Go Forth! Freak Out!

Err... not that freak out. No, not as in 'wet your pants' freak out but as in 'go wild' freak out. That was the 'brief' brief that went out to everyone regarding this little poster project we have going. The specifics work out thus: design posters that showcase what Rage Communications is all about. Like when a client walks in, what should he see other than our security table and lovely receptionist while he waits?

Yummy posters perhaps? Ok, so that's putting it rather vaguely. But it's a start. Yummy posters as in "that's a fantastic design" poster. A "boy I'd like to have that on my wall" poster. Dig? Umm. We're still in Thinkville on this one aren't we? But whatever we do, lets make it yummy.

So lets go forth and freak out as we've been told at our first post lunch meeting.

Warriors! Come Out To Play!

Hey, what’s that movie that has this gang say “Waaaarriors… Come out and palyeeee”? They drag out the whole phrase, which you might want to try, like now. Did ya? Never mind. Jaideep had recently been to Nagaland and met up with the indigenous people. That’s supposed to be a traditional dance outfit you see in the picture. Jaideep didn’t get to wear one. This one is a Photoshop by Arshad.

Some Summer Treat This!

Two thirty in the afternoon and the bay is as empty as a stadium after a match. We've been having electricity fluctuations ever so often now. And it's been hot, dark and rather gloomy inside. This shouldn't be happening at the height of summer...

Bruce Lee and the Art of Branding

This interesting bit is from Culture Making, a blog on culture-led branding. You can read the whole article here. But here are excerpts:

Bruce says: "Be formless... shapeless, like water”

Translation: Don't impose structure on a problem too early or stick rigidly to a process for process sake. Explore freely and allow your mind to wander; work adaptively and flexibly.

Bruce says: "I do not believe in styles any more"

Translation: Don't get caught up with one one-fits-all models that claim to be the holy grail of branding. Mixing and matching different ideas, innovations, communication codes and media platforms often works best and allows you to execute your brand idea in a much more compelling and interesting way.

Shifting Times

It's been decided! We'll henceforth have our meetings on Monday afternoons, so that everyone concerned is present. And also because we've suddenly realized that these meeting have begun to stretch a whole hour from the usual thirty minutes. Good thing really. Just how good, we'll find out in the coming weeks.

The swords didn't 'roll' this week either, only because we've stopped pushing the envelope. Let's remind ourselves that the Sword of Honour stands for pushing the envelope. And let's push!

The little exercise we're having of coming up with creative expressions of our own to be displayed office-wide is still on a sticky wicket since most of us forget about it the moment we leave the meeting room. Convenient! So Ramya is supposed to put all of us on a leash. Don't be too hard on us Ramya...

Connecting To The World Outside

If we've got our swords, they've got their Order of the Hottest Cubicle. We're talking about Web Chutney. Their 'Order' goes round quarterly though. But, hey, they have this award thing going too.

If you notice, this is the first time we're featuring other agencies in the industry on our blog. Kinda helps to know what goes on. Like we're not a world unto ourselves, we're part of a bigger whole. You get the drift, don't you?

Coming back to our meeting, it's beginning to be more interesting than before, when it was just the review of our creatives of the previous week, which took up all the time. All the time. Phew! We're beginning to like the new... what's that word... direction the Monday Morning Meeting is taking though, aren't we.

No swords went around this time. But we did get to talk about the creatives of other agencies. Work for The Economist, for instance. It was surprising that most hadn't seen The Economist advertising! That doesn't bode well for our ambitions to be the best around. Oh no, it certainly doesn't. We'd go so far as to say that The Economist put forth iconic communication (you can pull us up on that coinage later), and being in the dark about it despite being a part of the communications industry is anathema.

And that's more reason to open up to the world outside. We cannot be a communications entity of any standing if we don't know what's happening in our own industry. Now does that make sense to you or do you need a gum to mull over it?

The TEASE is back…

Today’s meeting was perhaps one of the most productive in recent times even if it was sparsely attended since a majority, a large majority, was all tied up with urgent work. There were no submissions and so it was just a few people opening up their minds. It was so much more refreshing than usual.

So, yes, we decided to revive the TEASE, which had such poor attendance after about five episodes or so. Only this time, it will be a collective effort, instead of an individual one. All of us will put our heads together to do something that is far apart from work. Good huh? Perhaps this time round the revived TEASE will see some really inspired work.

There was also talk about making our presence felt at the Madras Advertising Club. We’ve been off their active radar for sometime now.

Copywriting: Developing Style

Are advertising copywriters akin to writers and poets? Not a chance! So ok, words are the tools of their trade. But the similarities end there. Copywriter… you aren’t no poet, or author. Burry that thought. Have you? Good. Let’s continue.

Now, you’re sitting down to write copy. What do you do besides staring at a blank page or wiggling your toes? Write! Simply write without thought for style, to begin with. Remember that you are this passionate sales man behind a keyboard. And that it’s persuasion that you must bring into your copy. Lots of it.

But you must be interesting.

Like if you were to write a diary entry, a personal entry, how would you write it? “Got up from bed. Sat up on bed. Walked to the loo.” That’s boring! You gotta weave in a story. You must be interesting, even if you’re talking about your dentist’s appointment. Psst! It’s this story telling that will help you develop style. Your own style. (Yup, good copywriters have their very own style that might have taken them years to develop.)

Then again, you must be able to write in many voices. One for each client. That should have been obvious, you’d think. Not so. There are copywriters out there who can only write in one style no matter what client they are dealing with.

Dear mono-style copywriter, guess what?

The best copywriters out there believe that the same writing style in every piece of copy, even if it is elegant, is missing out on powerful ways to differentiate clients. They believe that it is every copywriter’s responsibility to create unique personalities for their clients. So “copy for a skincare client should sound different from copy for a power tool client. Different vocabulary, different sentence construction, different language rhythms.”

So the next time an assignment comes your way here’s how you should begin. Gather all the facts you can find. Dig it all up. All of it from everywhere. Interesting tidbits. Amusing facts. All of it. Then see if you can sort it in a manageable way. Maybe you’d want to keep aside bits for now.

Come back later and attack the copy for flow and style. Here’s a cue: style is dictated by the product itself.

(This is the author’s version on the above topic from ‘ Cutting Edge Advertising’ by Jim Aitchison.)