Copy Carolyn

Creating the new big campaign for a global brand

BRIEF

Create the new global campaign for the most handcrafted whisky on the market.

IDEA

The real craftsmen behind the craft.  We focused on the human stories of the Balvenie craftsmen. Then elevated the perception of these humble characters from old-fashioned to inspiring forward-thinkers, leading to the big idea of 'Handcrafting The Future.'

Meeting the craftsmen face-to-face inspired the new tone of voice, as listening to their lifetime of experience, hearing the dedication to their craft, and gaining an understanding of their characters made me want to represent their voices in the brand's voice.

RESULT

A universally-loved campaign throughout the company. The idea was used across all media, including a global print campaign, window displays, a handcrafted coffee table book sold at the distillery, and the 'crafting The Balvenie' section on the website.
 

BRIEF

To come up with the strategy and big idea for Guinness's first music platform, which should appeal to a Gen Y audience. Define its role and DNA, including what it looks like, sounds like and what its name is, as well as how it acts, and in what channels.

IDEA

A platform with the strategy of building a long-term relationship with fans, music and artists at its heart. We took the brand essence, ‘Made of More’ as the starting point, said goodbye to single moment music activations, and created an ‘always on’ music programme, rooted in substance, boldness, cultural relevance and authentic music, which enriches the whole music ecosystem.

As the creative lead on this, I came up with the strategic thinking behind Guinness's role in music – the anticipant – which was how we landed on the pitch winning platform of Amplify.

Fed by Abel & Cole is a start-up sister brand to Abel & Cole, the organic food home delivery service. Fed is different because it’s just for businesses, and its deliveries are all on zero-emission e-bikes. To stand out in a crowded market, we highlighted Fed’s sustainable point of difference (100% organic, zero-emissions and sustainable supply chains) to companies who want to reduce their carbon impact.

I was the sole copywriter on the project from MVP stage until the end of their first year, writing everything for them from their strapline, tube advertising campaigns and social, to every page on the website (including the product descriptions), customer marketing emails and other CRM pieces.

(Password to view films is flowerandrock)

World's First Live, Life-size, Personalised, Voice-activated Hologram

BRIEF

Launch the new Ford Fiesta to a selected European media audience who’ve ‘seen it all before’, in an event that showcases its range of advanced tech, particularly SYNC (voice-activated technology).

IDEA

Showcasing the new Fiesta’s innovative tech through groundbreaking event tech based on the idea of 'Small Car, Big Surprise'. We created a seamless integrated journey through bespoke digital pieces and 150 artworks. World firsts in event technology included a personalised, voice-activated hologram with Chromakey.

This was a pitch win, and as well as creating the winning concept with my art director, I wrote every piece of collateral for the event, pre, during and post, including the event app, the scripts for the interactive hologram, the invitations, the displays and even the signage. 

The range of social I’ve worked on, from building a brand, seasonal posts for content calendars, social ads and whole suites of assets for the year, to using social and experiential together to create a buzz, via building a campaign from a strong hashtag.

Tone of voice guidelines I’ve created for a range of brands: Gemini People (creative industries recruitment), Tech Will Save Us (tech kits for kids), and Tesco Bank.

GEMINI PEOPLE

BRIEF

Create a new tone of voice for Gemini People, and write a set of guidelines that explains the new brand positioning to staff (as well as copywriters), gets them on board with it, and is something they can refer to when writing anything for the company, from social posts to emails.

ANSWER

 Tone of voice guidelines that you actually want to read. Seeing as the staff were going to read them as much as a copywriter, these guidelines had to be simple, clear and above all, fun.

TESCO BANK

BRIEF

Tesco wanted to create differentiation in the financial market by leveraging its advantages over high street banks, specifically its relationship with and understanding of Clubcard customers. The brand wanted to reframe its financial offerings within this context, and stand apart from the negative connotations of the banking industry.

IDEA

We created new creative principles, as well as new design and tone of voice guidelines for Tesco’s financial offerings, placing Tesco customers at the heart. The highlight was using real customers’ belongings in the art direction, along with a down-to-earth, honest and witty tone, to give the dry financial messages warmth and personality.

I freelanced at Comic Relief for 3 months getting the promotional material ready for Sport Relief 2018. It was an integrated project, but I worked mainly on three fundraising kits for the public, gyms and nurseries, creating the concepts and writing all copy – giving me the opportunity to channel not just my inner child, but my inner Davina, Nicola Adams and Jonnie Peacock. 

