It’s time for a confession. Yesterday, I had to ask a copywriting pal of mine what was meant by ‘response’ in direct mail. Was it the number of people who did what was asked of them or the number of sales or conversions? I was relieved to find out that he was almost as unsure [...]

The trouble with copywriting is that it’s a completely unregulated industry. There’s no Ofcopy. Perhaps there should be. I’ve just completed a copywriting job for an Asian hotels and resorts company – they loved my work – after their original copywriter had let them down. Big-style.
I don’t normally knock the copywriting competition. But I’m going [...]

I see that the National Institute of Economic and Social Research has said that between September and December the economy grew by 0.3 per cent, its first quarter of growth since the beginning of 2008.
Its prediction comes two weeks before official figures from the Office for National Statistics that are widely expected to show that [...]

I see that British Transport Police has dropped the word ‘Christmas’ from a national publicity poster to avoid upsetting people who do not ‘buy into’ the festival.
Unfortunately, the word ‘Christmas’ had been followed by the word ‘presence’, which was quite a neat play on words. Much neater, in fact, than ‘Holiday presence’, which is how [...]

Further to my post this week about Today Translations’ Baby-Naming Audit service, I just thought I’d pop back and crow about my headline on their website blog:
Better safe than Suri.
Tee-hee.

My client, Today Translations – they of the Glaswegian translations that scored such a major PR hit a few weeks back – have struck again.
Translation agency? They should be a PR agency. Thanks to Jurga and co., celebrities (or anyone else) can now get the lowdown on their exotic baby names with a Today Translations [...]

From time to time, I get e-mails asking me for advice on how to get started in copywriting, who to approach, how to write such and such etc.
Now, I’m quite an obliging bloke and, even though the request has probably cost me at least £1.50 on Adwords, I usually send a fairly prompt reply. After [...]

It’s often said of copywriters that we’re all frustrated novelists. So, in the interests of research, I’ve been putting this to the test.
By the end of this weekend, I hope to have completed 12,000 words and my third chapter, at which point a friendly literary agent has agreed to have a gander at my efforts.
As [...]

For all you budding copywriters out there who want to live the dream and work at home, be near your kids etc., let me tell you about today.
OK, it’s half-term, so I’ve got three kids to look after for starters. At 7.50am, I get a call from my sister-in-law. Her car battery’s dead: could I [...]

PR is cool. PR is trendy. Best of all, PR is free. There’ve been many documented PR stunts and coups over the years, but one of my long-standing clients just pulled off a classic.
It looks like Today Translations will go down in history as the company that advertised for Glaswegian interpreters. Yes, they actually placed [...]