Reflection Post 3: Discuss five considerations in writing an effective body copy

Five considerations in writing an effective body copy.

1. Details Draw from your research. You need to understand your target audience, so you know what they are looking for. Be specific and impactful. Make your body copy complete with information in order to convince your reader.

2. Structure 3 part approach: Headline, First line of copy, Last line of copy. Write a strong headline and start your first line of body copy with a strong benefit. These encourage your reader to read the rest of the ad. Use short and common words.

3. Clear Try to keep your body copy clear and simple. Your body copy must deliver the message/ USP of your product to the reader. Prevent your body copy to be ambiguity. People are probably in a hurry, make your points obvious.

4. Call for action Use "active voice" rather than the "passive voice" in your sentence construction. Explain why they should buy your product. Clearly state how your product benefit your consumers and convince your them to buy!

5. Make it interesting There are many ways to make your body copy interesting. Creativity is important. Tell your audiences a story. This give your product or service a sense of human component. Write your body copy conversationally.

For further reading (online)

Communicating product features and benefits 

http://books.google.com.my/books?id=JAq_T2hQoHMC&pg=PA237&lpg=PA237&dq=why+body+copy+need+to+be+creative&source=bl&ots=MojSm5ll3b&sig=tdyFB4JMJnyrJokW4YzGS-UInYM&hl=en&sa=X&ei=5jIlVJW2K4718QWz7oDgBg&ved=0CCAQ6AEwAw#v=onepage&q=why%20body%20copy%20need%20to%20be%20creative&f=false

David Ogilvy's 7 Tips for Writing Copy That Sells

https://blog.kissmetrics.com/david-ogilvy/

Written by,

Ng Jas Min

0312182

Blog Swipe 3.2: Headline (best body copy of a print ad)

Media : Online- Print Ad (http://adsoftheworld.com/media/print/ywca_work_for_free)

Title : Demand Equal Pay

Sponsor: YWCA, Auckland

Prospect : Convince the public that it's not right for women to be paid less than men.

Product: Awareness (PSA).

Problem: Until today women in New Zealand are discriminated in the workplace. Females are paid 10% lesser than males but, both genders pay for the same amount of student dept in order to have a better future. The problem is that not enough awareness is going around for people to fight this injustice. Thus, the creation of this ad is to help solve this problem.

Objectives: To raise awareness on gender inequality in the workplace, and to receive support in introducing the Pay Equality Bill to the Parliament.

Strategy : The ad strategy is by letting the audience picture the worst case scenario in order to attract the public's attention and to get the message across on how serious this issue actually is. Also, the ad strategy is extremely convincing because it is a factual ad. Hence, both men and women are perceptual to this form of advertising. 

Tone: Shocking / Cold / Serious

Brand Character : Powerful

Interesting Element: Headline.

"FROM NOW UNTIL THE END OF THE YEAR, WOMEN WILL WORK FOR FREE"

It's interesting because it's such a powerful and controversial statement that it will take anyone off guard. Nobody in the right mind works for free, let alone a whole nation of females! This will stir up the curiosity of everyone. Other than that, the font design is bold and all letters are capitalized. Thus, the headline projects a very strong and serious tone that will not be taken lightly by the viewers. 

Written by:

Natalia Melissa Singa

0304567

Blog Swipe 3.1: Headline (best body copy of a print ad)

Media : Online- Print Ad (http://nicdowney.com/work-samples/print-ads/)

Title : Eat right.

Sponsor: The Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics

Prospect : Convince people to start eating healthy

Product: None. (PSA)

Problem: Pull the target audience and help them with their weight problems.The headline is the message for the advert itself.It shows a clear message from what the picture is trying to tell the audience. The headline is the name of the place that they are trying to sell.

Objectives: To raise awareness on the health benefits in eating broccoli which contains cancer-fighting nutrients.

Strategy : The ad pictures a strip of pills, but instead of using tablets, they have replaced it with a stalk of broccoli each. This sends a message of cancer medicine can be replaced by just eating broccoli, as broccoli has cancer-fighting nutrients that many do not know of.

Tone: Sascasm / Fear

Brand Character : Health conscious

Interesting Element: Headline.The headline states: "WARNING! May use its fancy 'chemical compounds' to bully cancerous tumors (who are only minding their own business) inside of you"

It's interesting because not many companies use sarcasm to grab the attention of the audience so effectively. Also, their sarcastic headline not only grabs attention, it is very informative at the same time. Then leading the audience to read more about it in the body copy, which contains more information on eating broccoli along with the nutrients that it contains. Although it is only a Public Service Announcement by a health academy, it allows viewers to walk away with a new knowledge and also a possibility for them to start eating more broccoli due to fear of cancerous tumors.

Written by:

Bernadette Alexandra Koh Pei Yi

0302106