Commercial Copy Writing

In all media, advertising audiences have short attention spans. If a story can be told in ten words or less, it should be. Like, a great story, there has to be a hook that virtually compels the audience to pay attention.

 

Short story-telling—with a single, impossible-to-ignore hook—is the ultimate art in advertising. No copy should be written until the story is understood, from the point of view of the specific target audience. Every form of copywriting—from technical writing to lifestyle story-telling—is expressed in a story format: hook, problem, solution, happy ending. Even a single word headline, tells a story, and always a story that places the audience as the central character.

The Five Ws and H

Just a a journalist must always tell a story incorporating the five Ws and the H—Who, What, When, Where, Why, How—conveying this information quickly is arguably even more important in advertising copy, where ideas are expressed in narrative story form to audiences with short attention spans. What is the essential message? What is the special benefit? Why should audiences care? If a story can be told in ten words or less, it's a big win in all media. For the big story, where a real tale is spun, brevity, impact and clarity are absolutely as vital as superb creative.

This is why the award-winning writers at Persona became recognized as leaders in print-advertising. Our unparalelled skills at "telling the story quickly" and with clarity is critical to results, recall and equity-value. Try the "less is more" approach of Persona to generate genuine results from your campaigns.

The high cost of media space means Persona's famous S=Urge Principal—telling a story as quickly as possible to create the "urge" to buy—is absolutely critical to results.

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