WRITING SAMPLES

Here you’ll see examples of short copy and long copy, B2B, B2C and B2E. You’ll see non-profit, consumer medical and social. You’ll see my ability to create brand documents and strategy documents and creative guidelines. Finally I'll show you how well I handle more "technical" copy.

Basically, you’ll see the wide range and depth of my experience. How well I can adapt to each challenge. And how easily I can manage anything you need.

1.SHORT, IMPACTFUL AND TO THE POINT

Ad for BBC, at a time when the issue of child soldiers in the Congo was in the news.

Copy: "People with higher demands of their news coverage turn to BBC World. BBC correspondents are in more countries than any other broadcast news provider. Making sense of every world event for 167 million households in over 200 countries. If you want to know all that is happening, everywhere –from any event's humble beginnings to its ultimate conclusion - BBC world is out there 24 hours a day."

Headline: Making Sense of it All.

I can write short, snappy impactful copy. Here are two examples: From a print campaign for the BBC. And an online campaign for the Sony PlayStation.

SEE MORE PLAYSTATION

2. VERY LONG COPY

I'm equally familiar with long copy projects. Such as websites and microsites.

I've written a lot of web content. From full websites and microsites for companies as varied as HSBC and Autodesk, to social updates, quizzes and tactical copy.

Above is a sample of site copy for software implementation company Bluewolf, that helped give it the visibility to be purchased by IBM.

To see the full 35 pages of site copy, just click the button.

SEE FULL BLUEWOLF COPY

3. B2B

I’ve written a wide range of online and offline B2B. Across technology, food and drink, leisure, financial, electronics, insurance, medical, public institutions. From full campaigns to targeted emails to specific verticals. You name it, I've done it.

So here are three very different projects. The first is one of a series of emails for peripherals company, Targus. Targeting the pain points of different specialisms within organizations to make the case for the product:

By contrast, here are samples of a 360 degree B2B project for Google, for their most important product - AdWords. The copy challenge covered everything from email, online and onsite messaging to customers – to developing a targeted training resource for Google professionals, to help them script, format, voice and develop content strategy for online video presentations.

And here I conceive and describe proposed new Ad Units to help Google advertisers monetize users more effectively.

Click the buttons below to see more of these projects.

SEE GOOGLE SEE FACEBOOK

4. B2C

I've worked on all manner of consumer advertising online and off. Across everything from supermarkets, to government campaigns, to electrical products, to credit cards, to – well – everything really.

Below is part of a print campaign for the Toshiba Strada. Part of a campaign for a new premium flat-screen TV at a time when bulbous, curving CRT's were still the norm...

Below that, Nilfisk. Part of a campaign for a high-grade, highly effective Danish vacuum cleaner. This copy was designed to make buying a less effective cleaner feel like not just a mistake – but also a little disgusting.

Copy: "Introducing the stunning new Toshiba Strada. The new benchmark. Ultra-slim, effortlessly-elegant styling. Designed to enhance even the most opulent environment. Six-channel hifi Dolby Digital Surround. Crisp, clear, wide, flat 36" screen. Enhanced by Toshiba Microfilter technology and 100Hz DFS. Inbuilt modem, program recorder and digital decoder. Be careful. You will fall in love."

Headline: The remarkable new Nilfisk King. So quiet you can hear the dust mites scream.

Copy: "Oh, the happy, happy life of a dust mite. Munching skin cells and leaving droppings all day. Stopping briefly to procreate – and then you're off again. Week in, week out. Until one fateful day... horror! You discover some idiot's gone and bought a Nilfisk King. Equipped with an ultra-high grade HEPA filter – it won't just capture dust, germs and radioactive particles. It'll trap you and your droppings permanently. You might as well forget clinging to the carpet with all six legs. Because the King's fitted with our most powerful domestic motor ever. And sound insulation so effective that you probably won't even hear it coming. Bah! Life sucks."

5. SPECIALIST CONSUMER

Headline: Are all your good intentions about to go up in smoke?

Copy: "This man is desperate. And who could blame him? Hooked on cigarettes for years – and now he's trying to quit. Cold turkey.

Maybe this time he'll manage it. But don't bet on it. Most smokers trying to quit, fail. Time and time again. Most find, when it comes to it, that willpower alone just won't work. The craving for a cigarette becomes unbearable. The body's urge for regular nicotine, overwhelming.

That's when Nicorette Patch can help. Nicorette Patch is proven effective in helping you through the first smoke-free months. The hard times – when quitting seems impossible. Nicorette Patch works with your body's natural cycles. To target the times you'd normally smoke, and avoid giving you extra nicotine when you're sleeping. Nicorette Patch relieves the unpleaseant side effects of your body's addiction to nicotine. Making it easier for you to stop smoking. Once and for all.".

