As far as the second example goes. I think this sentence here:

“current customers can expect things to be just as before, with all the improvements we’ve been discussing proceeding as planned.”

is glaringly bad. Don’t ya think?

Anyhow, thought I’d comment.

I’m going to be building a blog over at my place soon and I figured that it’s always good to help a neighbor.

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Why do I get visions of SKYMALL the airplane catalog when I read this?

Not to be critical, but it’s “affected”.

And that’s always going to be the problem for copywriters. Creating good copy doesn’t just depend on the writer. More often than not, it depends on the client.

Exactly my point there Barry. When I referred to “weeks” I was talking about the whole schebang. The writing, the review, the revising, etc, etc. Of course pouring 60 some odd hours into something that small is unreasonable, but it’s entire lifespan at the agency lasting weeks… well that’s acting hopeful.

As for the small vs. big company, while I partially agree with you, I think that’s exactly what needs to change with “big” companies. They’re far too impersonal in a world saturated with transparent communications. Hell, att&t’s new tagline (well, one of them) is “Blogging. Delivered.” Blogging is an in-your-face, back-and-forth kind of communication. If they’re going to “deliver” it, I think they should try and get to know what it is, and reflect that in their branding.

“I know that some copywriter probably slaved over this piece for days, maybe weeks.”

Hmmmm. I very much doubt that. Show me the ad agency that schedules in days or weeks to write copy for a postcard and I’ll give up copywriting tomorrow. That’s an hour’s job. Two or three at the most. A half day if you’re lucky.

Secondly, most corporate copy like that is generally client-led from the start. True, a copywriter will kick things off with a nice headline and some reasonably decent body copy (given the brief), but it all goes tits up when the client decides that they’re a better writer than the copywriter after all, and does a hatchet job on it.

It generally stems from the client not really knowing what (or how much) they want to say in the first place, and the fact that virtually any piece of copy, large or small, needs to be approved by a huge marketing and comms team (and meet stringent brand guidelines) before they even think about pushing it live. I suspect that this was the case for your AT&T example.

Now for TextDrive. Smaller, faster moving company. Different kind of customers. No need for 30 guys in suits to approve copy before it goes live. No opressive brand guidelines to follow. They have the option of making their announcement on a blog rather than on a postcard with an ‘x’ million print run.

And that’s always going to be the problem for copywriters. Creating good copy doesn’t just depend on the writer. More often than not, it depends on the client.

Don’t ever defend a mistake with bullshit. Mistakes do make you human, and people like humans. Just say, “oops… thanks!” and keep on.

But plenty of people write and publish thousands and thousands of words without typos, editors or assistants. They’re called bloggers, and luckily computers are damn good at catching mistakes before we let them out there.

However, there are several instances where great copywriters have inserted typos on purpose — even turning finding them into a contest that guaranteed the copy would be read.

So… make oyur mistakes on purpose.

I’m with you all the way. A very interesting article indeed.

I’m getting increasingly fed up with being treated like this by big companies – especially when communications lack transparency.