Page 129 - 100 Great Copywriting Ideas: From Leading Companies Around the World (100 Great Ideas)

58 LOOK AT ME! I’M
SMILING AND POINTING
AT A LAPTOP

I have five box files in a cupboard next to my desk. They’re filled
with mailings and brochures I’ve collected over the years. Some
because they’re interesting, amusing, well written or designed,
novel, or just plain odd. And then there’s the Black Museum. In the
Black Museum is a collection of marketing materials that we call,
technically, crapismus maximus.

They gain entry into the hall of shame for all sorts of reasons but one
of the most common is the use of trite imagery. I have written on this
subject before, and will again, but it’s those smiley businesspeople.
Just one question for those who commission, approve, and print/
upload them. Why?

The idea

From a firm of printers who mailed me a lovely example for the
Black Museum
Ah yes. Here we are again. It’s the marketing manager of XYZ
Printing Company Ltd in conversation with his designer.

“I want to show how our company is professional. You know, not
just a bunch of hairy-arsed printers in a factory in East London.”

“OK,” says the designer. “How about we source some images
of business types in a meeting. They’ll make you look really
smart because people will associate them with you.”

Be honest. How many times have you . . .

120 • 100 GREAT COPYWRITING IDEAS