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I once had a program director who refused to let a commerical on the air that had the words "For all your _______ needs" on the air. He wanted the salespeople/copywriters to dig a little deeper and write a little better.
Cliches cripple copy.
Most of the time an advertiser will tell you that he has a friendly staff or a great service department.
Well I would hope so!
Your job is not to put those cliches in the commercial.Your job is to translate friendliness and good service into stories and tell those. Say, "Tell me about the best service you ever provided a customer?"
Listen for the story.
Make the story into a commercial. It will be more interesting to your listeners and get better results for your advertisers.
Cliches cripple copy.
Most of the time an advertiser will tell you that he has a friendly staff or a great service department.
Well I would hope so!
Your job is not to put those cliches in the commercial.Your job is to translate friendliness and good service into stories and tell those. Say, "Tell me about the best service you ever provided a customer?"
Listen for the story.
Make the story into a commercial. It will be more interesting to your listeners and get better results for your advertisers.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Chris G Lytle on -
Andrew,
Good article. I am the inventor of a copywriting measurement called the cliche index. (It never caught on, but I have taught it to thousands of people.) You take a piece of copy and underline all of the words and phrases that are cliches. Count all of those underlined words.
Then divide the number of underlined words by the number of words in the copy and multiply by 100. That number is the percentage of the copy that is pure cliche and a waste of the advertiser's dollars and your listeners time.
Pass it on.
CL
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Permalink Reply by coleportato on -
And a fine list it was, Andrew! Didn't get a chance to weigh in. How about, "Why go anywhere else?" My question: Why bring up the suggestion? Great blog--keep the home fires burning!
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Permalink Reply by Rod Schwartz on -
Your program director was remarkable, Chris, to have intervened this way. Good for the client, good for the station, good for the listener.
-RS
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Permalink Reply by Chris G Lytle on
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Rod,
This, unfortunately, was in 1974 and very little has changed. But the PD was/is a great radio guy.
Chris
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Permalink Reply by Joel A. Swanson on -
Putting the very best "advertising message" on the air that you can, is what its all about. That might mean being "creative"; but it certainly means doing the very best job you can, starting with the right station, the right schedule, and the right message!
Cliches are the easy (lazy) way out!
I agree! Listen for the story; the real USP!
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Permalink Reply by Chris G Lytle on
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"Creativity" is the problem. "Truth is better than creativity," said David Ogilvy. "Avoid superlatives, generalizations and platitudes. Be specific, factual and memorable. Tell the truth, but make the truth fascinating."
Calling your copywriter a "creative person" or calling two copywriters your "creative department" will guarantee that they will strive to be clever instead of finding the truth and telling the story.
Calling your copywriter(s) the "listener sales department" will focus them on what advertising is supposed to do--sell something to the listener.
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Permalink Reply by Jeffrey Hedquist on -
Chris - I like your idea. I may steal...er...I mean "adapt" this.
Jeffrey Hedquist
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Permalink Reply by Tony Mariani on -
If the copy makes me say, "no one talks like that", the ad usually sucks!
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Permalink Reply by Chris G Lytle on
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Very few screenwriters can write great dialogue. Show me a copywriter who can write great dialogue and I'll buy him or her a ticket to Hollywood. Because that's where people who can write great dialogue should be.
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Permalink Reply by Chris G Lytle on
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Send me the copy and I'll get back to you.
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Permalink Reply by Chris G Lytle on
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E-mail is chris.lytle@sparque.biz. Once you're in Hollywood, you'll need to have landed a screenwriters job in 6 months. Two tickets contingent on leaving your job in copywriting and looking for full time work in Hollywood.
I still want to hear your dialogue commercial, because I am the judge of the contest.
Anyway, I hope you win. Haven't seen many good movies lately. Have you?
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Permalink Reply by Jeffrey Hedquist on
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Maybe that's why Dick Orkin is there.
Jeffrey Hedquist
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