Yesterday I promised to supply an explanation to the name of this blog, which would also describe one possible take on the 3 levels of the Copywriting trade at the start of the digital millennium. I will keep this promise, albeit in installments, seeing as I wouldn't want to bore any readers I may have, nor myself, by posting novel length diatribes. Keeping in mind that the cut-up is a rather rough one, here we go, starting with the heavenly level of Copywriting.
"The cool"
Most young and hopeful copywriters, fresh out of Advertising School (or in my case, fresh out of a bus garage), dream of ending up at a famous and very cool advertising agency, working for customers with world famous brands and all but unlimited advertisement budgets. Best case scenario, these world famous companies will also have a taste for innovative market promotion, wanting to portray themselves as young, hungry and aesthetically brave, as opposed to companies who feel a more conservative approach is preferable, merely looking to reinforce a brand identity already hewn in stone, who will seek to cast their promotions forms clearly demarcated by historically set parameters. Should you land such a job fresh out of school (or bus garage, believe me i did not), then you can consider yourself lucky. Working for such an agency, the projects you deal with will be well planned, excessively budgeted, and given a generous time frame. Let's say for instance that a beer brand wants an Ad Campaign. After initial contact with the client and brainstorming ideas with the creative team that may include Creative Directors, AD:s, other Copywriters, Graphic designers and so on, you start researching the subject.
Note book at hand, you read up on previous beer campaigns, about the art and history of brewing, the sociology and semiotics of beer drinking, how it's been portrayed in popular culture over the ages, and any other angle you find interesting. Every time a novel thought pops up in your head you jot it down, and every once in a while when you see ways to connect these ideas, pictures or sentences, you work on flow charts and sketches for a blue print, which polished form may or may not end up in the campaign. Between this and testing your ideas with the others working on the campaign, getting frustrated, and killing a scary amount of darlings, you will eventually end up with a few proposals, and in the end with a customer green lit campaign that will make a killing for the customer, and a profit for the agency.
And if you are talented and hard-working, you may even have managed to produce the highest level copywriting, what I call "The Cool". "The Cool" can be supported by graphics, TV Spots or directors, but it's most famous expression is the tagline, a concentrate of the brand message, formulated in such a way that it cuts through the constant media buzz that surrounds us. and sticks. But "The Cool" is not just any tagline or slogan. The perfect one is the one that will stand the test of time, that will find new audiences in new generations and that is open to reinterpretations in new campaigns and by new advertisers. "The Cool" will be remembered for years to come, spoken about in bars and agencies, rehearsed at Advertising Seminars, and in many iconic instances, will actually survive the product or even the company advertised. My current favorite is Carlsberg's "Probably the best beer in the world", that's been around since 1974 and has been reinterpreted and re-imagined in a host of ad campaigns, in medias ranging from Newspapers to Internet video spots. But there are host of others, such as "The best a man can get", "Think different" or "Don't leave home without it". Can you nail the brands?
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| It's.....a carousel! |
Unfortunately, very few of us mortals will ever end up with these agencies or clients. There are basically two reason for this, one reasonable and one not very much so. To begin with, competition to work in these agencies – or any agency nowadays – is murderous. And if you're good, chances are that someone else is better or more qualified. The other, not so appealing problem, is that Advertising Agencies are their own brands and sub cultures, tending to place high importance on hiring people the believe will contribute to the brand as well as culture. Hence, being young, hip and good at selling yourself may be equally important to being good at what you do. Being good at selling yourself is however a different art from selling with text. Obviously, it is perfectly doable to reach "The Cool" without the super agencies or the big budgets, but is certainly helps. For most of us, including me, aiming for "The Copy" or "The Content", the subject on future posts, is a more worthwhile undertaking.
Further reading can be obtained by googling "famous taglines". Although at least half of the ones usually listed has nothing to do with "The Cool", and should rather categorized under headlines such as "Awful", "Heinous" or "Ghastly".
Until then.
