Introduction

The early stages of a copywriting career can be strangely isolated. You might find you’re struggling to meet the needs of the brief. The meeting of minds with the team around you is often postponed in agency life. There are challenges in meeting deadlines, pressures and the expectations you now face. Confidence takes you only so far. An inside understanding and some sneaky techniques would stop you feeling alone and help bolster your game enormously. Wouldn’t you like to meet your copywriter’s reflection in the mirror with a much more knowing look? 

Course outline

Don’t come along to Will’s session expecting a relaxing day out of the office. His session is full on. But the hard work is worth it. It provides a firm grounding in the art of writing for advertising, not least because Will’s session gets right to the heart of the writing process. He gives tips on how to overcome the tyranny of the blank page. He teaches how to think differently about words, and apply this thinking to the creation of great advertising. In short, Will shares the wit, wisdom and experience gained from over 30 years as an award-winning advertising copywriter and creative director. As Vicky Holland, Content & Data Editor at Burrows said after she’d attended one of Will’s sessions: ​“I appreciate being guided by someone with a sincere passion for writing”. If Will passes on just one tenth of that passion for writing, this alone will be worth the price of admission. But, chances are, you’ll end the day taking away much more than that.

Learning outcomes

By the end of this workshop you will: 

• Possess a broader context in which to situate your writing and understand how to define rapidly your own workable strategies
• Know how to be a better self-starter
• Appreciate how to keep your audience in mind
• Have practiced how to order your arguments most compellingly and learned how to access more richly persuasive content
• Have investigated how to keep your writing personal as well as be exposed to headline generation techniques
• Be inspired to re-oxygenate your copywriting

Suitable for

• New copywriters who are just starting their careers
• People whose ambition is to become a copywriter
• Managers who find themselves having to write copy for their own businesses
• Working copywriters who’d like to polish their writing skills and re- ignite their enthusiasm for writing
• Art directors who’d like to learn more about copywriting
• Anyone who wishes to master the art of writing clear and persuasive advertising copy
• Anyone who writes web content who would like to learn more about traditional advertising copy techniques

Your facilitator

Will Awdry is an award-winning Advertising Writer and Creative Director. Before he became a writer he did a succession of other jobs, ranging from lavatory attendant to deckhand. Which tells you a lot about the quote that you see above. It isn’t something he’s just made up. It’s borne out by experience. Will had no idea he had the ability to become a copywriter until he actually tried. Mind you, once he discovered he had the talent, there seemed to be no stopping him. He spent many fruitful years at BBH, lining his mantelpiece with awards. He also wrote copy at Partners BDDH, Leagas Delaney and BMP DDB, again adding to his clutch of trophies before becoming Creative Partner at Ogilvy & Mather. So who better to share the arcane secrets of writing persuasive copy than Will?

FAQs

What are my transport/​parking options for getting to the event?
Home’s studio is a 10 minute bike ride or taxi journey from Bristol Temple Meads train station. Street parking is available.

Food and Drink
Lunch and refreshments are provided though-out the day, please let us know if you have any dietary requirements.

D&AD Members
Please note that tickets are offered at a subsidised cost by WEDF, and therefore any additional discounts do not apply.

Cancellations
Tickets are non-refundable but can be transferred to another attendee.

Thankyou
A big thank you to the team at Home for hosting this session at their fabulous new studio.