Why ‘the bigger picture’ isn’t always a big help for copywriters
I may or may not have imagined a scene in a film where Burt Reynolds is simultaneously driving a speedboat, firing a machine gun and spooning out his finest ‘chat’ to an attractive lady. If that never happened, I think we can all agree it probably should.
Aside from simply sharing my hazy memories of 70s action films, I was ham-fistedly hoping to illustrate a point about copywriting. Namely that, unlike in the dominion of synchronised racing, fighting and leering, copywriting is a craft that can suffer when it has too much to do.
And, almost always, it has too much to do.
As well as the artisan bread and butter of pleasing the client, a copywriter’s words are often responsible for singling out the target audience, driving demonstrable results, reinforcing brand values, integrating with other channels, disrupting the market norms, reflecting marketing norms, interrupting disengaged consumers and finding out if swans can really break your arm.
There is, admittedly, an imperative for copy to deliver in some way against all these things – customer response and commercial performance remain the guiding principles of all copywriting, no matter how cleverly or beautifully constructed it may be.
But equally, brands and businesses should perhaps consider the virtues of simplicity. A smart and talented copywriter will be able to deliver something adequate against each of a business’ broad and varied objectives. And yet that same smart and talented copywriter will also be able to craft something imaginative, original and utterly compelling if they’re given the freedom to concentrate on the single most important thing.
I appreciate that this is a difficult concession to make – all the demands placed on a copywriter are merely a reflection of the demands placed on an account manager, from hoards of stakeholders insistently tapping their, er, stakes on the boardroom table.
It would, no doubt, take a substantial and courageous effort for a brand to allow their writer to deliver one compelling message, rather than the cosiness of ticking off multiple requirements in a fine, but unremarkable, piece of written communication.
Decluttering is a marketing principle that lots of people are happy to champion – until the stark realisation that the advert (they’ve expensively crafted) will sit in the media (they’ve expensively purchased) and say just a fraction of all they feel they must say.
The smartest brands are the ones who recognise that not every channel can deliver every message. They’re also the ones that, as well as appreciating the merits of single-minded copy, they’re the ones who have justifiable reservations about the benefits of saying everything everywhere.
In modern marketing, with the swiftness and brutality of social reaction, it’s understandable that many brands cling to the comfort of a full and fleshy message. Any brand anxious at having their commercial underpants exposed will quite reasonably take a belt and braces approach to the words they use to sell their stuff.
In a lot of cases the freedom to single out what matters most, and strip the copywriting challenge back to the simple strength of the words on the page, will remain nothing more than a writer’s dream. Much like Burt Reynolds machine-gunning his way across the waves.