February 2012
2 posts
Why more and more products today have names →
A great article on the Named product, from J Crew clothes to Warby Parker eyeglasses.
“Anyone who’s met Minnie will tell you she is not simply a pair of pants. One Google search for “Minnie Pants” reveals pages of devout worshipers who “must have” her. Minnie’s maker, J.Crew, touts her magic qualities: “If you buy one pant this season, make it Minnie,” says her online description. “She’s...
1 tag
Steve Madden: Shoes for the Jessica Simpson...
If you care about connecting with your target market, you have to speak their language. But what if people in your target market talk gibberish? What if they’re incomprehensible?
Dammit, you do what Steve Madden is doing. You talk gibberish too and you become the shoe brand for illiterates.
For instance, look at the shoes below. How do you pronounce these names?
Shoe 1
Shoe 2
If...
January 2012
2 posts
2 tags
The boilerplate is maybe the hardest thing you'll...
Today I went to ge.com and saw the company no longer stands for “imagination at work.” It stands for “doing” and being “the best” when it comes to “things that matter.”
I love when companies evolve — especially big ones like GE and IBM — but this new GE boilerplate is weird because it’s just so vague.
This is the full version:
...
I've been AWOL, and I'm sorry
So I haven’t posted anything original or substantial to this blog in a while now, and I’m not sure if I’ll get back to it in the near future.
Here are a couple of lame reasons why:
- A post always takes me much longer than I thought it would take. Sometimes it’s two hours of sitting at my keyboard tweaking this word and that before I press “create post.”...
December 2011
1 post
2 tags
Louis CK on web design →
springbox:
Last Saturday, the comedian Louis CK released his latest comedy special, Live At The Beacon Theater for $5 exclusively through his website. On Reddit, he discussed how much he’s learned from being involved with the site’s design (done by Version Industries):
“From the moment it went online…I saw the result of every decision I made.”
We were particularly interested in what he had to...
November 2011
4 posts
1 tag
The BarackObama.com store has gone full SkyMall
There’s lot of merchandise in the store for you Barack lovers out there. That is, if you’re big on exercise, love to drink, enjoy tailgating and wear 90s jewelry.
Yep, there are the usual stickers, buttons, polo shirts, dog collars, mugs and caps. You can also buy martini glasses, wine glasses, tumblers and pint glasses. But if you’re looking for a more unique way to show your...
2 tags
Meet Chad Lott, a copywriter at Whole Foods!
Yesss, interviews are back! I’m really excited to share this one with Chad Lott, who’s the copywriter at the Whole Foods Northern California regional office.
My favorite line from our chat was when Chad explained how he got his current gig at Whole Foods. He said, “Hands down the most important thing for getting this job was the five years I spent selling grass-fed beef under a...
2 tags
Creating a brand personality with some swagger
I really (freaking) loved this article from Fast Company about South Africa’s Kulula Airlines. Thank you, Josh Linkner.
To Kulula, this stuff isn’t just marketing hyperbole. It’s who they are. It is their culture and personality; an authentic message about having fun and not taking themselves too seriously. And as a result, they stand apart from all the other nameless, faceless airlines....
6 tags
You've got mail, like, real mail
Just when it feels like online mail couldn’t get more spammy, real mail — the kind you touch with your grubby little hands — is getting more and more authentic and personal.
We all know the online shopping experience changing. Companies like Soap.com, Warby Parker and Zappos have already shown us that.
Fulfillment is instant, shipping is free, returns are free, discount codes...
October 2011
2 posts
6 tags
Goings-on in the copy world
I’ve been trying to find another copywriter to interview but no luck so far. In the meantime, some stuff that’s been happening:
Warby Parker is hiring a copywriter in NY. “If you want to use your amazing writing skills for good and help deliver the best e-commerce experience on the web, let’s talk.”
Vimeo is hiring their first-ever full-time copywriter in NY, aka....
2 tags
Netflix needs to teach its Twitter robot how to...
Customers today are like the Mean Girls of high school. One day they love you like their new BFF. The next day they hate you like Voldemort. It’s a fine line, and no company has experienced it more so lately than Netflix.
We all know Netflix has had a really bad semester. First, there was the nasty surprise price hike. Then there was the failed Qwikster do-over, which was like a premature...
September 2011
3 posts
1 tag
Now I can retire, just kidding
I received fan mail today! Now I’m pumped to post every day!
But at the same time, I feel like I could launch Camp Copy into blog heaven and feel good about having inspired just one other writer/content person. Thanks for writing, Nadine. Totally sweet of you.
—-
Hi Kathy:
I’m dropping you a line to let you know I love Camp Copy. I recently started a job as a “content...
2 tags
Let's hope email scammers never aspire to be...