BRIEF

Get advertising agencies to see the creative and financial opportunities in advertising on Pinterest, using the format of a quarterly magazine that’s desk dropped at selected agencies.

IDEA

We created Pinsider, a zine with fluffy inspiration, sharp ideas and pointy tips on how advertising agencies can get the most out of Pinterest. We developed surprising, handy and inspirational content, and I created a clever, blunt and sarcastic tone of voice to appeal to this incredibly hard-to-please target audience. 

This project was great fun as it was the first time I was writing for an audience of agency colleagues and contemporaries, where I could be cheeky, playful and really creative with the copy.

(Password for film is flowerandrock)

I think sell-in films are key in a pitch, as they present the essence of the idea in the seductive form of images and music. Yet the 'voice' of these films is the most important, as this is what communicates the concept, excites the client and dots the 'i's for them. So whether it's a voiceover or titles, getting the script right is crucial. What's interesting is that it also clarifies, simplifies and enhances the idea in the minds of the pitch team.

The script for this film is one of the reasons my team won the pitch for Guinness's first music platform.  

Here are the projects I’ve worked on where I’ve written all the microcopy for the user interface, from menus, CTA buttons and instructions on product usage, to audio instructions. Scroll down to see the full web app and website I’ve written, the demos for an experiential experience, and an app for an event.

(Password for films is flowerandrock)

I think sell-in films are key in a pitch, as they present the essence of the idea in the seductive form of images and music. Yet the 'voice' of these films is the most important, as this is what communicates the concept, excites the client and dots the 'i's for them. So whether it's a voiceover or titles, getting the script right is crucial. What's interesting is that it also clarifies, simplifies and enhances the idea in the minds of the pitch team.

They have become a favourite of mine from a copywriting point of view, and a bit of a speciality.

The craft of film and the craft of the Stella Artois Perfect Pour come together like never before.

BRIEF

The Stella Artois World Draught Master Championships run every year, and are seen as the biggest event in the Stella Artois calendar in terms of PR, as they bring together the brand's best ambassadors – the charismatic Draught Masters from all over the world. The year we pitched, the Championships were to be in Cannes during the film festival, so the experience needed to be extra special to compete with all the other events going on in the city.

IDEA

We won the pitch with the big idea of turning the Championships into a film that was created right before your eyes, in a unique, live, interactive, cinematic soiree.

Cameras filmed the action and the audience, but it was filtered through our director's vision before being shown on large screens at the experience. So rather than simply seeing the Championships as you usually would, they were given a beautiful, sepia-tinted, ultra-stylish, Stella Artois-style filter. Where the craft of film and the craft of the Stella Artois Perfect Pour came together like never before.

In keeping with Stella Artois' brand values of classic elegance and the trend that year of the Great Gatsby, the theme was the twenties, so the film was in the style of a silent movie, complete with title screens that explained the simple narrative, written live by the writer as the action of the Championships unfolded. 

In the end, the client went for a more diluted version of our creative vision, yet it was still a classic and stylish event, and as well as creating the concept with my art director, I wrote every piece of copy, from the invitations to the star hosts' scripts.

Rebranding the leading recruiter in the creative industries

BRIEF

Rebrand Gemini Search. The company wanted a complete change, including a refreshed name, new identity and tone of voice, as well as a total overhaul of its website, social channels and internal communications.

IDEA

We took the recognised ‘Gemini’ as our starting point, as well as the insight that the business wanted to be known for its energising staff and their understanding of people. So the name became Gemini People, and the logo used the two ‘i’s in Gemini to represent people. I then created their proposition, which gave the name Gemini a brand purpose, playing on its meaning of twins, pairing and partnerships: we pair like-minds.

This project was a massive task as Gemini People needs to appeal to both corporate, industry clients as well as creative agency ones, not forgetting the candidates, so both the tone and identity had to target these quite different audiences at the same time. Not only that, but ensuring the staff were able to keep the rebrand consistent after the launch was crucial, especially through their social channels, so we created simple sets of guidelines and toolkits to make this easy. 

LAUNCH MONTH RESULTS

In the first month, the launch activity created 7469 impressions across LinkedIn and twitter, with 4x more new followers on LinkedIn than in a usual month, while the website had 3581 unique visitors. The launch emails sent to clients and candidates had an open rate of 36.7%, where the industry average is 16.4%.