When writing consumer ads for medical and financial products, you need to be aware of the rules. You need to know how to deploy "weasels". Master the art of inference. And use each word with precision, to avoid any sort of overclaim. So it reads like a consumer ad. But still keeps within the tight guidelines of its sector.

I know how to do this too. Having worked on products and services in tightly regulated sectors like medical, financial and insurance.

Above is a specialist consumer ad for Nicorette, the smoking cessation brand.

6. B2E.
EMPLOYER BRANDING AND RECRUITMENT

Copy: "Dad wasn't home last Christmas. The taxi was delayed. The ticket line was slow. So he missed his flight, Christmas lunch – and his kids opening their presents. Fortunately, that needn't happen this Christmas, because our new self-ticketing system helps people get in the air faster. At British Airways, our Analyst Programmers make people's lives easier with technology in Flight Operations, Engineering and Cargo, Sales and Marketing. If you have at least two years' IT experience, call 0181 564 1241."

Copy: "This little girl is travelling alone from one of Britain's busiest airports. But you can help her ensure she catches the right flight – as surely as if you took her by the hand. Analyst Programmers at British Airways aren't just supporting leading edge systems, they're also developing new ones in Flight Operations, Engineering and Cargo, Sales and Marketing. If you have at least two years' IT experience, call 0181 564 1241."

Large global brands don't just need to sell themselves to customers, but to treat potential employees like consumers too. Building employer brands that are just as compelling as their consumer ones. These two ads were part of a campaign to show British Airways as a very human brand, with a strong focus on people. Where even minor roles could have real impact on people's lives.

7. NOT FOR PROFIT AND CHARITY

Copy: "As you read this, by conservative estimates, 3 million people are suffering from leprosy. And another 14 million people - family members and dependants - will suffer ostracism, privation, and even starvation, through the loss of their main provider to the disease. And the tragedy is that no one need suffer at all. Because leprosy is curable. We've had drugs to treat it for decades. The average person can be cured with £21 worth of care.

What stands in the way isn't medical knowledge. It's fear and superstition in many regions where leprosy still strikes. In many areas, leprosy is seen as a curse from God. Those who catch it can be thrown out of their community. Refused burial with their ancestors – and thus, it is thought, a place in the afterlife. So, many hide the disease and don't seek treatment. In other areas, they take more active measures. This is a photograph of Apresh. He hadn't even reached his teens when he showed signs of leprosy. So his neighbors seized him. Poured petrol on his genitals. Then set him ablaze.

And then there's Santosh. At age eight, he was thrown out of his village, dragged from his grieving family and cast out to beg alone and isolated by the roadside as his affliction grew worse daily. When LEPRA discovered him, his clawed hand could hardly reach for coins. Aged only 10, he begged us for drugs that could bring him the death he longed for. Instead, we cured him. Gave him an operation that brought him back the use of his hands. And then we trained him in a skill that made him essential to the community that had cast him out. Finally, we went into his village and taught them about the true causes of leprosy and how it could be treated. So when he returned cured, he was met with acceptance rather than fear.

Leprosy is curable. All it takes is your donation. Help make this the generation that stamps it off the face of the planet forever."

I've worked on campaigns for a number of not-for-profit brands. I know how to write to the unique voice of each. And how to write ads and DM that bring in money. Above is a long-copy DM piece for a charity focused on eradicating a disease that has plagued humanity for millennia...

8. BRAND – MANIFESTOS

I also have experience writing the sort of materials specifically associated with Brand.

I've written a range of "vision pieces" and Manifestos for major brands. Including this one for Citibank, written at the heart of the financial crisis, when the bank was being heavily criticized. It created a new narrative. Promised a new direction for the bank. Formed the platform for the award-winning "Citi Renewed" rebranding. And birthed the "Citi Promises" campaign as America recovered from the crisis.

9. BRAND - BRAND VOICE GUIDELINES

I’ve written a range of brand guideline documents for Fortune 500 companies. Including those for the world’s largest bank.

10. BRAND - BRAND INITIATIVES

I've also written a range of brand initiatives. Here are a few sample pages from Citibank's Diversity Programme.

11. STRATEGY DOCUMENTS

I know how to write strategy documents for a range of macro and micro challenges. Here's one such challenge for Visa.

SEE VISA SIGNATURE

12. CREATIVE GUIDELINES

I've also written guidelines and workflows to manage and expedite the output of other creatives. Some of which you can see in my work for Charles Schwab.

SEE SCHWAB

TAKEOUT

So, when looking for an experienced copywriter, you don’t have to settle for a generalist. Or gamble on a specialist. I’ve specialized in so many areas, I can offer you the best of both worlds.