‘COPYWRITING SHORTS’ #103
As a copywriter, I’ve noticed an increasing prevalence of press ads that show no creative skills whatsoever. Typical of this is where a photo of the product/service is placed above a large headline, with maybe a few lines of body copy, plus one or two contact points.
No effort has been made to devise a creative concept that unifies both the image and the sales message. It’s as though whoever created the ad has no understanding of how a decent ad should work in pursuit of maximising its impact on the page.
This may be down to several factors – time constraints perhaps; no experience of preparing an ad that goes beyond basic design practices; or even a disregard among certain online specialists for anything that is ‘offline’ and therefore off-limits as far as their creative focus is concerned.
There’s no doubt that time must be invested in preparing an ad that will be both creative and effective. Having a complete awareness of the selling points of a product or service is essential before a single word is written and before images are sourced.
This involves a certain amount of research – in technical USPs and features for B2B ads, and in emotional triggers for consumer press advertising. In all cases, a full appreciation of the target media and its readership should be a given.
For more information about Buzzwords’ approach to creating effective press advertising, visit: