The Copywriter Underground

Brandweek ran a story on deceptive marketing practices, and because of my outspoken advocacy of ethical marketing, I was extensively quoted.

The human brain can track up to four complex thoughts simultaneously, and yet — just before lunchtime today — I counted the open windows on my new 17″ laptop.
Six OpenOffice windows (five text, one spreadsheet), four Live Writer windows (my blog editor), three draft e-mails, a still warm-to-the-touch Google Talk window, and yes — two […]

Sometimes the weight of a couple deadlines, too much coffee, and a late night can have a mildly hallucinagenic effect on a copywriter — especially when you’re trying to pop out a half dozen “brilliant” ads.
And yes, there were times when I was reasonably sure my typewriter/computer/fingers/brain were conspiring against me. And if anyone else […]

No freelancer likes to get sick. It’s not as if we get sick days from the HR department. And there’s little worse than missing deadlines because you’re too busy driving the porcelain bus.
Yet it happens. It’s been happening to me all week.
I’ll be back at work next week. Preferably without the headaches, nausea, fever — […]

It’s hardly an advanced copywriting secret. Good news sells. For most copywriters, leading with the good news is second nature — a reflex. You’ll be thinner. Richer. Happier.
You get the drift.
In my writing, it’s second nature. In my speaking life, it apparently isn’t. Last weekend I served as Ride Director for the Shasta Summit Century […]

It’s not exactly “Copywriters Gone Wild,” but for the next two weeks, this copywriter will be blogging from a remote camp on East Grand Lake, Maine.

If I’ve learned one thing over the years, it’s that your best new-business technique isn’t advertising, or networking, or picking up the phone.
It’s scheduling a badly needed vacation.

In 1.5 weeks, I’ll be somewhere in the vicinity of this boulder.
Need work? Plan a trip.
Once you’ve actually purchased the non-refundable plane ticket, clients new and old […]

I stumbled across this nightmarish press release on The Bad Pitch blog. I wish I could say I was surprised. It’s a U.S. Netcom Corp release that leverages the Virginia Tech shootings… to hawk a product.
I’d like to congratulate U.S. Netcom Corp for being the first company (that I know of) to crawl over the bodies of the […]

The shootings at Virginia Tech dominate the news cycle, and it’s not exactly the kind of atmosphere that lends itself to a zany blog post.
Of course, people die every day — a state of affairs we accept because we know that nobody gets out alive to begin with.
Still, we’re shocked by the random and inexplicable, […]

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 […]