A big difference between Hong Kong and Canada is the speed at which people work here. I usually have between four and six briefs on the go at any given time and usually the deadlines are within a day, sometimes by the end of day, but most often a few hours. But it I like it, actually, when you are writing constantly you get pretty quick and incisive.
My word of the day: Fie Dee Lah.
Faster!
Wednesday, January 31, 2007
Tuesday, January 30, 2007
And in Health
In Hong Kong it’s not uncommon to see people walking around in surgical masks as if they were in a budget sci-fi movie or punk band. Obviously it’s to keep the spread of infection down in a place where people are packed in heel to nose like sardines.
So it’s a good idea. But something you would never see in Canada (unless you were in a punk band or budget sci-fi movie). But anyway, half the office is sick.
Or at least my section is. We’ve all got it and we are all sick as animals. Sneezing, coughing and grumbling.
I wasn’t the first, so I can’t take all the blame, but I wasn’t the last to get it either, so I’m certainly not blameless. I hate being sick. Grumble.
So it’s a good idea. But something you would never see in Canada (unless you were in a punk band or budget sci-fi movie). But anyway, half the office is sick.
Or at least my section is. We’ve all got it and we are all sick as animals. Sneezing, coughing and grumbling.
I wasn’t the first, so I can’t take all the blame, but I wasn’t the last to get it either, so I’m certainly not blameless. I hate being sick. Grumble.
Sunday, January 28, 2007
Freelance Copywriter Picks of the Week
This ad is great.
AGF - Lens
I like this one too, it's sssssmart.
Invisible Man
These are some of the most creative concepts I have seen in a while.
Recruit Ireland - Beep
Recruit Ireland - Creak
AGF - Lens
I like this one too, it's sssssmart.
Invisible Man
These are some of the most creative concepts I have seen in a while.
Recruit Ireland - Beep
Recruit Ireland - Creak
Friday, January 26, 2007
More Ridiculous Pop Culture
The final scene of Star Wars, but done with hands.
Very amusing.
Star Wars Hands
This is pretty funny too.
Spock Cribs
Very amusing.
Star Wars Hands
This is pretty funny too.
Spock Cribs
Thursday, January 25, 2007
The Readers Have Spoken
As I keep on carrying on here at Publicis, the blog has become a little less focused on my mission and more on my random day-to-day musings.
The readers have spoken and it appears that they want more ads to look at until I have updates on my goal to get a permanent job here in Hong Kong.
So, fine, here are a few. (sent in courtesy of a reader)
The rest of you can always leave comments you know…
The readers have spoken and it appears that they want more ads to look at until I have updates on my goal to get a permanent job here in Hong Kong.
So, fine, here are a few. (sent in courtesy of a reader)
The rest of you can always leave comments you know…
Wednesday, January 24, 2007
USA Today - Tomorrow the World
The experiment has been a success
Kristian asked if I could get him to #1 in the world for Oslo Webdesign.
It took about a week, but BAM! there he is, right on top.
Kristian asked if I could get him to #1 in the world for Oslo Webdesign.
It took about a week, but BAM! there he is, right on top.
The Power of a Symbol
Red Cross is in the process of phasing out its distinctive red cross insignia in favour of something more universally neutral (than Switzerland).
Here is the Western version, the Arabic version, and now, the Red Crystal.
Here is the Western version, the Arabic version, and now, the Red Crystal.
Tuesday, January 23, 2007
Monday, January 22, 2007
Freelance English Copywriter Pick(s) of the Week
Two fun ads this week.
Courtesy of 'How Advertising Spoiled Me'
Courtesy of 'How Advertising Spoiled Me'
Friday, January 19, 2007
Make You Famous
My friend Kristian has his own website design company in Oslo called Stream Digital Communications. He has found it impossible to get himself listed on Google, so I told him I'd try to shoot him to the top of the category for 'Oslo webdesign'.
Stream Digital Communications has just released their first press release.
Oslo Webdesign Company Stream Digital Communications Goes Green.
He's already #1 for Oslo webdesign in the Google News.
He hasn't seen any of this yet, either...
Stream Digital Communications has just released their first press release.
Oslo Webdesign Company Stream Digital Communications Goes Green.
He's already #1 for Oslo webdesign in the Google News.
He hasn't seen any of this yet, either...
Thursday, January 18, 2007
7 out of 10 Ain’t Bad
I started this blog up 5 months ago to get online dominance on Google for ‘freelance english copywriter’ in hopes it would land me a job. It has worked better than I expected. Now I have 7 out of the top 10 on google, including the top 4 spots.
It looks like even the China Daily has scooped one of my english copywriter ads and is running it in their magazine! How bizarre. I thought people had to pay to advertise in newspapers these days…
It looks like even the China Daily has scooped one of my english copywriter ads and is running it in their magazine! How bizarre. I thought people had to pay to advertise in newspapers these days…
Wednesday, January 17, 2007
The Beat Goes On
It’s Tuesday night, well it’s actually 7 am and it is another all-nighter here at Publicis. Same pitch. More scrambling. I ended up working a 26-hour shift on Sunday, slept a bit, then I was back at it today, and so far it is shaping up to be a 24 hours shift as well.
It is insane.
This has been the most frantic two weeks of my life.
It is insane.
This has been the most frantic two weeks of my life.
Tuesday, January 16, 2007
Can The Work You Do Build A Better World?
Here is an article that talks about the ability of advertising to be used for the greater good.
Monday, January 15, 2007
One Exhausted English Copywriter
Good god, I am one tired cat.
It’s 7:30 am and I am still at work. We (the writers) are just finishing up now. The poor studio guys will probably have to push through until the pitch at 3 pm.
I’ve prided myself in the past on working some ridiculous hours, but never anything like this. We put in about a 70-hour week, plus 14 hours yesterday and 21 hours today. So that is well over 100 hours on this pitch. Madness. Basically every second of my life this week was work.
It’s 7:30 am and I am still at work. We (the writers) are just finishing up now. The poor studio guys will probably have to push through until the pitch at 3 pm.
I’ve prided myself in the past on working some ridiculous hours, but never anything like this. We put in about a 70-hour week, plus 14 hours yesterday and 21 hours today. So that is well over 100 hours on this pitch. Madness. Basically every second of my life this week was work.
Sunday, January 14, 2007
Banksy
Anonymous underground anarchist(s) that run around spray painting their own ads through stencils and hanging their own art in galleries, like the Louvre. You’ve got to love it.
Saturday, January 13, 2007
The James Earl Jones Effect
When Sesame Street first came out, every episode was focus-grouped to death.
They would conduct meticulous experiments on the children watching to see if they were more interested in the live characters or the puppets and in which situations they actually learned more.
As it turned out, they loved the puppets, but were not learning much from them.
There was an exception, however, and this was when it came to puppets voiced by James Earl Jones (most famously known as the voice as Darth Vader). When JEJ spoke, kids listened. And they absorbed.
James Earl Jones' kids must be some of the most attentive kids out there.
Either way, the power of the commentator should never be overlooked in an advertising campaign.
Here is a great one:
Allstate - Odds
They would conduct meticulous experiments on the children watching to see if they were more interested in the live characters or the puppets and in which situations they actually learned more.
As it turned out, they loved the puppets, but were not learning much from them.
There was an exception, however, and this was when it came to puppets voiced by James Earl Jones (most famously known as the voice as Darth Vader). When JEJ spoke, kids listened. And they absorbed.
James Earl Jones' kids must be some of the most attentive kids out there.
Either way, the power of the commentator should never be overlooked in an advertising campaign.
Here is a great one:
Allstate - Odds
Thursday, January 11, 2007
Consumer Generated Ads
This is a trend that has started to pop up in the ad world. Essentially, it involves companies looking to their consumers to come up with ad concepts for them.
The logic is that it makes more sense to ask your target market directly what they want to see/think is funny than pass it through layers of advertising folk who are apparently totally detached from the emotion of the brand, and who water down the ad at every turn with their own bias.
Also it’s free.
So it’s not a terrible idea.
However advertising copywriters aren’t really too concerned about being displaced anytime soon.
Consumer generated ads have had mixed results. While there is a lot to be said about truck drivers making ads for truck drivers, the main problem is that writing ads isn’t as easy as it looks. Most of the stuff consumers come up usually fails to address the mechanics of advertising communications in a strategic way, such as maintaining brand consistency, tone, voice and manner, or creating an original concept which highlights the unique product feature, or conceptualizing in a way that can be integrated across several mediums.
Not that there is anything wrong with ads that depend purely on talk power. In my opinion, for startups and new products, talk power is the way to go.
Either way, the NFL has recently jumped on the bandwagon – and here is the result.
NFL winning ad
(the grapevine has been suggesting that the concept came out of an ad agency anyway)
The logic is that it makes more sense to ask your target market directly what they want to see/think is funny than pass it through layers of advertising folk who are apparently totally detached from the emotion of the brand, and who water down the ad at every turn with their own bias.
Also it’s free.
So it’s not a terrible idea.
