Page 185 - 100 Great Copywriting Ideas: From Leading Companies Around the World (100 Great Ideas)

86 CHEESE FOR
CHRISTMAS?

If you read my last book or my regular newsletter you’ll know by
now I’m not a great fan of clichés. Threadbare, worn out, and well
trodden, they convey little to your reader beyond the sense of having
been here before. Except . . .

. . . except at Christmas. The rule for seasonal promos seems to be
that you can’t choose an image that is too cheesy. At this time of year
you basically have seven choices: snowflakes, baubles, gift-wrap,
Christmas trees, robins, starry sky, or holly. The best-performing
house ad we ever created for one of our clients was, believe it or not,
a clipart Santa, with the client’s logo sticking out of the sack.

The idea

From Sodexo Pass, a service vouchers and cards company
Last Christmas, Sodexo Pass commissioned me to write a self-mailer
for their Motivation and Incentives division, who wanted to market
their multi-retailer shopping vouchers as staff Christmas gifts.
My thoughts, naturally, turned to all things Yule, including carols,
poems, visual imagery, and all the other cultural associations that
are already floating around in people’s brains at that time of year.

The copy platform was that here was an easy way to solve the problem
of what to buy your staff as a “thank you” for their hard work all year.
The designer provided the visual—a tangle of Christmas tree lights.
My headline . . .

It’s that time of year again. Here’s how to untangle the choice
of staff gifts . . .

176 • 100 GREAT COPYWRITING IDEAS