A Copywriter's Blog

A Adjectives: List of adjectives starting with the letter A

Call it a writer's block or anything, sometimes copywriters need an adjective that starts with a particular letter. Here's a helpful list of English adjectives staring with the letter A:

April Fool's Day or April Fools' Day?

1st April is coming soon and creative teams of some agencies are busy creating the Fools' Day advertisements, cards, mailers or pranks.

Here's a tip for those confused about the correct usage of the term:

April Fools' Day: CORRECT

April Fool's Day: INCORRECT
April Fools Day: INCORRECT

It is also known as All Fools' Day.

Got this interesting fact from Wikipedia:
Traditionally, in some countries such as Canada, New Zealand, the UK, Australia, Cyprus, and South Africa, the jokes only last until noon, and someone who plays a trick after noon is called an "April Fool" and taunted "April Fool's Day's past and gone, You're the fool for making one."

Kissan Tomato Seeds Ad

Loved the innovative ad by Kissan. They actually pasted packets of tomato seeds on the half page ad... more importantly, they approved the idea (if it was presented by an agency) and executed it!!!

11 Fun Facts About Copywriters

Confucius said, “Choose a job you love and you will never have to work a day in your life.” He never mentioned anything about all-nighters!
Did you hear about the copywriter who was wrongfully convicted in a murder case? When asked if he committed the crime, he gave three Options – No, May Be, Yes!
Copywriters don’t write copies. They make changes as per client’s ‘suggestions’.
Copywriters don’t love to work on weekends. They have to.
Thsi is waht an ovrewokred copyrwiter’s wokr looks liek.
Advertising awards are means to prevent copywriters from becoming extinct. Else, who buys the real ‘creative’ stuff?
What do you call a copywriter who returns home at 7 pm? Jobless!
Copywriters never miss spelling mistakes, when others make them.
Copywriters dnt make spelling mistakes, thy r de victims of SMS invasion.
Copywriters have three best friends: Right Click Synonyms, Google and Holidaying Clien
First a copywriter cracks an idea, then the client crushes it.

How to use a quote within a quote

Using a quote within a quote is not a difficult thing at all. We just need to get the logic right and then the punctuation become really simple.

We must use single quotation marks for the quotes within the main quotes. Now the period mark / question mark should always be inside the most interior quote marks.

Example of using a quote within a quote:

She said, "Maria exclaimed, 'Oh my God!'"

If a question is to be quoted, the question mark should be placed inside the quotation marks.

Julie said, "My husband asked, 'Where can we go for dinner tonight?'"

Old TVCs: 15 Funniest Commercials

Online Degrees has published some cool and funny old commercials. Check out the link here:
Online Degrees: 15 Funniest Commercials from Your Childhood

APPIES 2010 - Dates, Registration and Fees

The Advertising Club Bombay and The Institute of Advertising Singapore are together launching APPIES 2010. Essentially, APPIES will be a great place to checkout the last year's most effective marketing communications programs from across Asia-Pacific. What makes it interesting is that these communication programs will be presented by the teams responsible for coming up with the effective ideas.

APPIES will be held on 3rd and 4th June 2010.

The delegate fee is US$550. For more information and registration, you may visit www.adclubbombay.com

Image Courtesy: http://www.adclubbombay.com

What's wrong with clients?

A bikini clad girl emerging from the sea and it's an ad for some cement brand! This one beats the weird ads aired these days. Somehow there's no connect between what's being shown in the ad and the brand. I am sure agencies aren't responsible for such things and it must be the client's brain overworking and over-interfering as usual. But then when I happen to watch these ads while with family / friends, they give me this look 'What are you ad people doing these days?'. As if each one of us in advertising is responsible for every pathetic ad published. God, bless us. Let the clients believe in the expertise of ad guys and save us from watching and getting blamed for stupid ads.

Most commonly used English words in daily lingo

I believe words were created so that people could communicate comfortably. But God only knows when we evolved to use English words to add 'style' / personal touch to our daily lingo. Unknowingly, many of us have picked up this habit of starting / ending our sentences with a couple of English words. How often have you come across these kinds:

Girl 1: Arre, he's so cute you know. He actually picked up the books I dropped. I was so happy yaar you know. And then he smiled... you know... smiled at me... wow!!!

Girl 2: Arre, he's so cute... like so cute yaar!!! He actually picked up the books I dropped... like... I was so happy. And then he smiled... like... smiled at me... I felt like wow!!!

Girl 3: So... he's actually very cute. So that day he actually picked up the books I dropped. I was so happy man. Then he smiled... so ya that's it... wow!!!

Girl 4: I mean... he's so cute. He actually picked up the books I dropped. I mean... I was so happy yaar. And then he smiled... I mean... smiled at me... wow!!!

So... let me tell you this lingo is so addictive, I mean, you know...like really addictive!

What kind of English is this?

