Microcopy & Prada Consider this Instagram Post from Prada How do you feel about it? Does it captivate you in an elegant way—the way only Prada can? Better yet, is it compelling enough to entice you to visit? Here’s what I thought: I’ll pass on the Prada Caffè experience, k-thanks. Microcopy’s goal is to support the main message but never …
Continue ReadingMel Martin & Fascinations Copy Editing Hot Take—Most bullet points are just dull, dry lists that lack creativity and fail to entice readers. ^^^^^How do I know? Because my mind begins to wander like a soul stuck in sales page purgatory, searching for a way to move on. Considering that improving bullet points on a sales page can increase opt-ins …
Continue ReadingAI, creativity, and judgy Ginger This is Ginger. She is judgy. “That’s what you’re wearing out?” “Did you even brush your hair today?” “Why. Haven’t. We. Left. YET?!?!?” But you know what’s even judgy-er than my sweet Ginger? AI. I break grammar rules to make copywriting better, which makes me a bit of a word anarchist. So I thought I’d …
Continue ReadingGrammar Police Won’t Increase Revenue You probably think these grammar police are being unnecessarily mean and nitpicky. A 2016 University of Michigan study looked at how personality influences the way you react to grammar mistakes in written communication. The results? Grammar police are more often “disagreeable, close-minded, and conscientious introverts.” They’re not jerks. They just don’t know better. Mini grammar …
Continue ReadingSpread The Happy – How Nutella’s Grammar Mistake Increased Sales By 15% This campaign turned an adjective (happiness) into a noun (happy). It’s a huge grammar no-no, but it’s a widely-used trick in advertising. By “nouning” the adjective, it turned a lackluster phrase (spread happiness) into something much more memorable and punchy. Because of this, it stood out. Like pure …
Continue ReadingWhy Size Really Does Matter With Copywriting The Rule of Three is everywhere. There are many ways to use this rule in your writing. One way is called Hendiatris. (Not to be confused with a medical condition.) This principle uses three words that work together to convey a single concept. It’s especially useful for advertising slogans and speechwriting. And the …
Continue ReadingMake Summer Funner – How A Made-Up Word Increased Target’s Revenue By $5.3 million This lovely little campaign from a few years ago was for Summer at Target and featured eye-popping in-store marketing and larger-than-life events with oversized summer objects. Grammatically speaking, it’s an F. Because Funner is NOT a word, right? (Sure. And unicorn poop cotton candy at the …
Continue ReadingHow “Got Milk” Created a Cult-Like Following “Got milk?” is a famous California marketing campaign from 1993 that’s built on a supposed grammatical error. This is because it leaves out “who” or “what” got the milk. The correct phrasing should be “Have you got milk?” or “Do you have milk?” It’s almost as boring as almond milk in my morning …
Continue ReadingThink Different – How Apple’s Grammar No-No Won The First Emmy For A Commercial Pedantic grammarians would argue that a verb (Think) should not be followed directly by an adjective (Different). Instead, the verb should be followed by an adverb (Differently). But is Think Differently a strong piece of communication? Tonally, it’s stiff and boring. Think Different is bold and …
Continue ReadingTo Each Their Own – How Honda Civic Used a Gender-Inclusive Pronoun to Increase Its Profit Margin I find some great literary authors exhausting. Jane Austen was among them. I used to think all her heroines were pathetic. All they did was pine away for haughty men who barely knew they existed and treated them badly anyway. Fuck Mr. Darcy …
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