring emotion and moving audiences to both tears and laughter.
“Brands and agencies should encourage that more…rather than ‘right, we’ve done the design, off we go to copy’. The two need to be in sync. For me the best campaign or design work is when the two harvest energy from one another to create something.”
Is it time for more marketing agencies to rediscover the power of words? In a world distracted by digital, is the psychological craft of copywriting the secret to cutting through the noise and getting more impact with less budget? I think it is.
About Sable
Sable is the words-first agency, a tonic to the new world of words-last marketing. I want to flip the script, nurturing a return to the bygone days of copy coming first and whole worlds being built around it. To become the perfect partner to agencies who “just don’t have time for a relationship” with a full-time copywriter, or the funds to keep one in the wings, but who believe in the power of words and the opportunity they hold. Words sell; let’s bring them back.
Find us:
Website: https://www.sable.marketing/
Email: hello@sableandsaunter.com
Phone: 07904 454204
Thank you
I just wanted to say a massive thank you to Rebecca Martin, founder of Sable, for putting this white paper together. If you haven’t met her, then wait until you do. A hugely inspirational, creative, brilliant copywriter with tons of experience working for some very impressive brands.
And Rebecca’s one of the nicest and best people you’re likely to meet too. She has recently set up Sable, and is already doing fantastic things for her clients. If you’re looking for some help with your words, then I genuinely couldn’t recommend her enough. Her contact details are just above. Get in touch with her and see how she can help. You won’t be disappointed, I promise.