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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.

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Permalink Reply by Joe Lyons on May 28, 2010 at 9:40am

Avoid cliches like the plague. I said it last September and I say it again.

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Permalink Reply by John Edward Harper on May 30, 2010 at 9:49am

Hi Chris...Good info on commercial copy writing! One more item to add to your list...how about those who write into their copy a list of items on sale @ a store, etc. only to have them say in the copy "and there's more". A real turn off to the spot and the client as far as I am concerned.
Regards;
John Harper
WMEL Talk Radio
Cocoa Beach/Melbourne, Florida

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Permalink Reply by Scott Lanter on July 29, 2010 at 10:50am

That program director was exactly right. When I was a program director, I refused to allow any spot on the air that included, "For all your ______ needs", "Conveniently located at ______", "and much, much more", and "Stop by today". Those cliches not only cluttered the airwaves, but they also did the client no good, whatsoever. I didn't make any friends with the sales staff with my policy. Even had my car keyed by one of them because of it (He went on to become a janitor somewhere). But, the staff finally got on board with me, put on their thinking caps, and finally got out of the rut.