The Copywriter Underground

This week’s Fifteen Minute Pitch Post is hardly cutting edge, but then, most of the things we do in marketing aren’t.
A large client – the Marketing Director of the industry’s biggest player — has always used a merchandise offer to build his e-mail list. A plausible approach – and one that’s stood the test of [...]

The old saw about learning more from your students than they do from you is likely true.
Last night I guest-taught a class of small business owners (or soon-to-be-small-biz-owners) about “The Messaging Platform” — the statement that provides a foundation for all of an organization’s marketing messages.
The idea is simple; these small business owners have devoted [...]

Talking to other copywriters is a treat — especially when they’re all good at what they do.
Sunday evening’s BlogTalkRadio “Nuts & Blogbolts” discussion left me with a page of scribbled notes, a brain buzzing with ideas, and a deeper appreciation for the vision of my fellow copywriters.
It’s not every day you get to sit down and [...]

I think I became a writer for a reason. One of those is that I’m not the most glib guy on the planet, and while I’ve given my share of presentations and pitches, there’s always a chance I’ll launch a brick every time I open my mouth.
So if the chance to hear what top copywriters [...]

The Friday Fifteen Minute Pitch Post is one of my favorite ideas — investing 15 minutes each week pitching a new project to an existing client — but I’m realizing Fridays might be a little too hectic.
Next week, this could become the Thursday Fifteen Minute Pitch Post.
I write, I learn.
Today’s Pitch
Today’s pitch project is no [...]

The debate rages (in fact, it’s raged for years). But the “messy desk” folks (yes, that sometimes includes me) can now hold aloft a book that validates their somewhat disordered experience.
From Extreme Tech:
Sponsored by publisher Little, Brown and Co., the competition promoted “A Perfect Mess: The Hidden Benefits of Disorder,” by Eric Abrahamson and David [...]

I’ve done many pro bono projects over they years, and while most were not big jobs (fundraising letters, brochures, etc), they were often fun.
Three years ago, I agreed to help market the Mount Shasta Summit Century. It’s a very challenging bike ride/fundraiser in a mountainous Northern California area.
The ride raises money for youth sports [...]

 Photo by Daniel Deak Bardos.
Things have been a little sleepy around the Underground lately. I’m swamped with work, and I’ve been making some long-overdue improvements to the other facets of my marketing process.
Still, I haven’t forgotten my readers.
I’ve written a mini-case study featuring pair of fun ads, and have another post ready for final editing. [...]

One media outlet “gets it.”
That’s my conclusion about David Bradley (Atlantic Media owner), who is looking to revitalize the “Atlantic” media brand, and he’s looking to online talent to do it for him.
From Poynter Online - Romenesko :
Atlantic Media owner David G. Bradley wants to recruit a group of uber-experts to form what he [...]

David Airey’s design blog delves in the SONY Playstation 3 mess, and showcases a devastating anti-PS3 YouTube video that’s been viewed better than a half-million times.
First, Sony released an ultra-expensive gaming product (PS3) that actually inhibited online play (social networking).
Ouch.
Then they got caught running the Sony Flog (a fake fan blog), which not only deceived readers, [...]