David Abbott - "Don't Be Boring"
 |
| Source: https://copywritinginaction.com.au/david-abbott/ |
David John Abbott, was an award winning British advertising executive who founded Abbott Mead Vickers BBDO and these are the five golden rules of copywriting he suggested:
- Put yourself into your work. Use your life to animate your copy. If something moves you, chances are, it will touch someone else too.
- Think visually. Sometimes the best copy is no copy.
- If you believe that facts persuade, you’d better learn how to write a list so that it doesn’t read like a list.
- Confession is good for the soul and for copy too.
- Don’t be boring.
Based on the five golden rules of copywriting suggested by David Abbott, the first rule is passion. You cannot be successful in something is you are not driven by passion. If you like what you are doing, the chances are the readers will like it too.
The second rule is visual. Images can be used as a copy at times and it can be more effective than using just words to convey certain messages. I believe humans are visual animals and could relate to an image better.
 |
| Source: https://www.campaignlive.co.uk/article/david-abbotts-creative-highlights/1294778 |
The third rule is creative wordings and sentences. Facts and figures can bore people sometimes, therefore I have learned to use unexpected wordings such as puns in order to attract the audience's attention.
The fourth rule talked about honesty. Leo Burnett quoted "Regardless of the moral issue, dishonesty in advertising has proved very unprofitable". Needless to say, honesty will always be the key to success in copywriting.
The last rule is about boredom. To attract readers your words and design must be interesting and refreshing in a sense where it also allows the audience to think about it more.
 |
| Source: https://www.campaignlive.co.uk/article/david-abbotts-creative-highlights/1294778
Article by: Lim Xin Yi
|
Undeniable, visual image is very important to attract people's first sight, but we cannot forget the important of the headline. An incredible headline can attract the attention of people. For example, " Pinterest - create your own outcome." , it is very simple but it is enough to attract people.
ReplyDeleteFor the last picture, " I never read The Economist" is one of David Abbott's famous ads. He explain that, 'what is potentially a banal positioning line — “read this and be successful”— is made acceptable and convincing by wit and charm’. David adds that, ‘directness has its place in advertising but so do subtlety and obliqueness. Things you can’t say literally can often be said laterally.’
Lastly, no matter how much rules there have, it is all about creative. This attract people in the first sight and make people think of it. In this era of technological advanced, there are a lot of competitiveness on ads. All the advertising agency give much effort on making the ads special. Thus, we have to be creative, this is the only power that can stand stably. Talent showing itself.
Editor: Choong Lerxin