The Copy (and it's writers and clients)

The Copy. What I call "The Copy" is what most mortals can achieve doing after a few years and a bit of luck. It's pretty much like "The Cool" sans....well The Cool. This means sitting on an agency or as a free lancer, working for respectable clients, albeit with a limited budget and aggressive timelines. It mean instead of having a few months to update or even invent a brand identity, you have 2 weeks to come up with a company's campaign web site or subway poster campaign, writing and proofing 3-5000 words, with the aim of increasing the sales of selling tooth paste, dinkey toys or laundry detergent. If you are lucky that is. Because most of advertisement isn't even about launching campaigns, contests or new project. Most of all it's just about the company or product wanting to remind the market that "Hey, we still here and we are still producing that chocolate flavored milk that you used to like!" These customers will also typically supply you with Style Guides, and will be very conservative about how you implement it, Basically these customers want their ad campaign to blend into the general message environment of every day life, working mostly on an unconscious level of their target audience. Possibly supply a bit of entertainment while waiting for the commuter train. Or simply relay the message that their outlet off the highway has the best prices on last years Mac Books or Nikon cameras.

And still, if you are lucky, you will be part of the creative process from the outset, from idea to production, working in contact with AD:s, Photographers and so on. If you aren't lucky, some company executive, usually a Marcom of the client, has decided he is copy editor material and gives you a text to "sexy it up". This usually never works because marketing and advertisement are related, but distinct arts. And when a marketing director gives you a text, it's because he believes he is a great writer, and will be decidedly unhappy when your "sexed up" version contains none of his original wording. You need a lot of patience and no ego at all if you are going to take these gigs. If you aren't lucky you may also receive a style guide and a fact sheet and nothing else, and have nobody come back on your questions until one day before deadline. Or you may receive a fixed design with text boxes and pictures and being asked to fill it with text.

"Deadline?"
"Tomorrow. The Marcom has writers block, it's a mess, and the agency won't take our call since we decided to go with the Marcom's happy frog design instead of theirs!!"
"Fact sheet?"
"No idea, but I'll send over a bunch of PDF:s I found on the Marcom's PC!!"
"How do I get in touch with said Marcom?"
"No idea, but if you get hold of him tell him to get in touch!"

Klick. You're in for a long night. Especially when you go to the server and find a bunch of uncompressed Indesign files, 36 GB each.

Being a copywriter isn't half as glamorous it's made to be. Not even a tenth. But it's often great fun, and it's the hallmark of a goof copywriter to be able to make something interesting out of a tooth paste ad campaign or a web site for a card board box manufacturer. Tooth paste spraying over a victorian mirror to the booming sound of Beethoven. In slow motion. Pirates setting sail over their card board boxes to the roaring sound of the canon balls and the tempest! No. The client is not going to go for that. In fact he'll be insulted if you mention it. But you had a great time thinking about it. And in a toned down version, it might be the beginning of and idea.