Most of what I do is writing English for translation. So I write a reference copyblock for, say, an email - and it gets sent to different countries around Europe and beyond for translation.
I learned very early on when I started doing this for Ericsson in Stockholm to keep it simple and idiom-free. You start using metaphors or culturally-specific references and you'll soon have an irate account manager chasing after you because they've been fielding calls from nonplussed country managers asking what a 'sticky wicket' is.
So if I'm writing copy to be translated (or targeted at a non-native English audience) I keep it simple. No metaphors, no slang, no complicated sentence structure or pretentious vocabulary... in fact I only use words of more than one syllable if I really, really must.
It's something not everyone understands. The first problem tends to be with accounts based in the UK or the US - neither of which are countries known for their sympathy towards other
linguistic cultures. Agencies and marketeers all too often come up with concepts they insist are global... but which are almost entirely untranslatable. So local agencies are forced to water them down, make the best of what they have... and compromise.
There's another side to this coin too - and it's a slightly irritating one. When I write these slightly-too-bland-to-be-used-in-real-life copyblocks and send them to the countries they're not just translated. Each country has its own copywriters that will rewrite the copy keeping the same messages but making it work in their language, their culture and their marketplace. In other words they inject the national slang, idiom, cultural references and sellingness that I deliberately left out.
But the UK office almost inevitably (and this doesn't just happen to me, by the way - it's a common complaint) calls to say the copy's bland and crap and they're using their own.
Gah.
March 30, 2010
How to get slightly more ahead in advertising (or copywriting, at least).
I left my last full-time copywriting job in March last year with six month's salary (half of which went on a car) and a few contacts. The first couple of months were OK - I had a bit of work from my former employer and another agency, and of course I had my redundancy payment. But as spring turned into summer and a flurry of work in August (it pays to be available when everyone is on holiday) came to an end, it started looking a lot bleaker. The rentr�e didn't really happen, and things dried up so much that in October I billed 400�. That's one banner ad for HP... or a couple of week's groceries after tax.
But after a year of freelancing, things have finally started to get better, thanks to a bit of luck (we all need that from time to time) and a lot of persistence. I think (and hope) that I might have found some regular clients that will give me enough work to live on. Here are a couple of things I've learned:
1. Loyalty and karma pay. Just before I lost my job I was called by an acquaintance of mine and asked if I'd like to do some freelance work in Paris. At the time I didn't have a French SIRET number, and I figured that the bureaucracy would be horrendous - not to mention the danger of my employers finding out I was moonlighting for a competitor.
So I passed it on to another freelancer I know. And next week I'll be doing some work she's passed back to me. People remember when you do them a favour.
At the moment I'm helping out another couple of friends. One's a French writer, the other needs a French writer. You never know... maybe that will come back some day too.
2. Email is great. But it has its limits. I'm quite a shy person, and my French is terrible. So at first I was sending a lot of emails, and getting very few responses. If only I'd remembered a trick my first boss had told me. This dates me, but he said 'never send an email for anything important if you can send a fax'. His rationale was that you can ignore an email, but a fax is something physical - and sooner or later someone has to do something with it - and they won't throw it in the bin.
So, no more emails. Get yourself out of the house, get into town and go and see all your leads every couple of months or so. Get your face known, keep yourself at the front of their mind and sooner or later the work will come. I've even got stuff there and then before now, but you'd be surprised how often the phone rings a couple of days after you've done your latest round.
3. People want to help. If people know you're looking for work and they have work you can do, they'll call. So get in touch with your former colleagues and clients and work your network!
4. Social networking isn't completely useless. Although there are people running agencies in Paris who think that 'Twitter!' and 'Facebook!' are adequate answers to any brief, and despite the fact social networking is in many ways an answer to a marketing question nobody's actually asking, sites like LinkedIn and Facebook are useful when you actually use them for social networking. Make friends with all your colleagues and contacts... and get yourself out there. I've had work from colleagues I barely remembered, but who knew me.
5. Be patient. I'm not patient by nature, but I've learned to be. Set yourself a realistic target for your first few months and try to relax when you hit it. Don't worry if you have the odd bad week or bad month. And don't take rejection personally. If you're not what they're looking for you're not going to persuade them... until the other guy turns out to be no good and they come back to you.
