Page 173 - 100 Great Copywriting Ideas: From Leading Companies Around the World (100 Great Ideas)

80 WILL WORDPLAY WORK?

In my last book I took a fairly fundamentalist view of copywriting. Its
only job is to sell. Avoid humor at all costs. Concentrate on the reader’s
self-interest. I still believe that, but maybe there’s room for a little
wordplay after all. Provided your copy is always drawing your reader
further toward your goal—an order, free trial, meeting, or agreement—
you can use any tool or technique that you think will work.

Like a lot of writers, I find wordplay irresistible. The English language
certainly lends itself to puns, alliteration, assonance, and all sorts of
linguistic monkey business. Done well it can entertain the reader
and make them smile. That could be good if they associate the smile
with the product you’re promoting.

The idea

From Dec Marketing Company, an events marketing consultancy
When my good friend Andrew Dec asked me to write some copy
for a postcard campaign to generate leads for his events marketing
business, I started thinking about what every event organizer wants.
Andrew works with conference companies, trade and professional
associations: anyone who wants to run an event but not market or
organize it. Clearly, for them, the objective is a full house. Nobody
likes running a conference in a half-empty hall, a seminar with only
the front two rows of seats filled, or an awards dinner where the
gongs outnumber the candidates.

The headline I eventually came up with (across both sides of the
postcard) was,

164 • 100 GREAT COPYWRITING IDEAS