Last week, in some grand fluke of database management, I received an email from a company that sells an automated writing program. The headline went something like, “Get great ad copy without the expensive copywriter.” Now I am not that crazy about the message for anyone, but how on earth could they send that to me, a copywriter (though by no means an expensive one). I sure hope that the artificial intelligence program they use to throw words together is more effective than their data base.
Maybe someone sold them on a strategy like this, "Let's send this to every copywriter we can find and convince them it will help them write generic ads quicker, which will give them more time to work on their novels and screenplays.”
Gag me.
In an even stranger twist, it showed up just days before the official launch of Dream Up Consulting, my new creative strategy practice. Is someone trying to tell me something? Well, I take it as a glove-slap-across-my-face challenge to duel. (And how many computer programs would ever write a sentence like that?)
I like to think that advertising and other business communication is about business, but it’s even more about people. What will your whatchamacallit do for me? Will it make me more efficient, more dynamic, or just plain cooler? As a consumer, I want to read things that have some soul, some connection, some humanity. As a copywriter, I want to write that way, too.
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