I resisted sharing this decently popular site (Google page rank 3) the first time I read an article about Shah Rukh Khan and Kareena Kapoor. But then I came across an article on Paa and couldn't stop myself. If you need tips on how not to write:

Excerpt 1: If this happens, SRK will be seen contradictory Bebo succeeding to a rupture of ten years, in view of the fact with the purpose of they did Asoka in somebody’s companionship. It’s no news with the intention of Kareena can increasingly say no to Shahrukh, whether it’s doing an item song like ‘Marjaani’ for Billu Barber or being ingredient of his worldwide tour, she is ready. However, reports convey with the intention of King Khan has not signed anyone and the thinking process about the casting of the film is on.

Excerpt 2: It’s almost immediately departure to be authoritatively renowned as the simply movie in the world feature the father-son duo reverse their real-life roles designed for the screen.

If the writer of the above articles feels that I should have spoken to him / her first, I am afraid there was no contact info available on the site.

PS I've removed the links now.

Past tense of telecast

I have seen writers using an incorrect past tense for 'telecast'. Thought I would rather clear the doubt online.
The past tense of telecast is telecast.
Telecasted is INCORRECT
Same logic applies to broadcast.

Birla Sun Life Insurance and BIGFlix Ads on copywriting blog

Are you surprised to see Birla Sun Life Insurance and BIGFlix ads often on this copywriting blog? So am I.

Well, I am quite conversant with both Google Adsense and AdWords. Precisely the reason I fail to understand why do I get Birla Sun Life Insurance and BIGFlix banner advertisements on this blog. Perhaps, Google is considering my blog ID and displaying the BIGFlix ads since I have a couple of movie blogs. But that should not be the case, right? Hope the advertisers are not on PPM model.

Found something weird with Google today?

Well, Google has officially launched the new fade-in home page version. So when you go to Google, you will just see the Google logo, the search box and the submit buttons (Google search and I'm Feeling Lucky).

Only when you move the mouse, you'll see the rest of the links. I love it!

Google Ad-Words - Funny Ad Placement

Here's a funny ad placement. Basically a CAT 2009 ad appeared on a funny video on cats! I hope the Minglebox guys know where they are putting their money. The ad appeared on this link.

Too much digging

I have been very active on digg.com all these while. No wonder, I really thought the spelling of dig was wrong in the phrase "dig some information"!
Damn DIGGing ;)

Fiancé Fiancée - Who’s Male, Who’s Female

It’s very simple, yet many writers tend to make the mistake of using fiancé-fiancée inappropriately. Get it right guys - Fiancé is a male, fiancée is a female.

INCORRECT:
He will marry his fiancé.
She will marry her fiancée.

CORRECT:
He will marry his fiancée.
She will marry her fiancé.

80s Or 80’s Or ‘80s For Eighties – Using Apostrophe

I have been seeing incorrect uses of the apostrophe when one uses incomplete numerals for decades. Just a tip for those who aren't sure about this:
Where do I use an apostrophe (’) when I want to talk about decades using incomplete numerals?

When you want to say “Clothes worn in the eighties”, but want to use numerals, this is how it should be:

CORRECT:
Clothes worn in the '80s

WRONG:
Clothes worn in the 80's
Clothes worn in the 80s

In this example, the apostrophe is used as a contraction i.e. it replaces something that was removed from its place. Basically, the apostrophe replaces "19" in "1980".

Funny Google suggestions on search query ‘why do’

I fell in love with Google Suggest the moment I discovered it. Little did I know that I would find Google Suggest not just informative but interesting and funny as well. The kind of search terms people type in Google can get really hilarious.

Here is a compilation of interesting “why do…” Google search suggestions when people want information on people belonging to different nationalities.

My favorite picks are listed below. Do let me know which ones amuse you.

Why do Americans speak English
Why do Asians look the same
Why do Australians say mate
Why do British people say zed
Why do Canadians say eh
Why do Chinese men eat more rice than Japanese men
Why do Europeans work so little
Why do French women not get fat
Why do Italians talk with their hands
Why do Japanese live so long
Why do Kenyans run so fast
Why do Koreans have good skin

Google’s really making the search engine experience interesting, right?
Click here to find out what Google Suggest is all about.

Seesmic Desktop has almost 2 million downloads

Seesmic is a cool initiative that allows you to follow your friends on Twitter and Facebook at one place. You can easily share links and thoughts at the same time on Twitter and Facebook, follow/unfollow friends, see their updates... But then who am I to give you all the gyaan! Watch the video from Seesmic to know it all!

Most Dangerous Web Search Terms Include Screensavers

McAfee Identifies the Most Dangerous Web Search Terms

"...As defined by McAfee, the riskiest set of keyword variations was ‘screensavers’ with a maximum risk of 59.1 percent. Nearly six out of the top 10 search results for ‘screensavers’ contain malware. One of the single riskiest search terms in the world is ‘lyrics’, with a maximum risk factor of one in two. Surprisingly, searches using the word ‘Viagra’, a popular keyword that is also common in spam e-mail messages, yielded the fewest risky sites. Searches with the safest risk profile included health-related terms and searches about the current economic crisis..."
Read more here.

Courtesy: networkcomputing.in