We created a suite of 150 visual assets for Intel to use across their B2B channels, including social, emails, white papers, websites, brochures and even exhibition signage. The suite of images needed to relate to Intel’s main products and themes for B2B customers: the Cloud, the Internet of Things, data centres, manufacturing, retail and Optane memory.

Here are a few of the social posts, print and website executions we created to show how the assets can work for different messaging and media.

A rebrand for a software tech company called Wildfish who mainly build websites. I worked directly with the client on this project, from working out the brief to delivering the final designs. I was the CD, strategist and project manager, recruiting a UX designer to work alongside me.

I came up with the proposition, the brand positioning, wrote the pen portraits of the target audiences, the brief, the brand statement and all the copy on the website – even the case studies. I worked out the timelines, and made sure everything was delivered on time and on budget.

The website is live here https://wildfish.com/. There are a couple of changes on the homepage and elsewhere, as in the end the client decided they wanted to promote themselves as web developers, rather than software tech innovators, which was their original vision.

A range of emails and magazine inserts I wrote while at Sky Creative. I worked across most of their brands, from Sky Mobile, Sky Sports, Sky Go and Sky Atlantic, to Now TV.

BRIEF

This brief hadn't been cracked, so we were called in to work on it. It surely must be up there in the top 5 of tricky briefs. Dove wanted to be the facial cleanser of choice at Ramadan for women in some of the strictest parts of the Muslim world, such as Saudi Arabia. So sensitivity to the religion, especially the use of the hijab, had to be taken into account. The creative idea needed to communicate beautiful, natural facial skin, without having to show the face.

IDEA

We put the religion at the heart of the creative, and communicated beautiful skin through the #RamadanGlow. This deck was used to sell in the idea to Dove, and they loved it and bought it. 

We then developed the idea using renowned female Muslim influencers on google hangouts, where the women gave tips on preparations at Ramadan, including how to prepare your #RamadanGlow using Dove products.

(Password to view films is flowerandrock)

BRIEF

Change students’ brand preference from the demographically dominant Apple, to the newly launched Windows 8.1

IDEA

Microsoft believed that the best way to get people to love the new Windows, was to try it. So they were after a demo programme. But we felt that students wouldn't be interested in the usual demo activation turning up to their campuses.

Our answer was to reimagine the demo through the idea of 'Windows Gets You', giving each student a personalised, interactive and innovative experience centred around uni life, illustrating how the Windows 8 features could enhance it.

The demo featured two screens – the films on the big screen corresponded to the students’ interactions on the small screen, so the demos had context, relevance and memorability.  

This project was a huge undertaking, and I was involved in most aspects, from concepting to writing the copy for the event, writing the demo scripts, recording the VO, digital production and UX, through to co-directing on the shoot as it was all about timing. The scripts required two threads that needed to come together seamlessly at exactly the right time – one for the big screen, and one for the small screen.

RESULT

Quote from UK client:

“The campaign has delivered exceptional results, and is exceeding our KPIs and ROI metrics. The programme has been recognised as a Microsoft worldwide, best practice.”

Launch the new A-Class in retail (car showrooms) positioning it as the Mercedes with the most advanced tech yet. We had to use existing assets, such as the ‘Made like you’ strapline, already shot photography of the car, and film footage. 

The tech they wanted to mainly focus on was the voice control, followed by the MBUX (user experience on the tablets in the car), and the advanced telematics. This is why I built the messaging around the way you speak to the car when you want it to do something for you – “Hey Mercedes...”

I came up with the concept of placing the key tech graphics and icons around the photography of the car, to communicate its tech credentials, as well as all the copy for the launch in retail.

Halfway through the project the above-the-line agency in Germany produced a new set of key visuals for the launch. The UK retail client liked ours so much more, they went with them instead.

Launching one of the biggest new brands in baby in-store

BRIEF

We pitched for the UK launch of the Baby Dove brand in-store, targeting first time Mums with young babies, especially millennials, in the retail environment, supported by relevant social channels. We won the pitch, and then developed the idea into a toolkit for the 3 main UK stores, Asda, Tesco and Boots.

The creative platform needed a different wrapper and executions for each store, as they all had specific requirements, such as target audience (eg some were pregnant Mums-to-be), tone of voice and design style.

