Conrad Winter Copywriter

My time-tested approach for coming up with lots of ideas in a short time frame.

You know, there as a time not too long ago, when clients would actually give you two weeks to come up with concepts for an ad. Yup. One ad, two weeks. These days, you’re lucky if you get two days to work on a banner ad or an e-blast.

I’m not complaining, like most, I’ve accepted the reality and learned to excel with these new parameters. So how do I come up with a ton of good ideas in a super short time frame – and more importantly, how can you?

It’s all about coming up with strategic buckets that guide your thoughts and speed your creative process. Here’s how it works:

1. Create strategic buckets. Think of all the key messages you could communicate. Write down every one that comes to mind. If your project is a B-to-B ad, your buckets might look like this: “saves you time,” “saves you money,” “we have great customer service,” “we’re experts,” and “we’ll make you look good.”
2. Get your buckets in order. Prioritize them.
3. Check your time. When’s your project due? How much time does that give you for ideation? 30 hours? 20 hours? 2 hours?
4. Decide how many you can conceivably do. Each bucket deserves at least 2 hours. On an ad or campaign, I try to spend at least 3 hours on a bucket, although sometimes I have as little as half an hour or as much as 10 hours.
5. Time to work. Develop ideas for one bucket at a time allotting a set amount of time for each one.
6. What about the “coming up with ideas part”? Your job is to find alternate ways of communicating the bucket’s idea. Try it from every angle you can think of. Don’t just do slight rewordings, try visual approaches, metaphors, let your mind go.
7. Stay fresh. I often use a timer to limit myself to an hour per bucket. That forces me to set ideas aside and come back to them with a fresh mind.
8. Keep moving. Move to the next bucket when your allotted time is up or when you hit a lull. Hey, sometimes a bucket just ends up being a dog. It’s a waste of time to force it. So write down what you can—even if they’re bad ideas—and come back to it later.
9. Make the hardest part choosing the best ideas. The biggest benefit of using this bucket approach is that you end up with a wide range of options—never a bad thing.

If you have an ad or campaign coming up, why not give this technique a try? And if the well runs dry for whatever reason, remember I’m here to help. Just call 917-664-1768 or email. 

Will drinking help your writing, or will it just make people think you’re drunk?

You ever wonder whether there’s any truth to all that Hemingway, Bukowski lore about liquor somehow lubricating the creative process and making you write beyond your potential?

Well, I have a few “valuable insights” gleaned from my experiences writing, drinking, and writing about drinking for the likes of Dewar’s, Jim Beam, Budweiser, Lowenbrau, Leinenkugel’s, Canyon Road, High Life, Icehouse, and, well, you get the picture.

The answer is: No.

That’s the long and short of it. I have tried it, and I’m here to tell you that none of those cases of special research beer we “tested” at Young & Rubicam or those bottles of Dewar’s 12 that floated around the agency at AF&G ever inspired a single concept, headline, or tagline. Sorry to burst the bubble, so to speak.

Drinking just makes you sleepy. It makes large burritos look more attractive than they are. And it tricks you into confusing “the idea of working” with actually working. In other words, you wouldn’t even know it if you were being productive. Drinking leaves you with perhaps the darkest hangover of all: not being done.

So what will help your writing?

• Write conversationally. The same way you speak. Just let it flow.
• If you’re tired and frustrated, sleep. Sometimes a good night’s rest (or even a 10-minute nap) is all it takes for your mind to work out the words.
• If you’re blocked, workout. (If you can’t get out, just try some push-ups.)
• Blocked badly? Permit yourself to write badly. (This is a good trick. Just remember to edit your work afterward or they’ll think you’re drunk.)
• Still blocked? Print it out, tape it to the wall, and leave it ’til tomorrow.

And once you’ve nailed it, by all means, reward yourself with a nice tall glass of whatever it is you’re having. This writing stuff ain’t easy.

Cheers.

Even designers who write, can benefit from working with a copywriter.

Are you one of the designers who can write? They do exist—I know, because I’ve worked with them.

But no designer is an island, especially when it comes to words. Even if you know how to turn a phrase or crank out a post, here are three things a professional copywriter can bring to your solo act:

• Brainstorming suggestions from a copy perspective. A wordsmith can open up new creative territory for you.
• Headline refinements: making the words perfect takes tweaking and re-tweaking. A copywriter can save you time and effort.
• Elaboration, i.e. stretching one ad into 12. Once you have a creative direction, it’s helpful to be able to delegate its development to a writer.

Recently, the designer/writers at cinquino+co., one of New Jersey’s leading brand communications agencies, brought backpocket copywriter (me) in for all three of the above. How did it work? Well, we brainstormed in person on two occasions and then I fine-tuned the headlines and copy remotely. Once a campaign was chosen, I helped them expand the campaign into 12 ads. You’ll find one of them below.

Hope it inspires you to look for an IJO jeweler – and work with a copywriter. (Hint, hint.)