Ask A Copywriter

What was your favorite Super Bowl spot?

2012-02-06T11:15:00.001-05:00

It was the year of cars again this year. My favorite spot was Chrysler’s Halftime in America. Great writing and Clint Eastwood VO.

I also really liked the Chevrolet apocalypse spot, until the forced jab at Ford.

I wanted to love Honda’s Matthew’s Day Off, but I can’t get past that it’s about the actor not the Ferris character. The online teaser actually hurt this one.

These weren’t my favs, but best online extension goes to Chevy Sonic’s LetsDoThis.com and Jack In The Box’s MarryBacon.com 2012 was also the year of dog (and there were some real dogs in the mix, looking at you Doritos) but after their platinum duds, Bud Light’s rescue dog tie-in was a welcome change.

And then there was Cars.com, which I’d actually put it in the middle of the pack. I’m only including it here because lots of folks tweeted that the ad was inspired by Men in Black II…

…but I thought of How to Get Ahead in Advertising.

(If you haven't seen it, do yourself a favor and buy it now.)
Of course, the bottom of the barrel was GoDaddy, who were out-sexed by Telaflora and Fiat.
It’s also time for e-Trade to retire the baby. But I like how Fidelity stuck it to them them with a promoted tweet.

Need a last minute gift idea?

2011-12-23T09:00:00.000-05:00

OxfamGifts.com makes it easy to donate something tangible to fight hunger, poverty and social injustice. And you get a card with a photograph of the object you’re donating to give as a gift.

Or how about a threadless t-shirt benefiting Unicef?

Designed by NeedsForSale.com, each shirt costs the exact donation Unicef needs to deliver the object pictured on the shirt – from an $18.57 mosquito net up to a $300,000 cargo flight.

What's wrong with flashing your briefs once in a while?

2011-12-22T10:00:00.000-05:00

"Your brief is showing" is a piece of criticism meaning that your ad is too heavy-handed or is just a literal repetition of the strategy. Instead your goal should be to an interesting spin on the key message of the brief.

The line “14 buttons replaced by your body” may sound flat on it’s own and probably wouldn’t work in print. But on a mirror cling, it brings a unique product feature to life.

(This December, I'm posting all the ads I never got around to earlier this year. Stay tuned.)

Can luxury be practical?

2011-12-21T09:00:00.000-05:00

Consecutive page ads that ran in Wired Magazine.

Nice example of creating an ad for a specific placement. And positioning a sports car as a practical vehicle in this economy probably helped some people justify the purchase.

(This December, I'm posting all the ads I never got around to earlier this year. Stay tuned.)

Can you sell it in 7 words or less?

2011-12-20T11:29:00.002-05:00

That's the rule of thumb for the maximum number of words you can have on a billboard. (We need to implement a similar rule for banner ads.)

Here's another play on words that works for me. But I may be bias, I’ve long been an admirer of Mini Cooper’s ads.

Is this the most interesting campaign in the world?

2011-12-19T09:00:00.000-05:00

It's not easy to extend a great radio campaign into print.

I like how Dos Equis pulls in off in this campaign better than their first.

(Feeling at home ad via Global Graphica.)

(Release form ads via @Todd_McLellan and Ban Billboard Blight.)

(Approach women ads via Dosage and Ms. Magazine.)

(This December, I'm posting all the ads I never got around to earlier this year. Stay tuned.)

How do you get people talking about your brand?

2011-12-17T21:00:00.000-05:00

Shiner bock put web cams inside bars and posts the resulting videos on their site.

Ok, so most people aren't actually sharing their "favorite Shiner Bock story." But they are having a lot of fun.

You can see for yourself at BockLove.com.

Need a drink?

2011-12-16T16:30:00.000-05:00

May I recommend local favorite Deep Eddy Vodka?

I’m not a tea drinker, but I do enjoy their Sweet Tea Vodka.
Their branding is pretty tasty too.