6. Be optimistic. Nobody likes a sourpuss... and nobody hires them.
But after a year of freelancing, things have finally started to get better, thanks to a bit of luck (we all need that from time to time) and a lot of persistence. I think (and hope) that I might have found some regular clients that will give me enough work to live on. Here are a couple of things I've learned:
1. Loyalty and karma pay. Just before I lost my job I was called by an acquaintance of mine and asked if I'd like to do some freelance work in Paris. At the time I didn't have a French SIRET number, and I figured that the bureaucracy would be horrendous - not to mention the danger of my employers finding out I was moonlighting for a competitor.
So I passed it on to another freelancer I know. And next week I'll be doing some work she's passed back to me. People remember when you do them a favour.
At the moment I'm helping out another couple of friends. One's a French writer, the other needs a French writer. You never know... maybe that will come back some day too.
2. Email is great. But it has its limits. I'm quite a shy person, and my French is terrible. So at first I was sending a lot of emails, and getting very few responses. If only I'd remembered a trick my first boss had told me. This dates me, but he said 'never send an email for anything important if you can send a fax'. His rationale was that you can ignore an email, but a fax is something physical - and sooner or later someone has to do something with it - and they won't throw it in the bin.
So, no more emails. Get yourself out of the house, get into town and go and see all your leads every couple of months or so. Get your face known, keep yourself at the front of their mind and sooner or later the work will come. I've even got stuff there and then before now, but you'd be surprised how often the phone rings a couple of days after you've done your latest round.
3. People want to help. If people know you're looking for work and they have work you can do, they'll call. So get in touch with your former colleagues and clients and work your network!
4. Social networking isn't completely useless. Although there are people running agencies in Paris who think that 'Twitter!' and 'Facebook!' are adequate answers to any brief, and despite the fact social networking is in many ways an answer to a marketing question nobody's actually asking, sites like LinkedIn and Facebook are useful when you actually use them for social networking. Make friends with all your colleagues and contacts... and get yourself out there. I've had work from colleagues I barely remembered, but who knew me.
5. Be patient. I'm not patient by nature, but I've learned to be. Set yourself a realistic target for your first few months and try to relax when you hit it. Don't worry if you have the odd bad week or bad month. And don't take rejection personally. If you're not what they're looking for you're not going to persuade them... until the other guy turns out to be no good and they come back to you.
6. Be optimistic. Nobody likes a sourpuss... and nobody hires them.
March 19, 2010
Freelance dilletante
When you write your CV or your letter of motivation for a job in my line of work, one of the things you always say is that you have the ability to 'master a brief' quickly.
What that often means is that you have the ability to get a superficial level of understanding of more or less anything and then write something that sounds vaguely convincing.
The last couple of months I've had to learn about:
What that often means is that you have the ability to get a superficial level of understanding of more or less anything and then write something that sounds vaguely convincing.
The last couple of months I've had to learn about:
- Oil pipelines (see above)
- Dermal fillers
- Cloud-based applications for small businesses
- Frequent flyer programmes
- Health supplements
- the Yellow Pages in Hong Kong
What I am doing today
The last couple of weeks I've been working at a small, very French agency on the Left Bank (not my usual side of the river, so it's nice to get over here for a change) on a pitch for one of those huge companies you've never heard of. Their business is, basically, pipes. Pipes for oil, pipes for air, pipes for gas and so on, plus all the widgets that go with them and the project management of getting these incredible networks of pipes ready to install and use.
It's a fascinating project, mostly because there's such a lot of opportunity to promote the brand in the environment they're operating in. Ads in oil industry trade magazines are terrible.
It's a fascinating project, mostly because there's such a lot of opportunity to promote the brand in the environment they're operating in. Ads in oil industry trade magazines are terrible.
Parker Pen Global site
Another site I've worked on recently is this one, for Parker Pens. There's a feel of affordable luxury about it - and of course Parker has a fantastic story to tell.
This is a site I worked on with Wunderman Paris for Danone Waters. As well as explaining the importance of healthy hydration in all our lives, it has a stylish little calculator app that shows you how well you're hydrated according to your weight, your age, your lifestyle, where you live (different diets have different amounts of water in them) and, of course, the things you drink during the day.
Nice project, nice people, and a nice site. Worth a look.
Hello
Did you know the word 'hello' hasn't always meant 'hello'? Originally it was an expression of surprise - and it's still used that way today ("hello - what's this?"). The story goes that when the first telephones came along, someone said 'hello' when they heard someone they couldn't see in the room talking... and the rest is history.
Anyway... more of that sort of thing later I expect.
If you're here it's because I've sent you here to look at work I've done and find out a bit more about me. So without further ado, here are some samples.
Anyway... more of that sort of thing later I expect.
If you're here it's because I've sent you here to look at work I've done and find out a bit more about me. So without further ado, here are some samples.
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