In great copywriting company
by Katie Shoard
Salman Rushdie in 1989
What do John Milton, Salman Rusdie and Frank Zappa have in common? They’ve all written adverts.
Yep. It might come as a surprise to the purists amongst you, but there’s a whole raft of notable novelists, poets, scriptwriters and lyricists who cut their literary teeth as copywriters. So what could advertising have offered these talented writers, aside from a steady income?
There is a theory that John Milton, author of the epic poem, Paradise Lost, was also the writer of the first ever trade advertisement to appear in the UK press. In September 1658 in Mercurius Politicus, the progovernment newsbook of which he was editor from 1650, there was an advertisement for a ‘China Drink’ with purported health properties:
“That excellent and by ‘all Physitians approved China Drink called by the Chineans Tcha, by other nations Tay, alias Tee, is sold at the Sultaness Head, a cophee-house in Sweetings Rents, by the Royal Exchange, London.”
Mercurius Politicus, No. 435, of September 1658
Hmmm, punchy.
Well, Milton’s style could never be described as ‘short and snappy’.
So perhaps he was better off pondering the eternal struggle between good and evil than starting his own Jacobean ad agency. Still, it’s good to know that we copywriters find ourselves in such esteemed company. Of course, I’m not for one minute suggesting that Milton’s press ad for the new-fangled drink imported by those ‘Chineans’ was a pre-cursor to Paradise Lost… just that perhaps there are more links between literary prowess and the world of commercial copywriting than you might think.
Salmon Rusdie
Take Salmon Rusdie for example – the celebrated author of the masterful Midnight’s Children and the fatwa-inducing Satanic Verses, and winner of a plethora of literary awards. Funny to think the same hand was responsible for the fresh cream cake strapline, ‘Naughty but Nice’ and Aero’s ‘Incredibubble’ during his tenure at Ogilvy & Mather in the 1970s. He’s not the only one either. There’s quite an impressive role call of ex-copywriters whose writing talents took them to great heights – F Scott Fitzgerald, Terry Gilliam, William Burroughs, Ogden Nash, John Betjeman, Joseph Heller and the one of the UK’s most popular contemporary female writers, Fay Weldon, to name but a few.
Joseph Heller
Joseph Heller obviously knew a thing or two about the ability of language to seep into the collective consciousness. The title of his seminal novel, Catch-22, depicting characters who find themselves in ‘no-win’ situations, has now been accepted into modern language to mean just that. Interestingly enough, before it was published the novel’s title was changed from Catch-18 to avoid confusion with Leon Uris’ novel, Mila 18 – but I’d like to think Joseph Heller just thought the title Catch-22 was a bit more… well, catchy.
Could copywriting have helped these writers to hone their linguistic techniques before their talent and imagination propelled them to literary stardom? I guess we’ll never know for sure. One thing we do know is that whether you’re writing a sonnet, a screenplay or a strapline for a 48 sheet, connecting with your audience is paramount. As a writer you have all the power of language at your disposal, and you can use it to provoke an emotional reaction, inspire action – even change social behaviours – as Fay Weldon herself achieved through her successful ‘Go to work on an egg’ campaign.
Stimulating the brain of the reader
Neuroscience researchers from the University of Liverpool found that by carefully crafting your language, you can positively stimulate the brain of the reader. When analysing Shakespeare’s work they discovered that a linguistic technique favoured by the Bard – ‘functional shift’ – created a surge in brain activity. ‘Functional shift’ is the technique of giving a word a different linguistic function, such as changing a noun into a verb. Shakespeare was an absolute master at it. His ability to coin new phrases and twist the way ordinary people spoke with wit, concision and insight was truly breathtaking, here’s a taster:
“Lord Angelo dukes it well in his absence” - Measure for Measure, iii. 2.
“Thank me no thankings, nor proud me no prouds” – Romeo and Juliet, iii. 5.
“Dost thou infamonize me among potentates?” – Love’s Labor’s Lost, v. 2.
It’s this creative use of language that led Roger Dooley of Neuroscience Marketing to suggest that if he were alive today, the Bard of Avon would have a very successful career as an advertising copywriter. Personally, I disagree. I think he’d be a filmmaker. However, what is fascinating about the research is that it suggests that using familiar words in a new, creative or surprising way stimulates an audience more than standard language does.
The power of wordplay
Although advertising copywriters are using their writing skills to sell products, wordplay and creativity are skills that are called upon on a regular basis. Looking into this a bit further you discover that techniques such as ‘functional shift’ have permeated advertising since the commercial boom of the early 20th century. To get a flavour, just look at the language used in straplines like ‘You’ve been Tangoed’, or the more action-based, ‘Don’t just do it, B&Q it’. And don’t even get me started on the way Google, a brand name (and pronoun), has become a verb that describes performing an internet search.
Before we get too carried away, it goes without saying that only advertising perverts amongst would get as much pleasure from a press ad as from a novel or a Shakepearean sonnet, and for this reason, copywriting is often sneered at in terms of an ‘art form’. However, what it lacks in craft, it certainly makes up for in linguistic dexterity. As technology continues to change the way we receive information, a copywriter today is faced with the challenge not only of connecting with a wide and varied audience, but translating their message effectively across an ever-increasing variety of media. To extremely tight deadlines. You have to be versatile. You have to think fast. And most of all, your words have to connect. I guess what this all is driving towards is the point that journalist David Levene made, which is despite its commercial focus, copywriting is still writing.
Frank Zappa… Copywriter!
I have to admit that my heart jumped for joy on discovering Frank Zappa, that crazy Mother of Invention, also had a spell as a copywriter. In digging about for this blog, I happened upon one of the ads he wrote for Luden’s Cough drops in the 1960s. I would have given my right arm to be a fly on the wall when he was selling this concept in to the accounts team. Even today, the kazoo-crazed soundtrack and super-slow, sinister undertones of the voiceover (both provided by Zappa) seem weird. But I guess that sums up Mr. Zappa himself, always prompting a reaction and always striving to produce something different.
And I suppose for writers of any ilk, that’s a pretty good approach to have.
Tags: Advertising, Advertising Copy, Award-Winning Advertising Agency, Award-Winning Copywriter, Copywriting, Direct Marketing, Frank Zappa, John Milton, Manchester Advertising Agency, Marketing, Online Copywriting, Persuasive Writing, Salman Rusdie, TV Commercials, TV Script Writing, UK Advertising Agency
