Create new terms by merging old ones
Tracy Ousdahl and Paul Pinney have traveled the globe. But sometimes, instead of venturing out to a cool destination, they use their time off to visit their families.… Read the full article
Creative communications
3 ways to find balance, or parallelism
Take a tip from Charles Dickens
Charles Dickens famously used balance to introduce A Tale of Two Cities:
It was the best of times, it was the worst of times,
it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness,
it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity,
it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness,
it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair …
To create balance, you might steal a tip from Dickens and:
1.
… Read the full articleWhat is alliteration used for
Try this literary device in headlines, leads & quotes
Remember Barack Obama’s speeches? Those lyrical lines like:
“Let us resist the temptation to fall back on the same partisanship and pettiness and immaturity that has poisoned our politics for so long.”
… Read the full articleWhy wordplay works in communications
We pay attention to and remember puns, alliteration
A hand shoots up in my Make Your Copy More Creative workshop.
“But,” the communicator says, “don’t you risk confusing people with wordplay?”… Read the full article
What’s the effect of statistics in persuasive writing?
Reframe the data to improve decision-making
People in one study rated a disease that kills 1,286 people out of every 10,000 as more dangerous than one that kills 24.14% of the population (Yamagishi, 1997).… Read the full article
Concrete writing style moves readers to act
Concrete details outperform abstract writing in studies
Want to change readers’ minds? Help them see your position.
That’s what two researchers at the University of Michigan did in a 1986 experiment.… Read the full article
How to write in detail
Steal tips from these holiday messages
Hey, we know. Thanksgiving was so November 2015. But we couldn’t resist sharing these delicious holiday messages from two of our brilliant clients.… Read the full article
Concrete images in writing boost understanding
There’s a 1:1 correlation between vivid descriptions and comprehension
Three professors from Texas A&M University and the University of the Andes aimed to find out whether concrete images or abstract images were more understandable.… Read the full article
Motivation an element of storytelling
Find your character’s ‘I wish’ song
“Funny Girl” starts with Barbara Streisand wishing to be a star.
“My Fair Lady” opens with Julie Andrews wishing for a room somewhere.… Read the full article
Storytelling structure: Use chronology
Transform real-life events into narrative arcs with this storytelling template
Beginning, middle, end: A chronological approach is the best way to organize most nonfiction narratives.
That’s the formula Ira Glass uses for the popular National Public Radio program “This American Life.”… Read the full article