IDEA

To continue Dove’s heritage of featuring real women, rather than models, we based our creative platform on real Mums and babies, with the big idea of #BabyBathtimeReality. This stood out against the brand’s biggest competition, Johnson’s, with their typically sanitised and idealistic approach to looking after baby. We specifically focused on baby bath time, as our lead product was the top-to-toe wash, using real Mum’s voices and images to celebrate the trials and tribulations of bathing baby in their first year. In doing so, our aim was to connect with new Mums on an emotional as well as functional level.

Since I was freelancing, and wasn't around for the final work, I've included parts of the sell-in retail toolkit deck, which shows how I tackled delivering the same concept to slightly different audiences at the different stores through nuances of tone, seen especially in the names of the shopper events/activations. 

(Password to view films is flowerandrock)

Making the Kellogg's nutrition message relevant to Mums

BRIEF

This was a tricky one. Highlight the nutritional value in Kellogg’s cereal to Mums with kids under 13 who usually buy the brand, but have been discouraged by recent negative headlines about the content of the cereal. Although as the nutritional value isn’t as high as in other breakfasts, such as fruit or organic cereals, it was crucial to get the balance of the message right. Not only this, but the digital content we created needed to be something Mums would want to share.

IDEA

Goodbye sanitised advertising breakfast, hello typical family breakfast, with all its fun, madness and mayhem. Through the device of little cameras in cereal boxes, we created content that captured an authentic portrayal of British breakfast time, with Kellogg’s at its heart. So it would resonate with Mums, make them more receptive to the message, and want to share it. For the film I kept the nutritional message as simple as possible: Kellogg’s + milk = 5 essential nutrients for the family.

Activation concepts for the new Simple Water Boost range.

An activation for Lipton Ice Tea, in partnership with KFC, which worked across social, outdoor and in-store. Due to there being two brands to please, the promotion had a number of objectives that the creative needed to work hard to fulfil – such as driving traffic to KFC stores and creating demand for Lipton Ice Tea, as well as leveraging social media to drive peer to peer sharing.

'Lift-off Summer' was the creative idea the client chose to take forward.

(Password for films is flowerandrock)

Not all creatives like to write case studies. I do. Here are some examples of the film versions I've written. (It probably helped that I was the creative and copywriter on both projects.)

The boilerplates I’ve written for BT WiFi and the innovative brand Tech Will Save Us, which are used across all collateral as the ‘why us’ or ‘mission’ and the brand’s ‘elevator pitch.’

An innovative tone for an entrepreneurial start-up

BRIEF

Create a tone of voice and verbal identity for a start-up Indian herb and spice brand in San Francisco, then apply it to the website and packaging.

IDEA

A tone of voice that’s bold, adventurous and multi-sensory, to stand out and get noticed by the brand’s millennial audience, as well as reflect the product’s attributes and pay homage to its traditional roots. 

Fulfilling the adventurous part of the tone meant finding new ways of writing about food and flavour. The multi-sensory aspect helped with this, as I turned colours, sounds and textures into tastes.

The main inspiration though, was the owner’s ancestors, and I made them the characters of the brand, so their old world of traditional family recipes combined with the new one of irreverence and convenience, to create an original path.

A range of digital, content and DM for Lloyds Banking Group, specifically the retail bank work for Halifax and Lloyds. The brands wanted to have a stronger presence on Facebook, raise awareness for certain products through OLA, and use digital more effectively to convert new and existing customers to their different products and services.

ISA Robot

This was one of Halifax’s first Facebook vertical videos. To promote their ISA product before the tax year end they wanted something that would create standout in the category and on the platform. They went for something that breaks some of their own rules to achieve that.

A personal project with an illustrator friend. Writing children's books takes particular copywriting skills, such as simplicity, clarity and precision. Writing in rhyme is the epitome of crafted writing, as the words don't only have to fit into a rhyming scheme, but the rhythm has to be right too, with a consistent metre formed through thorough scansion. Hopefully we'll be published one day...

(Password to view films is flowerandrock)

BRIEF
Create Oykos idents for the Sky TV channel Pick, to sponsor both its daytime and evening programmes, targeted at 35 year-old women. There should be a clear connection between the channel and the yoghurt, and the cheeky Oykos TOV established in the Amanda Holden commercials should be continued.

IDEA

Since we needed 15 script variations but only had a one-day shoot, we based the concept around one simple living room set, the focus being an elaborate Treat Time button in the arm of a sofa. This transports the female protagonist from various chore scenarios straight into ‘treat time’, where she indulges in Pick TV and Oykos.

