Splash Watercolour

Sell the sizzle not the steak! Know the benefit of the benefit. What would make you shell out money to buy a product? What is the Reason Why or what is the‘ Benefit of the benefit that you feel is reason enough to buy a product or service. People are not looking for a TV - they want to enhance their viewing pleasure; they are looking for features; they are looking for so on and so forth. Got it! You decide which is important to your target audience. Working on brands Normally in big agencies you have a Creative Director (CD) or Senior Copywriter who works out the USP and the team of junior copywriters normally work on the headlines. But, in smaller agencies you have to do all the research. Isn’t it good – using your grey cells more, plus it will be easier when you work with big brands. Personally I have thought of every job as a big brand and gone through the same process; sometimes as a freelancer I was given the visual and asked to work ...

If you are interested in getting a job as an advertising creative, either as a copywriter; an artist then you need to create Spec ads in your Portfolio or BOOK. Make your Portfolio something out of the ordinary. Once you join an agency you have to craft regular stuff (most of the time!) but this is your time to plug off the stoppers and go for it! Make your portfolio outstanding and out-of -the box with these easy tips. Mention SPEC on each ad. If you have the original ad you could put it along with your SPEC ads. Hopefully you have a wonderful collection of ads from the print media and taped commercials, radio spots, include those that you dislike. If you have collected ads and created a Chap book with interesting ads and uninteresting ones - good, bad and the ugly – then each ad should be in the charmed circle of your ad collection, separated with sections for each type of ads for easy reference. This will help you when you create your portfolio. Before you...

Creative Session: Take any vegetable; be it potato, tomato, brinjal(eggplant), ladies finger… and make it a brand and create a personality for it!  e.g. a potato is normally viewed as a fattening veggie when it is actually good for health with vitamins, minerals potassium and others - they're good -the fat comes when they are deep fried...and when you tend to overeat. For e.g.  What if you made it a model? Headline: The perfect model ( straight line headline ) Headline:  Potato with tears (visual) (Emotional headline)  And they called me Fat !  After working on the Potato try other veggies maybe bitter gourd, brinjal..well the vegetable kingdom awaits!

Emotional Headlines This kind of headline speaks directly to the target audience, appealing to his emotions. Use a direct or an indirect approach. Quite like the News Headline, (which we have spoken about in an earlier creative session), the direct approach gives the clear benefit only this time it’s about touching the emotions. News headlines are more practical in approach. Direct Emotional Headline: A direct emotional appeal along with the benefit should be clear to the reader and should touch his feelings! This type of headline has a direct effect on making an impact; indirect is more of an attention grabber! A perfume that brings back the romance… Indirect Emotional headline has no direct benefit but attaches importance to the reader’s feelings or fear/worry. It should entice the reader to read the offer or the solution to the problem he/she feels. Indirect uses the emotional appeal that would grab the attention instantly but needs further explaining in ...

Testimonial Headlines: When users say positive things about a product then the ad becomes more believable. This is the Testimonial type of headline. You find very often celebrities are  used to do  testimonials but if you have:   A person who can say that he likes the product/service, and, who will testify to the reason why the product works for him/her!  Then go ahead , use them to get a   winning headline! The  Testimonial Headline  is a very popular type of headline and   very effective if it is believable and of course, nothing succeeds like word-of-mouth! Testimonial advertising is like: word-of-mouth publicity ! It includes every type of product/service. We will work on FMCG (fast moving consumer goods and 'White' goods 1.      FMCG (fast moving consumer goods) like tea, coffee, chocolate, consumer items of daily use, cosmetics, perfume, which are bought often like:Complan, Horlicks, Cadbury’s, Himala...

A   tagline   is one that is memorable, catchy and says in essence what your product/service or company is all about. To write your tagline: ·          Sum up in short the features that separate it from other products. ·          Make it catchy A tagline rarely changes and so it is very important to craft it carefully. Right now, have fun coming up with delightful taglines... Check the  famous ones :post a few of your own Just Do It (Nike - of course)  7 Up  ( broke the clutter with)   The Uncola Where is the beef?   Wendys - is one very famous tagline.  Avis Car rentals - We're #2, we try harder Intel Inside Plop, plop; fizz, fizz; oh, what a relief it is . -   Alka Seltzer( it can be as catchy as a rhyme) A Diamond is forever - De Beers Life's good - LG Yellow Pages: Let your fingers do the ...

Teaser headlines stop readers in their tracks! They capture attention in this fast moving capital world (fmcg)… Teaser headline could be useful especially for a launch product or any product that needs attention grabbing… The teaser headline builds up excitement in the reader through a funny word, an attention grabbing word, leaving a sentence incomplete …You could make the ad do a headstand, make it slant, huge, tiny….literally tease! The teaser headline is like playing Russian roulette, .for if you lose the reader in the headline…he will not read the copy. So be really smart, innovative, creative and funny…Try out various alternatives before you stick to one you are sure will grab attention. Unlike in our news, testimonial, direct, directive or other headlines, here, we do not offer the benefit in the headline, in fact we lead the reader into the copy out of sheer curiousity or excitement to know more… and they should not be disappointed. Direct Mailers or E-mail...

Reading must be a passion. Fiction, non-fiction, biographies, self-help, inspiring books, the Bible should be on the list for other reasons, too. Spiritual and filled with parables it has been inspiration to millions. Read books on the Buddha, and other spiritual teachings. Knowledge is your only weapon in advertising, so keep your mind open and unprejudiced. Read books on advertising like John Caples, Ogilvy, Bernbach - learn the basics from them.   Hey, Whipple Squeeze This , is my favorite so is Philip Ward Burton Advertising Writing. Later you could add  Otto Kleppner  - Advertising Procedure. . There are also creative books like -  A whack on the side of your head Keep reading everything you get your hands on. Magazines, newspapers, websites, fiction, non-fiction books even comics, you'll find them an important part of  seeing what others do not and that's the biggest plus point of being a copywriter - coming out with out-of-the-bo...