(Bottle, billboard and banner pics via their Facebook page.)

(This December, I'm posting all the ads I never got around to earlier this year. Stay tuned.)

Are you making the most of the medium?

2011-12-15T09:00:00.000-05:00

Nice die-cut insert for JetBlue in Wired magazine.

(This December, I'm posting all the ads I never got around to earlier this year. Stay tuned.)

Is this the greatest print ad ever produced?

2011-12-14T09:00:00.000-05:00

This JetBlue ad ran in Fast Company in conjunction with this article on Morgan Spurlock’s Pom Wonderful presents: The Greatest Movie Ever Sold.

Every detail is great.

Even the callout on the opposite page.

My favorite quote from the article, "I'm not somebody who's going to stand on a soapbox and say we should eliminate advertising," says Spurlock, "because that would be ludicrous. I'm a realist, I live in the real world, I run a business, and I'm a capitalist. But I'm a real believer that doing good and doing well aren't mutually exclusive. There's a way to continually make people think, to look at our society and what is good and bad and great about it, and get us to examine that."

I can't believe I never got around to posting this back in March. (This December, I'm posting all the ads I never got around to earlier this year. Stay tuned.)

Why write copy you don't intend for people to read?

2011-12-13T14:34:00.001-05:00

Ads that use words as a purely decorative design element usually don’t work for me.

But these consecutive page ads caught my eye.

You can see a clean shot of the ads as a spread here.

(This December, I'm posting all the ads I never got around to earlier this year. Stay tuned.)

Is it still a bad ad if it grabs your attention?

2011-12-11T09:00:00.000-05:00

I usually only post ads that I like or can learn something from. So I'm not sure why I feel compelled to share this newspaper ad for Lowcountry Plastic Surgery.
Probably the same reason everyone stares at a car wreck as they drive past.

(This December, I'm posting all the ads I never got around to earlier this year. Stay tuned.)

Who says your best advertising has to be an ad?

2011-12-10T09:00:00.000-05:00

Cheerios.com was smartly redesigned around commonly searched questions about Cheerios.
But as a Dad, I think this may be the best piece of marketing they’ve ever done.

Whether you're giving people the information they're looking for or an entertaining experience, be sure to make it delightful.

(This December, I'm posting all the ads I never got around to earlier this year. Stay tuned.)

Are you a craftsman?

2011-12-09T23:30:00.000-05:00

I love this headline. I firmly believe that one of the keys to happiness is putting your best into your work every day and taking pride in the result.

A well-written campaign for Jeep. You can see more nicely done spots in the campaign on their site.

(Newspaper wrap ad via Gannett blog.)

(Banner ad via notcot.)

(This December, I'm posting all the ads I never got around to earlier this year. Stay tuned.)

What can you learn from the industry's past?

2011-12-08T22:42:00.000-05:00

People have been trying to zap television commercials long before TiVo.

I saw these on a trip to San Francisco for a pitch. The SFO airport has a cool exhibit called Television: TV in the Antenna Age.

They have a great display capturing the history of television from the 1940s through the 1970s.

My favorite piece was this Zenith porthole set.

My Grandfather passed down to me the first television set our family ever owned. (Same model but a different year.)

(Photo credit: SFO Museum)

(Photo credit: SFO Museum)
You can see more great shots from the exhibition on their site.

(This December, I'm posting all the ads I never got around to earlier this year. Stay tuned.)

Is the USP dead?

2011-12-07T09:00:00.000-05:00

The best thing you can say is that your beer has a bottle cap. Really?
At least Bud Light's "Make your mark" campaign had a gimmick that was more fun.

But Budweiser isn’t the only large American beer brand that has struggled to offer a Unique Selling Proposition.

(Miller Light Vortex Bottle ad via flickr.)
But nobody does beer marketing "innovations" better than Coor Light.

(Coors Light Cold Activated Bottle ad via ManBeerLove.com.)

