http://www.write-on.net/blog Andrew De Gabriele's thoughts on copywriting, marketing and advertising Mon, 04 Dec 2006 12:35:09 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en   KFC's are claiming that their brand new logo is the very first to be visible from space, although I had a feeling that's been done before (I can almost spot the deckchairs on my roof from Google Earth). Now my suspicions are confirmed and  KFC's claim is in serious doubt! In any case, ... http://www.write-on.net/blog/2006/11/16/is-kfc-delivering-to-outer-space/ Sometimes people write words that mean nothing at all. And racking your brains on nothing is just like trying to divide by zero. All you end up with is a blinding headache. That’s just what happened to Lewis Green when he read this article called Top 10 Marketing Processes for the ... http://www.write-on.net/blog/2006/10/19/of-headaches-and-marketing-babble/ Branding done well can work wonders for your company’s image. Your business will look better, smarter, more desirable – anything you want. Invest enough in expert brand consultancy and your competition will be left to eat your dust. But if it’s only skin deep, you’re in big trouble. *** Seth Godin remarks about the ... http://www.write-on.net/blog/2006/10/05/don%e2%80%99t-let-your-branding-backfire/ Bob Bly posed an interesting question last week, about grammar and ad copy. Grammarians, he says, would point out that the word ‘free’ in the term ‘free gift’ is redundant because a gift is, by definition, understood to be free. I think another thing that’s redundant is pointing out that such grammarians ... http://www.write-on.net/blog/2006/09/18/why-no-one-gets-grammarians-to-write-ad-copy/ Whether you like them or not, puns are part and parcel of the advertising world. Used wisely, they can work well to attract attention or to make a product that much more memorable. Other times they fall flat. But the worst kind of pun has to be the one that ... http://www.write-on.net/blog/2006/09/06/rent-a-car-in-just-40-easy-steps/ It’s been a lot of work immediately before a lot of travelling and the result is that over a month has passed since my last post and, while there are reasons, I have no excuses. I have broken the ‘blog regularly’ rule – the first rule of blogging. Last week I ... http://www.write-on.net/blog/2006/08/18/are-you-breaking-the-first-rule-of-selling/ There’s a big headline debate raging in the copywriting circles. It’s not about whether the clever-sounding ones are better at getting people to read the rest of the copy. They’re usually not, like I pointed out a couple of weeks ago. And that’s a fact. The hot question is whether long headlines ... http://www.write-on.net/blog/2006/07/13/how-long-should-your-headlines-be/ I recently commented about the unfortunate fact that many businesses lose sales by failing to recognise the value of good copywriting. And in another post, I touched upon the importance of testing your advertising so that you find out what works best in a particular circumstance and do more of that. It ... http://www.write-on.net/blog/2006/07/05/marketing-wisdom-from-the-horses-mouth/ The realm of the esoteric seems to have invaded that icon of modern technology that is the World Wide Web. CNN reports that some Indian web designers are advocating the use of the ancient philosophies of Indian Vaastu Shastra and Chinese Feng Shui to resolve the harmony imbalances that, they ... http://www.write-on.net/blog/2006/06/28/the-most-common-headline-mistake/ Seth Godin blogs about the two sides to the marketing coin. Attracting attention, making an impact and creating buzz are fine, but that’s just scratching the surface. Marketing is much more than that. The most successful marketing comes as a result of delving deeper, to present perspectives and tell stories that ... http://www.write-on.net/blog/2006/06/23/marketing-glitter-or-marketing-gold/