What The EU Referendum Can Teach You About Copywriting
I hate politics. I don’t like talking about it, and I’m never going to turn this site into a political commentary blog.
However, seeing as today’s the day of the Referendum for UK membership of the EU, it’s worth pointing out some pretty interesting stuff that’s going on in terms of advertising for this campaign.
Because copywriters are advertisers with words, I’m going to spend a lot of time talking about the newspaper front pages in this article. Before that though, let’s talk (in impartial terms) about how the campaigns have worked to this point.
(By the way, if you live in the UK, you should go and vote if you haven’t done already. Your vote counts, etc.)
See also: Ten Copywriting Lessons From Donald Trump’s Campaign
What Political Campaigns Reveal About Humans
The lines have been drawn. Politicians have cast their lot; either they want the UK to remain within the European Union, or they want the UK to leave the EU.
This is a big decision that’ll change the future of the entire world, so you’d probably think that there would be a lot of debates, informed decisions and research provided to voters so that everyone could make the right choice.
You’d be wrong.
Here’s what the copywriter in you would have seen if you’ve been paying attention to the campaigns thus far:
- You need to deliver your argument in the simplest soundbites available. People have limited concentrations, and you need to get their attention and give them memorable snippets – not reasoned, complex statements.
- Ad Hominem and other fallacies work. Politicians have to create an ‘us versus them’ division and make you feel like you’re part of the group being spoken to. So do sales letters.
- Expert opinions and testimonials don’t really work. The Us Versus Them mentality trumps that entirely.
- If you disenfranchise people, they are not going to listen. A lot of copywriters make this mistake; you have to build rapport with your audience, not alienate them.
- There’s no such thing as impartial information.
Now, there’s something that both of the campaigns during the referendum period have failed to do. (What can I say? They should have hired me.) I’ll talk about that later on. First, let’s look at some adverts.
The Newspapers Today
Let’s look at some of the newspapers and see what we can learn from an advertising/copywriting point of view.
Whenever there is a vote of importance, the newspapers in the UK will come out in favour of one side or the other. The most obvious thing you can see with these covers is which side they’re declaring for.
This needs to be obvious, because people might not buy the newspaper, but they’ll see the cover and get the message as they walk past it on their morning commute. As you’re looking at these images, see if there are any that don’t give you their answer to the referendum question obviously. For instance, compare the above one with this one:
This brings me to my next point when it comes to advertising.
Do you need a ton of words?
The answer is no.
As a copywriter, you might think, “loads of words works really well.” Look at the above image though. If you have ten seconds as you walk past, what is it you’re seeing when there’s a block of words?
Nothing.
This translates into the online world of copywriting quite well. Have you ever seen one of those obnoxiously long sales letters, complete with a video that starts, “Hey guys… I’m gonna show you a secret method to…” Some of them, you can’t even click buy until you’ve sat through 40 minutes of video! “Bye!” go your conversion rates.
Good copywriting = give the people a reason to do what you want; preferably in the form of a good feeling. Then wrap it up as quickly as possible before you lose them.
This referendum is a great example – with any copywriting, you push your reader into making a choice: Buy now versus don’t buy now. In this referendum, the choice is “Leave” or “Remain.”
Compare the above to this:
Evocative, plays on a pop culture reference, gets the point across. You know exactly what this magazine wants you to do.
No Words?
You don’t have to have no words. Here’s a better example of how to use a word heavy approach to advertising, that’s pretty interesting for us internet marketing people:
Why is this interesting?
Because this front page is essentially the same in terms of structure and tone as the “5 reasons you should eat healthy” articles you write for a client on Fiverr. It’s a good headline – you don’t even really have to read the article to get the benefit from it. Then it’s a simple “4 reasons” article.
In fact, it’s similar in structure to the famous ad by David Ogilvy which sold Rolls Royce cars. Check that out in this article.
If you can sell a Rolls Royce to someone in 800 words, then you can pretty much anything.
What Not To Do: And The Mistake Political Campaigns Make All The Time
It’s much more effective to sell an idea by creating a positive image in your reader’s imagination than it is to sell them on negatives.
Both sides of the campaign have branded each other fear-mongers. It’s Ad Hominem, it works, but it would be better if each side had have spent more time on creating images for the future.
Sadly, some of the newspapers have fallen into this trap as well. Check out this example:
“Last ditch effort” is not something that’ll rally people to your team. I get the intent; if you’re pro-remain, then your vote is needed. It would have been much better if they’d said “We need your vote to save the EU.”
Compare that with some of the examples above, which paint a vivid and positive picture that conjures up (depending on who you are) feelings of elitism, nostalgia, power and unity. Sure, it’s harder to provide a positive picture of the status-quo, but it’d easily be possible if you looked through some picture archives and thought about your words a little more. This paper also follows the “too many words” format that we’ve already talked about above.
But you don’t need a lot of words to ruin an advert. Check this out:
I don’t know how this got past the editor/designer/whatever.
Hint: If you’re creating a piece of copy or an advert, don’t stick your campaign slogan next to/on top of/below a horrid picture.
In fact, don’t use a horrid picture at all.
This isn’t some strange reverse psychology ploy; this advert is basically telling people to remain whilst supplying them with a picture of a gaping hole descending into infinity.
Remember, we’re selling people on an idea as they walk past. They’re not going to think, “but maybe this is the consequence of picking the opposite option.”
This is an important point, and it’s the reason you need to be clear in all your writing. People don’t have the time or inclination to work out complex stuff. Don’t force them to do that.
Final Thoughts
I’ve tried to write about this from a non-biased perspective. The fact is, as unpleasant as the world of politics generally is, it’s all about the use of the very devices copywriters and marketers have to use to get their point across.
These are all chaotic examples, but hopefully you can gain something from looking at them.
As a final disclaimer – if you’re in the UK and it’s still the day of the referendum, you really should vote.
For the rest of you, I hope you’re enjoying the show!