What is the future of copywriting?
If anyone knows, it must be Elizabeth Sakola and Meghan Casey from Brain Traffic.
We were very fortunate to have these two smart people visit MCAD tonight to share their perspectives and expertise on the art of writing copy in the age of SEO, PPC, UX and a whole host of other acronyms.
Elizabeth shared her thoughts on "Web Writing for Dummies, Smarties, Oldies, and Newbies." Interesting to consider the dualities of copywriting online—is the task to excite, to compel to dramatize (e.g. messaging) or is the task to inform, direct and facilitate (e.g. functionality)?
Then Meghan discussed her background in writing, editing and content strategy. We walked through a diagram from Kristina Halvorson's presentation on content strategy to better understand the various roles and interplay required of writers in the digital age.
Then we had a brief discussion around the increasing rift generated by technology and offshore capability to automate and supplant the traditions of copywriting.
Daniel Roth's piece in Wired, "The Answer Factory: Fast, Disposable, and Profitable as Hell" dissects the success of Demand Media's approach to content creation. As copywriters, how do we feel when our work can be valued at $15 per article? Heck, there's some fellas in India who will write your brand's site copy starting at $4.
Next week we're going to begin a sequence of five assignments, back to back; one per week.
Comments