NO CV AVAILABLE
The Word Department is Doug Nolan, a freelance copywriter with fifteen years' experience - including some of the UK's most successful advertising agencies.
Whether you want an annual report, a website, a brochure, a leaflet, a poster, a mailer or a little sticker on the side of an elephant, The Word Department can make it sound good - and always with a tone of voice that suits.
Do you need an in-house copywriter or a remote copywriter? Well, I can be either. I work on-site for clients from all over the UK, or for remote jobs I use a unique web system to let you check and comment on work I've written for you online.
There are a few samples of my work below. But if you want to find out more about The Word Department, visit www.theworddepartment.co.uk
Thanks for reading.
Key Skill:Copywriter Experience:Senior
Other Skills:Copywriter (Senior), Agriculture (Senior), Arts / Entertainment (Senior), Business / Commercial (Senior), Education (Senior), Finance (Senior), Health (Senior), Lifestyle (Senior), Technology (Senior), Travel / Tourism (Senior), Online / SEO (Senior)
Tags: advertising-copywriter creative-copywriting design-copywriter dm-copywriter freelance-copywriter investment-copywriter London-copywriter leeds-copywriter Manchester-copywriter marketing-copywriter tone-of-voice-copywriter
URL: www.theworddepartment.co.uk
TV ad copywriter
How do you show an ad for a Burns Night cookery book, by a cook who is a cartoon character (Ma Broon), without showing her, and without giving her a voice? At the same time, promote the Sunday Post newspaper, who are giving the book away with every copy.
Well Robbie Burns was a master of words, so he could probably have made a recipe sound poetic. Of course, the recipe would have to be for haggis...
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Corporate copywriter
In conjunction with Edinburgh Council, Careers Scotland and local teachers, Standard Life launched a programme to help prepare school leavers for the transition from school to work. We provided words for various materials, including posters, video scripts and handy information packs housed in CD jewel cases.
This campaign earned Standard Life a Business Innovation Award at The Scottish Executive's Enterprise in Education Awards.
Advertorial copywriter
Direct Holidays wanted to use national newspapers to tell people about their holiday offers. And they wanted an approach that made them stand out. So rather than just using 'bucket and spade' imagery, we wrote these mock horoscopes to encourage people to book, whilst working in all the benefits of doing so with Direct Holidays. The light-hearted tone made it easy for the reader to read more and take in the facts.
See - tone of voice is important.
Leaflet copywriter
Temporarily branding their snack-sized milk cartons with Disney's Incredibles characters, Robert Wiseman needed an in-store flyer to promote them.
The challenge here was to talk to kids and their parents at the same time. So for parents, we gave nutritional messages and reassurance that the product is natural. For kids, we used a tone of voice that told them how milk could make them big and strong, with Disney's Incredibles characters as a backdrop.
Direct mail copywriter
Velux are known for making windows. So 1500 builders' merchants were surprised to receive this mailer for the new Velux Solar Hot Water system. We wrote the outer teaser headline and a minimal brochure to intrigue and encourage requests for the full, technical manual. And it worked - a 19% response rate in the first week alone kept Velux busier than they'd expected, along with an impressive 9,000 responses to the trade press ad based on the same creative.
Website copywriter
Branding Boutique are a branding consultancy who genuinely enjoy what they do. So when they asked us to write their website, we told them it would be a crime if this first point of contact with them didn't reflect their friendly, enthusiastic nature. The result is a site that sounds just like the people who work there, and makes the reader feel welcome.
Tone of voice should come from the natural attitude of the company, and this site is a great example of how effective that can be when you get it right.
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Door drop copywriter
How do you sell a package of TV, broadband Internet and telephone to students? Well through the medium of toast naturally - students love it. We wrote the words to be a little bit cheeky, giving them something they'd pass around the house and find amusing. A burned toast follow-up suggested they shouldn't leave it too late to grab the deal. Response rates were high, meaning a good deal for lazy* students, and a happy client.
*The Word Department is sure that many students are conscientious and hardworking. Don't write in.
Financial copywriter
We've got quite a bit of experience in financial copywriting - both for consumers and IFAs.
With this project, Bank of Scotland Corporate wanted to communicate their Housing Finance product to people, using a unique stationery holder designed to keep them at the front of potential clients' minds. So we wrote a no-nonsense brochure in clear and persuasive language, telling the story of each case study's objectives, clients and the creative approaches the bank came up with.
Just one of these packs alone generated a deal worth £75 million.
Sales promotion copywriter
Known all over the world for their fine whisky, Glenfiddich needed words for point-of-sale materials to promote their single malt, with its existing strapline of 'Inspiring great conversation since 1887'. So we wrote from the starting point of there being a free conversation with every glass - this even became a headline in itself.
We also wrote a nice little booklet called 'The Conversation Piece', to get people talking in bars. It's actually a mini-script, to be used by two people, and featuring some of the smartest and wittiest comebacks in history.
Business to consumer (B2C) copywriter
The National Self-Build and Renovation Centre decided to hold an enormous five-day show focusing on eco-friendly building. So they needed a name for the show, and some ads to promote it. We came up with a list of names, and they chose our favourite: The Big Green Home Show. Then we used the ads to focus on the specific benefits of the kind of products being displayed at the show, such as organic paint and natural insulation. Using a simple, conversational tone of voice, the ads appealed to people who weren't experts, but wanted to learn about building their own eco-friendly home.
Investment copywriter
The secret to investment copywriting (aside from a great deal of experience) is getting the information across to your audience in the correct manner, whether they're consumers or IFAs. So when ethical investors Ecclesiastical wanted to tell people about their award-winning Amity Funds, we wrote this copy to be informative and open, with the facts laid bare for all to see. A lot of investment copy can be too technical and quite convoluted, but Ecclesiastical's tone of voice allows them to be friendly, clear and informative all at the same time - tying in with their honest and open approach
