The Art Of Refining A Complicated Brief Into A Simple S...

2The art of refining a complicated brief into a simple selling message. 3 The techniques for developing ideas. 4 The nuts and bolts of radio and Sky work. And this I propose to do.

Later, we'll discuss peripheral matters like the secrets of taking agency copy tests. Right now, though, a few specific thoughts about the online advertising business might be in order. I include these because without a basic understanding of what makes it tick, the entire mechanics of copywriting will remain equally mysterious. Rule 1 A good copywriter has the happy knack of appearing both restrained and arrogant at one and the same time.

Advertising, as I am sure you know, helps make the money go round. It spreads the word; creates cash flow; occasions employment; and, done properly, fetches largesse. Take a case, for instance, where a very clever chap employs five hundred people to manufacture the definitive and provably-instant cure for baldness. Let's call it Hair Today. Unless consumers begin purchasing his product in something of a hurry, he will be in trouble.

With little or no revenue coming in, he'll be unable to buy more materials and unable to pay the work force. So it's on the cards that Hair Today will certainly be gone tomorrow.

His business will collapse, his employees will be decanted on to the dole, and you and I won't get the benefit of a remarkable head of hair overnight. It stands to reason, then, that he must make his product known far and wide; and he must sell it far and wide via advertising.

Now, where does he promote this supreme answer to every shiny-pated individual's wildest dreams? Motorboat and Yachting? Hardly. Punk Weekly? Not really.