"the bengal tiger of advertising"

As the second in a loose series of posts about the power of good writing, here's something I picked up on via Mike and Rish. There have been plenty of occasions when a designer has said to me, "I'd love you to drop some really powerful copy in here," as they pointed to their latest product. And there have been plenty of clients who rewrite things as they want to say them, rather than thinking the feeling they want to leave the reader with. Bah. And Shoreditch-based Sell Sell perfectly capture the inevitable sense of frustration that creates. It's a craft, and it's under threat. Over to David Ogilvy to sign off. He said, "Most good copywriters fall into two categories. Poets. And killers. Poets see an ad as an end. Killers as a means to an end. If you are both killer and poet, you get rich." So respect your copywriter. He/she may write you a love poem. Or kill you. Or, if they are great, both. Later this week I'll attempt to blog about something a bit more nebulous: writing to be interesting and writing to persuade.