In the beginning was the word, and you'll find it in the middle and at the end of the business cycle too. The Write Stuff drives response by tapping into active states of mind. From the pillars of advertising and brochures, integrate your marketing approach through our extensive experience in websites and new media.
Product naming
PRODUCT NAMES > IMPACT
Although a rose by any other name would still be a rose, the right name sets the tone for whatever you are trying to do with a product. It creates, tone, context and can have a huge impact on subsequent marketing. Our methodology finds the right name using your team's own experience and resources.
Web writing
WEBSITES > ENGAGEMENT
The fundamental mechanics of web writing can be summed up remarkably simply: what do you want the visitors to do. Focusing on this one question can determine the best tools, structure and tone of the web site. The Write Stuff has been writing - and often developing - web sites for over 15 years.
When will we run out of names? Although I originally got involved in product naming as an add-on feature to the business of copywriting, it really does call on very particular skills. It’s often thought of as the ultimate in creative writing, as so much is condensed into just one word. There have also been a tidal wave of nonsensical trendy names that sound creative over the past few years. They only add to the perception of it being some sort of dark art (although I think they probably have more to do with the difficulty of getting one-word domain names). Read more »
I remember when it was held as a truth that the written word was dying and the world would communicate visually. Luckily for writers, the Cannes film festival is there to remind everyone that in the beginning was the word. And not only are words essential to get a story moving, they are also there at every step of the way when it is pitched to a producer, who then pitches to co-producers and financiers, before pitching it to distributors and later the press. Read more »
I can’t help feeling excited about the buzz in communications recently. Despite the obvious and very noticeable downturn in the advertising business, it seems like everyone has a plan up their sleeve. I just read that the Belgian agency Boondoggle has a co-development project with its employees, where they invest time and share profits for business ventures that might come from it. One of the first (and oh so topical) is the Tweetnotebook that I Tweeted about a while back. I’ve also been asked to help develop no less than 3 iPhone apps recently. And there are others Read more »
There’s nothing I don’t like about South Africa’s clip promoting itself in the run-up the World Cup. Sure, it has cutesy kids, smiling multi-cultural crowds and “ordinary” people doing extraordinary stuff. But from the opening images to the last, it is superbly directed, choreographed (Wendy Ramokgadi), edited and performed. The clip also blends the football theme right into the heart of the ad, using it to showcase the people. It’s worth noting that we don’t get the stock images of landscapes and sunsets so prevalent in CNN-type travel ads. It could make you believe that you can dance. So it gets five stars for making me dream. They are hoping the Diski dance will overtake the Macarena as a novelty. Does anyone know which agency is behind it?
I’ve been working on a few projects recently that can best be described as “personal branding”, coaches or consultants that decide to build their business under their own name. But “personal branding” has a very selfish ring to it. At its worst, it’s an exercise in ego-stroking. But as the “brands” in question were perfectly aware, there’s more to personal branding than “me-me-me”.
In 7 years of creating the campaigns for Midem, we have seen the world of trade fairs transform at an unbelievable rate. It’s not unfair to say that many trade fairs until recently had been seen by their organisers pretty much a way of renting space to companies. Yet Midem, part of the Reed MIDEM group, has blazed a trail and is re-inventing the way trade fairs see themselves and engage with their audiences. Read more »
I was amazed when an art director at a major agency recently told me that on average, their contact with a client had changed every six months over the past three years. That’s quite a turnover, with the inevitable loss in productivity and continuity. Coincidentally, coach and consultant Serge Pegoff told me that between 25-40% of managers in new positions don’t meet expectations. The managers themselves claim that a lack of support was often to blame.
Pegoff and some coaching colleagues started a programme specifically to enable managers to get up to speed as quickly as possible – roughly 3 months. So when they asked us to develop a brochure and identity, the name Countdown 100 was an obvious choice. It stands out, as other programmes on the market are given horrendous manager-speak names. The visuals, developed by Pix&Com, play on the countdown theme. For details about the programme, visit Countdown 100.
This ad from Saatchi – which I had absolutely nothing to do with – is brilliant at a number of levels. What I like most is the pay-off (nope, I won’t spoil the pleasure). It runs through a series of CGI-enhanced levels before coming back to the most basic appeal imaginable.
We’re all beginning to understand that anything is possible in CGI. If you’ve sat through a dozen ads on steroids at the movies recently waiting for the big show to begin, you know how tiring it can be. So what if the screen shakes when the monster stomps by? Or of the screen seems to melt. We’ve seen that already. So it’s important to reach people with something more conceptual, which this ad does. In fact, it’s not just conceptual, it’s the emotional juice that raises the smile at the end.
Spare a thought for the music biz: over the past seven years, overall sales of recorded music have been slashed by 50%. Whole parts of the business, such as CD plants and retail outlets, are disappearing. Even professional users, such as video games and TV stations, are putting pressure on the rates to be paid. In fact, the very notion of a “record” business is no longer really applicable. Midem, as the worldwide music community’s annual gathering, has obviously been affected by this. Despite what you might think, the trade fair has been growing over the past few years (with the obvious exception of last January when it fell right after the credit crunch). How? By staying one step ahead of the game.
The digital sphere is increasingly blurring the lines between audiovisuals and graphics. Although TV documentaries remain relatively straightforward, everything else is becoming more graphic. Double Double is a young production company that is situated right on the edge of both genres. The founding members are graphic designers as well as being directors (and an experienced sound designer too). The result is stylish audiovisuals (the word video is pretty much meaningless by now). The Write Stuff provided the basic text on their website at Double Double.
The Write Stuff is an independent agency that provides copywriting and marketing services for European business from Brussels. If you have a project in mind, why not give a call on +322/644 02 30?
I remember when it was held as a truth that the written word was dying and the world would communicate visually. Luckily for writers, the Cannes film festival is there to remind everyone that in the beginning was the word. And not only are words essential to get a story moving, they are also there at every step of the way when it is pitched to a producer, who then pitches to co-producers and financiers, before pitching it to distributors and later the press. 
