Page 195 - 100 Great Copywriting Ideas: From Leading Companies Around the World (100 Great Ideas)

91 HORSES BEAT CAMELS

It is said that a camel is a horse designed by committee. A little
unfair on Cameli bactrianus and dromedarius but you can see their
point. In copywriting, which you might imagine should be a solitary
affair, committees have their sway too.

You can usually recognize the results of committee-driven
copywriting. Lumpy where it should be smooth, ugly where it should
be beautiful, plodding where it should be swift. And scraggy where
it should be sleek. How does it happen and what can you do about
it? I offer the following.

The idea

From a large multinational document and mail services company
Over the years I have written three or four corporate brochures for
this large American-owned multinational. Plus presentations and
web pages. They are, despite all the potential for camels, firmly in
favor of horses. When talking the brief for the first one through
with the communications manager, I asked her how many people
would be involved in signing off the final copy. “Oh,” she said,
lightly, “not too bad for around here. There’s me, obviously, plus
our British and EMEA managing directors, the managing directors
of our French, German, and Italian operations, the Global Head of
Sales Development, and our Chief Executive.” No pressure there
then. What I should have done was run screaming from the room.
But I’m a professional. Yes. So here’s what I did instead.

I asked for the committee members who would sign off the final
brochure to sign off the brief. This was important for a number

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