CONTENT MARKETING
COPYWRITING
If communication is my alpha and my omega, then copywriting is my bread and butter! It's what I do every day. I read, review and rewrite texts ... as required, for both end clients, and advertising agencies wanting to communicate in good English (either UK or US).
Often it'll be a totally original text that I'll research and conceive myself, but it could as easily be an adaptation from French or Dutch, both languages I now speak and read fluently.
CONCEPTS
Strategic Planning
I wrote my first ad back in 1986, and a year later was proud to see a headline of mine on a double spread in the Sunday Times colour supplement magazine.
Since then I've written dozens of ads., brochures and press releases, conceived company and event films, and developed radio ads. that were then adapted into Italian.
Brand & communication strategies including brand fundamentals, and communication plans.
I use a mixture of brand models, and planning tools to craft and present ideas - including models from J-N. Kapferer, Byron Sharp, and others.
I tend to start all my communication projects - including copywriting - with some thoughts as to who the brand is, and who they are targeting. Call me and we can discuss.
FILM SCRIPTS
STORY
TELLING
WEB COPY
More and more companies want to communicate their message via a video. I work on the required first step ... namely what are we going to say, and how will we say it. Scripts are written using 3 columns: scenario, voice-over, and on-screen key words.
I work with several different production companies depending on what's required (animation, live action etc.)
Andrew Stanton in his Ted Talk, the Clues to a Great Story, suggests that the fundamental story telling commandment is: ‘Make me care’ – emotionally, intellectually, and aesthetically.
For this I think you need to 1. Avoid leading with facts and instead build stories around shared values. 2. Make stories relatable. Every good story has a character we can relate to either because they’re like us, or who we’d like to be, or just the opposite. And 3. Be interesting and tell the truth, either via humour, history or cliff-hangers!
Having written numerous web sites over the years, it's become clearer what good web copy is all about. H1 headlines need to be linked to key words and the most likely search terms; and links within the document - to elsewhere on the site, or an external source - are paramount.
Like Rome, web copy isn't built in a day, and can always be fine tuned, once you know what people are looking at, and looking for.
Please contact me if you think I can help in any way:
Gavin Watt, WOW sprl, rue des Pères Blancs 4, 1040 Brussels
Tel: + 32 477 34 87 62 Email: gavinwow@wow.be