Nobody reads long copy anymore. Here's why.

T: You always talk about the importance of copy.When you are flicking through a magazine, for example, you see a lot of images, and you keep flicking. Should a good ad be like a good book that you don't want to stop reading?

NF: Well, the short answer is yes, of course. But while you're flicking, you need an art-director to make you stop flicking and start reading! Only then can you concentrate on making the copy work. There's one recent ad I wrote that many people have asked for reprints of; it's on walls of copywriters' offices all over the world...if not on the walls of art-directors. The headline is "Nobody reads long copy anymore. Here's why." And of course there are columns of copy. Basically what it says is that if you can write interestingly then people will read. And if they don't, it's your fault for not being interesting.

See Interview with Neil French at Taschen.

WPP
Niel French

Adland® is supported by your donations alone. You can help us out by buying us a Ko-Fi coffee.
Anonymous Adgrunt's picture
comment_node_story
Files must be less than 5 MB.
Allowed file types: jpg jpeg gif png wav avi mpeg mpg mov rm flv wmv 3gp mp4 m4v.