How does a bored man, sitting on his couch, eating starchy potato chips just like any other day, make his life interesting one sudden evening? How does a scratchy headed scientist stumble upon answers to his unsolved problems unexpectedly? Or perhaps the mysterious art directors and copywriters could tell us how they came up with an arrangement of five mere words that sold out a particular product. The funny thing is, if you’d ask them how they made it work, they shall tell you more about all the things that didn’t work first.
Ergo, we begin with the usual bad news: there really is no rule. Be so in copy writing, or in anything that reality extends itself to. But the questions are many, and have been asked iteratively...how to create fantabulous ad copies, how to sell millions just through words, and more importantly: how to come up with ideas almost out of the thin blue, leaving behind a wretched murderously killer ad copy on its way to influence trillions!
Unfortunately, most ad copy advisors don’t touch the last few questions. They do, however, tell you gallons about what should be done (market research, understanding of target audience, etc.) and all that could possibly help but not exactly do the magic. No one talks about that utter moment of creativity, when they happened to conceive that very perfect ad copy they had, till then, broken their heads over. How could they? The fact is they don’t know it themselves, and no copywriter for that matter could!
But here are some groundbreaking observations and realizations (if you will), and these could cumulatively be termed “Tunnel B” to that creative moment which has cached treasures of perfect copies. Please note that these rules apply after all the market research is fatigued, after all the client briefs have been recapitulated, and after all the required information has been gathered.
Step 1: Unlearn the learnt.
Think of it as a memory loss. After having gathered all the information, please feel free to consider yourself an idiot out of whose head all the information just slipped out. Nice. Maintain that state for a few more minutes. And voila, you have just created more space for your cramped up ideas. Time to roll up your thought sleeves now!
Step 2: Create the most imperfect copies.
Yes, you are allowed to scribble whatever you like and whatever randomly makes its way into your head. There would arrive not one but many. But you shouldn’t stop there at all! Write down all those that cross your head, not sparing any. Be as accommodating as you can, to cliché, bourgeois, and crazy ideas alike.
Step 3: Choose the ones that contain the best ideas.
Choose some of the best (no prescribed numbers again, please!) copies that you have jotted, but don’t fall for words (and your own words that too!). What that means is, don’t choose copies that merely look good or sound good or have flashy and gaudy words in them. Go for the ones that have the best idea hidden underneath. And trust me, you’d know which ones they are!
Step 4: Become a word broker.
For the next few minutes, exchange one word for another. In the copies that you have selected, flush out the bad words and bring in more appropriate words, words that specify the situation better or the intention clearer. Be open minded in using all replaceable words that come to your head eventually.
Step 5: Become a word acrobat.
After having done all the word brokerage, it is now time to flex words, perhaps turn them inside out. Keeping the set of words constant, try rearranging them to please the eyes and ears. Objectives under this rule include brevity, impact, and cosmetic appeal of the copy.
Step 6: Become the customer, not the client who’s product the ad is for.
Close your eyes and imagine yourself taking a humble walk down an unknown road. And then you stumble upon a banner that has your copy. How does it look? Does it look pretentious? Does it look irrelevant? Does it have disturbing humour, or cliché, or is it passé? Again, you would know!
Step 7: Flashback.
Now is the nostalgic bit. Look back at the copies that you had written down at first. Do the new ones look better, or are they more or less the same? If the new ones look better, move on. Or else, you are going to be laddered down to Step 1 again. (This involves unlearning all these seven steps!).
Step 8: Opposite tuner.
If two, three, or more copies have survived hitherto, take a moment to laugh. For, this step requires your sense of humor and shock. With the copies that you have, see if you can slip in some more humor or fine tune the shock factor. Here we are talking about adjustments to the copies in terms of what they already are. A trivial bit of exaggeration or amplification is what is essentially required. Now do the opposite. Make the copies as minimalistic and simple as possible. This step is a third eye opener!
Step 9: The opening of the third eye.
Look around you, just look at everything around you. The desk, outside the window, at random words in newspaper columns. Perhaps you may want to pay attention to the lyrics of the song that might now be playing around you. Information will pour in, but only relevant and precise information this time. Use what you get, with your third eye.
Step 10: The irritating exhibitionist.
Become an absolute exhibitionist, and show you copy around to all sorts of people. Bored people, sleepy people, critical people, loud and quiet people, people’s people. Almost anybody would do. Also, approach drastically different people in what their vocations suggest. Notice what their reactions are like to your copies.
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Chillibreeze's disclaimer: This is a contributed article and was published on Chillibreeze in September, 2010. The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author(s) and do not reflect the views of Chillibreeze as a company. Chillibreeze has a strict anti-plagiarism policy. Please contact us to report any copyright issues related to this article. The relevance of the facts and figures cited (if any) could change after a period of time.
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—About our writer:
Subhartho Bhattacharya graduated as an engineer, but he was already a writer by then! So, he trudged along life, and found himself fabulous writing jobs. He has not only written a full-length fiction novel, but has also been a chief editor for various periodicals. He is currently a copywriter in an ad agency, and a freelancer too. Expertise: Critical projects, article writing, web based writing, report writing, SOPs, "how TOs", and (let's face it) almost anything!
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