Once in a while, I check the spam box in case anything important has slipped through. Of course, it never does. But there are always a few very urgent scam emails just begging to be opened.
The good news is it’s very easy to tell that these are scam emails. The strange writing is a huge giveaway. But can you imagine if a good short story writer went into the scamming business? We’d...
2 tags
Meet Alexis Vogelgesang, the copywriter at Method!
Sometimes the world feels huge and random. Other times it feels tiny. Like Dillon, Texas. For instance, when I first made contact with Lex via Twitter about this interview, she was just the talented stranger who writes all the great one-liners for Method products.
Then we realized that she’s great friends with Lissette, my coworker at Smart Design who happens to sit two feet away from...
August 2011
6 posts
4 tags
It was my birthday last week. Who cared?
Sure, I got a bunch of Facebook messages from random, faraway friends. But only three companies sent me birthday spam. Hmm, shouldn’t I have gotten more?
The Venetian offered a special birthday rate and a glass of clip art champagne. Why, I’d love to, but can’t get away right now.
Aveda said happy birthday with free shipping and a free sample with my next order over $25. Then...
2 tags
Ralph Lauren believes children should shop while...
That’s why they developed a global marketing strategy for their kids line around a “shoppable children’s storybook” series titled “The RL Gang.”
What does “shoppable” mean? It means all the kids in the storybook are styled in Ralph Lauren clothes like the characters in Gossip Girl, and everything is linked to Ralph Lauren’s e-commerce site.
...
3 tags
Coming up on Camp Copy
If it feels like this blog has been moving at the speed of sleep drool lately, it’s true. But exciting things are coming up I promise.
Well, two things in particular.
1. A look at Seamless and their slogan because it doesn’t suck and I have a feeling it means a lot to the company. I’m getting the inside story from the person in charge of Brand and Customer Marketing over...
2 tags
Meet Kate Kiefer, the content curator at...
This interview is long and awesome, so I’ll keep the intro short. Kate lives in Atlanta with her photographer husband and their Great Dane, Leon. She works as the content curator at MailChimp.
All photos of the MailChimp office are courtesy of Kate. She’s in the final pic. I love the wooden desks, the lights and that guy with the beard who looks so serious.
Oh, read this if you’re...
2 tags
Soap.com takes it to the next level
Opening a box of paper towels and contact lens solution from Soap.com was a delightful out-of-box experience.
I’m not kidding. The first time I ordered from Soap.com I was blown away. First, my stuff arrived the next day. Then when I opened the box, I found this envelope.
Who the heck are Marc and Vinit? I opened it.
Don’t bother trying to read it. I know the image quality is...
2 tags
Airbnb's automated email didn't do it any favors
Did you read about the Airbnb.com customers whose apartments were completely destroyed and their identities were stolen?
It was sick. And now Airbnb has been in 24-hour crisis management mode to repair the damage.
My god, where do you even start when something like this happens? There’s a shitload to do, and Airbnb is already doing a lot. But everything was just so broken. Customers felt...
July 2011
8 posts
5 tags
How to hire a great in-house copywriter
So you start a new project. Or a new company. And the designers are all over it. But then you realize your project (or your company) is more than just a product. You need to tell a good story.
It’s time to hire a copywriter. But how do you go about finding one? Three startups — Foursquare, Twitter and Square — are currently looking for copywriters so I thought I’d take a...
2 tags
Sometimes you don't even need words
Thank you, MailChimp, for showing us that when everyone else is shouting, saying less means a lot more.
Here is an article page from today’s Mashable.com. What’s the one and only thing your eyes are drawn to? Yep, that banner ad from MailChimp.
Can you remember the last time you focused on a banner ad and didn’t feel like it was a waste of your retinal energy? I can’t.
...
1 tag
What Delta means to say is...
“Vomit inside this bag.”
2 tags
Meet Abby Seiff, the amazing copywriter at Poppin
New stationery brand, Poppin, has two goals. 1) Make you smile at work. 2) Take down Office Depot. Their strategy? Kill ‘em with personality.
I’ve been interviewing Abby via email for, like, forever. (Email is not a very efficient way to interview someone.) She was a trooper though, responding to me while on vacation. Thanks so much, Abby!
So many interesting things came up during...
1 tag
Why I'm interviewing other copywriters
I’m a copywriter. No, not copyrighter. Copywriter. As in words. And no, I didn’t go to law school.
A lot of people don’t know what a copywriter does. They think it’s all about trademarks and copyright signs. They think copywriting is a type of law and I’m a type of lawyer. Maybe that’s why a psychic once told me I’d be a lawyer when I grew up. She...
4 tags
That awkward moment when you hear a brand voice...
I’m one of those people who sends emails to customer service just to see what kind of response I get. It’s kind of like retroactive couponing.