BRIEF

Turn a 500 page internal document on UPS’s sustainability strategy into an engaging piece for consumers.

IDEA

An interactive story, told through simple, clear language and eye-catching design. We created an ebook using the latest techniques in HTML5 Parallax, which pushed the boundaries of front-end development, with the effect of enhancing the narrative flow, and encouraging you to read on and on. So as with a successful sustainability strategy, the story becomes a continuous one.

This was a satisfying task for a copywriter, as I got to use most of my skills in turning a dull, jargon-filled, hardly-read internal document into an interesting, captivating and simple read for anyone, not just UPS staff.

BRIEF

Promote, motivate and creatively reward Momentum UK, with an ongoing programme of inspiration.

IDEA

Give our people the balls to go out and make their dreams happen. We created an inspirational speaker programme called Guts and Glory, based on the theme of fearlessness, one of the agency’s core values. Speakers needed to be innovators, groundbreakers or game changers.

RESULT

2012, the year Guts and Glory launched, was the most successful and creative year in Momentum UK’s history.

RELAUNCH TESCO BANK WITH A LITTLE MORE TESCO, AND A LOT LESS BANK 

BRIEF

Tesco wanted to create differentiation in the financial market by leveraging its advantages over high street banks, specifically its relationship with and understanding of Clubcard customers. The brand wanted to reframe its financial offerings within this context, and stand apart from the negative connotations of the banking industry.

IDEA

We created new creative principles, as well as new design and tone of voice guidelines for Tesco’s financial offerings, placing Tesco customers at the heart. The highlight was using real customers’ belongings in the art direction, along with a down-to-earth, honest and witty tone, to give the dry financial messages warmth and personality.

Trying to Change 1000s of Lives with Little Time and Money

BRIEF

A pro-active piece for client Plan UK, which encourages donations to the Haitian disaster,
in the context of the charity’s work for children and orphans.

 IDEA

Plan 600,000. When the Haiti earthquake created 600,000 orphans, we responded with
a simple donation-led email campaign, which capitalised on the recent media coverage, yet only
asked people for One Minute, One Pound and One Friend to pass the message onto.

BRIEF

Give the Santa's Little Workshop brand more differentiation and personality with a new tone of voice and help keep it consistent with a set of guidelines.

IDEA

Bring the magic of Christmas back. I turned what had become a site dominated by sales messages into a special outlet for the often ignored Mrs Claus and her mission to bring back the magic of Christmas, with hand-stitched, highly-crafted objects of beauty.

This led to the creation of the brand proposition: high-quality craft making with an authentic Christmas spirit. 

Mrs Claus's voice inside my head then became the unique tone and personality of the brand, representing an authentic, handmade and timeless Christmas, rather than a modern, disposable and mass-produced one.

Imagination Costs Nothing

BRIEF

Create the official Royal Parks app for families with children aged 4-12 to get the most out of Hyde Park.

IDEA

Get the most out of kids’ imaginations. Instead of simply providing a map, walking routes and a bit of history, we created ‘mystery tours’, one with a skew toward boys and the other toward girls, to bring the park and its mythology and history to life for kids. A big challenge was to make it engaging for this app-sassy audience on a very low budget. The answer was to use their imaginations

When I was a mid-weight copywriter, I worked at an agency with the COI on their roster. So I was given plenty of tricky briefs on subjects ranging from the HPV vaccine to the NHS getting less people to phone 999 via this one on long-lasting contraception, encouraging women in poor and deprived areas to use it so they don't fall pregnant unintentionally.

Needless to say, I have lots of experience in writing on challenging subjects, making the unpalatable much more palatable. 

BRIEF

Create mini manifestos for every department in Momentum UK, communicating the key brand value of fearlessness. The icon and manifesto will go on everything from internal collateral to business cards and email signatures.

ANSWER

Producing in-house work can be challenging as every colleague becomes the client. To make sure the mini manifestos were accepted by the agency, I built them around insights and truths of each department. This way I hoped they'd resonate with people.

RESULT

The agency loved them so much, they were used across the agency worldwide.

The first print and DM campaign I was really proud of from a copywriting point of view. A simple, fun idea, executed with insight and warmth.

The Agency Bread And Butter

Throughout my career I’ve worked on plenty of financial briefs, with all sorts of tones of voice, from quirky Smile, to methodical Baillie Gifford to down-to-earth Co-operative.