However advertising copywriters aren’t really too concerned about being displaced anytime soon.
Consumer generated ads have had mixed results. While there is a lot to be said about truck drivers making ads for truck drivers, the main problem is that writing ads isn’t as easy as it looks. Most of the stuff consumers come up usually fails to address the mechanics of advertising communications in a strategic way, such as maintaining brand consistency, tone, voice and manner, or creating an original concept which highlights the unique product feature, or conceptualizing in a way that can be integrated across several mediums.
Not that there is anything wrong with ads that depend purely on talk power. In my opinion, for startups and new products, talk power is the way to go.
Either way, the NFL has recently jumped on the bandwagon – and here is the result.
NFL winning ad
(the grapevine has been suggesting that the concept came out of an ad agency anyway)
Wednesday, January 10, 2007
Status Report IV
Well, I have been in Hong Kong for just over five months now. In this time I have managed to land a job here at Publicis, on contract anyway. I’ve been here just over four months, and so far it is going great. I have been working on huge global brands and getting the chance to do TV, as well as national branding campaigns.
I am still living in my little shoebox out in Causeway Bay. I have another six weeks on this contract and I am hoping to renew it. I really like Hong Kong and despite offers to go elsewhere, I am thinking I might stay here for a while (if I keep getting work that is).
I still haven’t completed my mission, and the point of this blog, that being securing full-time work at a 4As agency here in Hong Kong. But I’m close. At least I am in a position to pay off my debts now.
In other news, it's taken a bit of work, but I have managed to restake my claim as the #1 freelance english copywriter in the world (according to google that is).
I am still living in my little shoebox out in Causeway Bay. I have another six weeks on this contract and I am hoping to renew it. I really like Hong Kong and despite offers to go elsewhere, I am thinking I might stay here for a while (if I keep getting work that is).
I still haven’t completed my mission, and the point of this blog, that being securing full-time work at a 4As agency here in Hong Kong. But I’m close. At least I am in a position to pay off my debts now.
In other news, it's taken a bit of work, but I have managed to restake my claim as the #1 freelance english copywriter in the world (according to google that is).
Tuesday, January 09, 2007
How to Become A Freelance English Copywriter
If you’ve come here from Wikipedia, as I know many of you have, the first thing I would suggest is to learn spelling and grammar.
I know this may sound boring, but if I were an employer, I would never hire a copywriter who couldn’t spell or put together a sentence.
Sure there is plenty of ATL (above the line) work out there, and I am lucky enough to get to do a lot of it, but if you don’t have the bread and butter writing skills on top of the big ideas, you will always be in a precarious position.
There will always be banks and banks will always be the biggest clients of advertising agencies. So use it as an in. If you can write a DM piece or bill insert for something as dry as a credit card upgrade, I would say that is lesson one in learning the craft.
From there, jump to this link to learn more: Busting in as a freelance copywriter
I know this may sound boring, but if I were an employer, I would never hire a copywriter who couldn’t spell or put together a sentence.
Sure there is plenty of ATL (above the line) work out there, and I am lucky enough to get to do a lot of it, but if you don’t have the bread and butter writing skills on top of the big ideas, you will always be in a precarious position.
There will always be banks and banks will always be the biggest clients of advertising agencies. So use it as an in. If you can write a DM piece or bill insert for something as dry as a credit card upgrade, I would say that is lesson one in learning the craft.
From there, jump to this link to learn more: Busting in as a freelance copywriter
Monday, January 08, 2007
Friday, January 05, 2007
Freelance English Copywriter in Hong Kong
It's good to be back in Hong Kong. I've rented out a new apartment, still in Causeway Bay, but I have some windows this time. I'm on the 14th floor, so the sunlight floods in, which is spectacular.
It's small though, probably less than 200 square feet and at $6000HK a month, it is a bit of a rip off.
Either way, I love living in the best part of town.
It's small though, probably less than 200 square feet and at $6000HK a month, it is a bit of a rip off.
Either way, I love living in the best part of town.
Thursday, January 04, 2007
Back At It
The blog has been down for the last two weeks for 'maintenance'. Now I'm back at it.
I'm in Hong Kong. I'm at Publicis. There are great ads to write. And a ways to go until I am back at #1 for 'freelance english copywriter'- this two week hiatus has taken a beating on my ranking.
But fear not, I'll be back on top within the month.
I'm in Hong Kong. I'm at Publicis. There are great ads to write. And a ways to go until I am back at #1 for 'freelance english copywriter'- this two week hiatus has taken a beating on my ranking.
But fear not, I'll be back on top within the month.
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