Sometimes I get a discount code or a $5 coupon. Sometimes I get a thoughtful email back. While I admit the coupons are nice, what’s really interesting is the brand voice that comes through.
Brand voice is how a company sounds whenever...
2 tags
How to be unexpectedly annoying on a bag of...
You know, I worry about overusing the word “annoying” on this blog. But there is no other word to describe the knee-jerk eye-roll that you’ll experience after reading this pretzel packet.
Thanks to my colleagues Jason and Andrea for saving this. It’s a nice contrast to the previous post about Newark Airport’s Fair Price Policy.
If you managed to make it to #5,...
1 tag
Thanks for looking out, Newark Airport
Yesterday morning I was at Newark Airport and saw this sign next to the registers at Crumbs bake shop.
It appears Terminal C at Newark Airport genuinely cares about its customers. And it has its own web site. And its own customer service department.
Weird, right? It’s like an oasis of honesty and decency in a desert of customer hate.
While airlines are charging us $25 to check a...
June 2011
7 posts
3 tags
Why are private sale sites for members only if...
I don’t get it. It’s like Starbucks saying, “Our exclusive coffee products are only available to Starbucks members who walk through our doors.”
“Set foot inside our store and you will have access to beverages made from imported coffee beans at prices available only to people who are physically inside a Starbucks franchise. Walking through our doors is free.”
...
3 tags
It's official
There are two types of companies: Those that get the connection between brand voice and the customer experience. And those that don’t have a copywriter on staff.
I need to write more about this later. After all, it’s exactly what this blog was founded on.
But I just saw that Square, the mobile payments startup company, is hiring a copywriter. And I remembered that Twitter was also...
3 tags
There's no such thing as funny spam, just annoying...
One of the first posts I wrote on this blog was about how Groupon’s humor is so Jay Leno. It’s so boring and safe, I whined.
Well, boring and safe if you scratch the Superbowl ad from the record. The truth is, while Groupon’s humor misses the mark for me, it works for others. I’ve spoken to people who claim to like the Groupon voice. Just kidding. They actually said it....
5 tags
Online surveys I love (and one I want to punch in...
Of all the junk emails we receive every day, the most outrageous one is the online survey. Not only does it expect us to click it open and read it. It wants a favor too?
Its intentions are noble, I suppose. “Help us help you,” is essentially its purpose. But does it really need to be 20 pages long? With four “least likely to most likely” questions on each page?
You would...
2 tags
CD Baby gets it
My colleague Dan forwarded me this order confirmation email dated Nov. 16, 2009. He still remembers it 18 months later. This store totally gets it.
Dan-
Thanks for your order with CD Baby!
USPS (1) The Wagon Train: The Damnation Twist
Your CD has been gently taken from our CD Baby shelves with sterilized contamination-free gloves and placed onto a satin pillow.
A team of 50...
2 tags
Apple does not care about our online orders
Back in March, I purchased two iPads and two “Smart Covers” for my parents. Apple did not seem very happy about it.
In fact, it felt like Apple shrugged at me. I had just dropped more than one thousand dollars in their online store — a huge amount of money for a lot of people, including me — and this was the order confirmation email I received:
Talk about the most underwhelming...
4 tags
When brands act like needy boyfriends
Old-school advertising meant we could ignore brands with a cool flip of the magazine page or switch of the TV channel. Now we have nowhere to escape.
They are in our computers and on our phones. Every damn day. Emails about free shipping, discount codes, upcoming sales, this week’s deals, automatic payments processed, customer service surveys and a hundred other stupid reasons to get in...
May 2011
3 posts
1 tag
Actually Groupon, you are not that funny
So Groupon has 400-plus writers and editors on staff, an eight-stage editorial process and funny is its competitive advantage?
That’s weird. Because I’ve always found the write-ups on Groupon a waste of time. And I don’t think I’m the only one. (Go and read today’s deal and report back.)
It’s all a bit too Jay Leno for me: rarely laugh-out-loud, inoffensive, takes too long to get to the...
Get excited -- Coming right up on Camp Copy
/ Why do some brands talk like Ned Flanders? (Zappos I’m looking at you.)
/ A tale of two online customer surveys: Bank of America vs. American Express
/ Where Apple fails / Online shopping receipts are the new spam e-mail
/ Behind the scenes at Whole Foods, Chase Bank and more
/ Online brand heroes: Warby Parker, Method and SeamlessWeb
/ When brands try too damn hard
Stay tuned!
2 tags
Why I started Camp Copy
Recently I had one of those weeks where I was buying everything on the Internet. (Don’t tell me you haven’t had one of those.)
Each time I pressed the checkout button, order confirmation emails plopped into my inbox. I must have received 20.
It made me curious about how brands speak to us when we buy stuff online.
I knew something interesting was going on when the automated invoice I...