The role of a writer.

On the 24th of March my class had a very interesting visit from Chris Rickaby, Copywriter. To name drop a few, he has worked at DDB London, Robson Brown in Newcastle and then in 1999 Different, where he worked for quite some time. One of his favourite recognitions as part of a team at Different was from Campaign 'proof that creativity exists outside the capital'. This just shows the level to which he is working to, and how important it was for myself to learn from him. Although I am predominantly an Art Director and my partner the Copywriter, we do change roles often so it is important to have the knowledge of how to write well.

He began by giving a presentation on 'The role of a writer'. He felt that traditionally the role of a Copywriter was to create ideas, be a strong team player, craft headlines, craft script/copy/web copy, and to copy check. But he now believed that the role of a writer these days is to still have knowledge of the traditional aspects but to also be able to understand cross-platform and transmedia story telling with the evolution of technology. This is something which I found quite interesting, and I will be looking at the range of different medias which can now be used in copywriting, at least I can say I am currently using a main new media for writing, this blog!

Chris then went onto to talk about one of the most famous Copywriters of our era, named John Caples, a.k.a. 'The Sizzle King'. He told us that in an advert 'Your not selling the sausage...what your selling is the sizzle'. Now this line I thought was perfect, it sums up advertising exactly. It means that you are not selling a product, your selling the thing that is either going to benefit you or someone else. An example of this is one of John Caples greatest adverts, as you will see below:

John Caples himself:


For its time it was truly inspirational, he was able to tap into how to sell something as boring as piano lessons. The piano lesson was the sausage, and the social poise from being able to play the piano was the sizzle. John Caples retired at the age of 82, a true sign of his dedication to his work, and an inspiration.

Chris Rickaby then when on to explain another of his tips, 'write with the reader', you must get a grasp of who your selling to. An example he gave to us about this was his experience as a junior copywriter working for DDB, his creative director Tony Cox, would come around to take a look at how he would be getting on with the briefs he had been given. More than often his response to their work would be 'its a bit cup and saucer', what he meant by this was that the visual and the copy were telling exactly the same thing. He was trying to tell them that they must compliment one another but not say the same thing. An example of this where Chris got this very right was a campaign he worked on to stop Mothers in Sunderland from smoking while pregnant, as you will see below.



The visual (saucer) hooks you but then the copy (cup) connects the visual with the information. Which gives it the emotional power. What I learned from this is to not use information which the audience can work out for themselves and I shall this apply this to future work through analysing critically what I create.

Lastly Chris advised us in how to have a practical approach to working in a team. A great example, as to how two people are better one, he gave was to look at IQ's:

Stephen Hawking IQ 157



Ant and Dec IQ 240



Although separately Ant and Dec would have very low IQ's, together they beat Stephen Hawkins hands down! This is why in Advertising it is a considerably big advantage to have two heads work on a brief. Thankfully I do have a partner so we are able to work this way!

When working in a team he advised a way of working on each brief no matter what the time scale.

Step 1: Free uncritical brainstorm. Write everything down.
Step 2: Critical review. Sort out the wheat and the chaff. Refer back to brief and pick winners.
Step 3: Develop winners. Eject what's not working and think about other media.
Step 4: Perfect development. Craft headlines etc. Agree your internal pitch to your Creative Director.


Overall I found the entire talk very helpful. Chris Rickaby was a lovely guy who gave some useful tips and insights into the industry I had not heard before. I will most definitely be considering them in future campaigns I create, if it means I can get the same kind of success he and his role models have had.