(Coors Light Wide Mouth Can ad via Jan Meise.)
All of which set up a different approach when another beer brand released a redesigned can.

(Heineken ads via psychommercials.com.)

But of course, for big brands, the U.S.P. has always been a bit of smoke and mirrors.

On a related note, Fast Company’s Co.Design recently had an interesting piece on the death of three of the Four P’s of marketing (Product, Price, Place, and Promotion.)

(This December, I'm posting all the ads I never got around to earlier this year. Stay tuned.)

What's wrong with a play on words?

2011-12-06T15:49:00.000-05:00

I’ve been a fan of the quick headlines in Charles Schwab’s “Talk to Chuck” campaign for quite awhile, but my first thought on seeing this ad was, “too obvious.”
I’m not sure where this notion comes from, that as writers, we’re supposed to look down on using a play on words. But this line is the right thought for the times. And it works.

(This December, I'm posting all the ads I never got around to earlier this year. Stay tuned.)

Are print ads more effective than online display ads?

2011-12-05T23:30:00.000-05:00

The smart money would say no, but guess who hedged their bets?

Consecutive page ads in Wired magazine for google’s display ads.

(This December, I'm posting all the ads I never got around to earlier this year. Stay tuned.)

How long are they gonna keep this up?

2011-12-04T09:00:00.000-05:00

Every time the phone book gets dropped on our doorstep, my wife asks, "why are they still making those?"

The ad on the cover and the bag it came in are the only ones we saw before tossing it in the recycling bin.
But the market must still have value, because The Yellowbook and The Real Yellow Pages are still duking it out.

Yellowbook has trying to reinvent itself with their Yellowbook360 campaign. But only The Real Pages left us a CD rom.

The "Keep Me" starburst is just sad.

I’d like to see a comparison of what Yellow Book and Yellow Pages are doing online and in mobile. Another time perhaps.

(This December, I'm posting all the ads I never got around to earlier this year. Stay tuned.)

Does your writing have to be clever?

2011-12-03T09:00:00.000-05:00

Sometimes straight-forward is best. Just enough copy here to work with the visual and make the point.
It's finally raining in Austin this weekend, so hopefully wildfires won't be an issue again this year.

(This December, I'm posting all the ads I never got around to earlier this year. Stay tuned.)

Is the t-shirt the greatest marketing medium ever invented?

2011-12-02T09:00:00.000-05:00

(Austin fun fact: the shirt in this spot was made by local screen printers Bearded Lady.) I got a kick out of this Wendy's spot because it was primarily shot on my favorite street in Austin, South Congress.
So this Facebook ad caught my eye.

It drives to their Facebook page...

...where you can play a game to win your own shirt.

And of course, once I interacted with their page, I saw their ads every time I went to Facebook.

I do like the "wear the beef" play on words.

Sorry the t-shirt contest is over.

(This December, I'm posting all the ads I never got around to earlier this year. Stay tuned.)

Can an app save your business?

2011-12-01T09:00:00.000-05:00

A slick and useful app wasn't enough to help American Airlines. But they did use it to promote a nice little photo contest a few months ago.

I wonder what kind of submissions they would have gotten if this contest was still running after their recent bankruptcy announcement?

At least they're still giving their passengers something to do while they wait.

(This December, I'm posting all the ads I never got around to posting earlier this year. Stay tuned.)

It's the Ask A Copywriter Extra Inventory Blowout Sale

2011-11-30T15:34:00.001-05:00

This December, I'm posting all the ads I never got around to earlier this year. Stay tuned.

Have you ever used your middle finger in a presentation?

2011-11-08T16:46:00.000-05:00

How did this idea get sold?

The QR code and url direct to their Facebook page...

..where you can choose a new ending to the commercial.

Why shouldn't you flush out that great idea?

2011-11-03T14:15:00.000-04:00

Another grammar gem from The Oatmeal.

And if you haven't seen it, here's an earlier take on it from Words & Pictures: