"And now in traffic, everybody is going over the river & through the woods!"

[Bluebear]

"Everybody is going to see grandma, but at least the weather held up for today. Tomorrow, though, we are in for a round of the 'white stuff'...."


I listened to a good bit of radio today...good gravy, do copywriters have some Big Book Of Cliches they refer to at this time of year? Yeesh!

[Amerigo Vespucci]

1. It's a Toys 'R' Us time of year, what can I say...

...I am self-employed and the owner of a strategic marketing firm. The first thing I learned about marketing is that 95% of the people who have jobs IN marketing should be doing something else.

Any success I've had comes from side-stepping the cliches, getting right down to the bone marrow and DNA so that people see my work and go "yeah, I GET it."

When I do a Web Site for a restaurant, people go there because I make them hungry.

When I do a Web Site for a dentist, people become new patients because they TRUST the dentist.

But that's not the way of the world. You've nailed it, most copywriters DO live and die by the Big Book 'O' Cliches, because when you lack talent and intuition and you have weaseled your way into a marketing job, that book becomes your only means of survival.

:toast:

[Berry Cool]

2. Oh, absolutely. It's one of the reasons I never really wanted to be a journalist

and earned the degrees only because I wanted to be able to make a living writing.

I didn't much fancy the idea of being a newspaper or, even worse, TV news writer, coming up with story leads every holiday that were the same old tired thing.

For Thanksgiving, especially travel stories, you absolutely HAVE to work an "over the river and through the woods" reference in there, and if you make reference to 'Grandma's house" as well, it's double points.

For Christmas, all stories must include the words "'tis the season" in either the lead or closing paragraph. Extra points for finding a way to work in "Yes, Virginia, there is a (__________)" or any quotes from A Visit From St. Nicholas.

...sigh...

[SoCalDem]

3. And when they get to Grandma's, they might discover

that she had an opportunity to work an extra shift at Circle-K, so she's not home..but she may have left a bucket of KFC in the fridge...

[tech3149]

4. I don't listen to much traditional radio

It just drives me nuts. The reason is the same one I don't watch TV, they're effing lazy and greedy. They want to take up the air time in the easiest way possible and get a reasonable market share. They aren't giving us news or valuable information, they're just selling advertising dollars to pay the bills.