Look beyond like
The more advertising I’m exposed to and the more I’m involved with writing it, the more I wonder who this is all for. The headlines, the imagery – so much of it seems to be aimed at the client not the consumer because it falls into the sort of glib tone which only a person of a certain, educated background could fall for.
It’s like those novels that roll along in a particular fashion that is easy to read, contains all the right references to history (usually as studied to A level) contain a shocking twist and which turn out, nine times in ten, to be written by someone with an MA in creative writing. They’re not bad, quite the opposite in fact; they are just all targeted towards a very specific audience.
Advertising can also fall into this groove. Many of us want to write a VW ad or a Honda ad and, as a result, a tone can be detected when it really oughtn’t to be.
I have written headlines I don’t like. They don’t appeal to me in the slightest. And every time I write such a line, I feel as though I’ve done something well. Something appropriate. Because I’m not every type of consumer and some products aren’t aimed at me. And even when they are, they aren’t just aimed at me.
Creatives need to look beyond “like”. That often means understanding the kind of person we wouldn’t, under normal circumstances, be seen dead associating with.
Recently I overheard two young women talking on a train. They were well educated, studying to work in Law from the sounds of it, and clearly financially quite privileged.
They were talking about women who had a tattoo on their back, the sort just above their backsides and which can often be seen peeking out from under a short cut T shirt.
You might know what I’m going to call these tattoos, I hadn’t heard of them referred to in this way before but you might.
They called them “tramp stamps”.
It was a magnificent, condescending put-down. Not just of the women who had themselves tattooed in that way but of a whole class of people. By drawing attention to them so quickly, I was given a clear picture of the clothes, the music, the backgrounds of these women.
I don’t mix with anybody who could be snubbed in that way but I do know I’d be able to write ads for them. And enjoy doing so. Because I know they have their likes and dislikes, their cultural reference points and motivating triggers the same as the two women whose words so comprehensively dismissed them.
There is more to writing ads than coming up with a clever line to appeal to broadsheet readers and University students. When we write ads for well educated clients and ignore the wonderfully diverse audience out there, creatives can be just as dismissive.
Tramp stamps? Perfect! I was looking for something like that. I think you’re absolutely right about books crippling themselves by aiming for particular markets. The whole genre business is stifling and largely pointless. I want out of it.
It’s a strange message book marketing sends out isn’t it? Either by way of imitating the covers of other authors or by categorising them, we are essentially telling the audience that they will only like the story if they are a fan of that genre. And what does that mean? Do we get a person saying “I want a book but I don’t want it to be thrilling in any way because I don’t like thrillers”? Like most things in marketing, these approaches do work – up to a point. Imitating covers does wonders for the all the would-be Dan Browns, JK Rowlings and that other fella – that Hewson bloke. At what point, however, does it begin to restrict the potential audience?
I think it can restrict the audience pretty quickly and also misinform them. Some of my covers (now being changed thank God) clearly followed the Da Vinci code line and I still get the Washington Post quote ‘better than the Da Vinci Code’ thrown at me. No one remember the next para which said, ‘And nothing like DVC either’.
Marketing is beyond me. Hard enough writing the books.
To be fair to the Washington Post – your books are better than the Da Vinci Code.
So true! Target audience comes first, always, otherwise where’s the commercial value in the copy?
It’s not just about ‘like’ for copywriter/client, either – I recently had to fight the corner (again) of why making web copy appealing to the target audience was more important than the bland repetition of keywords for search engines.
I wouldn’t mind some of his sales…@Dom
The way I see it, the ladies on the train didn’t know that they’re called tramp stamps across the pond; over on ye olde British soil they’re called slag tags. In the US they were tattoos that inmates used to get (think Russian prison tattoos). So they must have heard of it from a film…certainly not from roaming the streets due to their privileged background
But I agree, there are so many things out there that will never go ‘past the client’ as much as we’d like them to. What most seem to be getting wrong is what role their brands want to play in people’s lives…hence the stupid headlines.