DENSE: 100 WAYS TO READ ME

Read Me: 10 Lessons for Writing Great Copy by Roger Horberry & Gyles Lingwood (Laurence King Publishing, £18.95)

We are big readers here at .Cent. Even as I type, I am starring at a shelf filled with books, new and old, from Oxford dictionaries to art and photography books all piled on top of one another.

‘100 Ways to Create a Great Ad’ by Tim Collins and ‘Read Me’ by Roger Horberry & Gyles Lingwood, are two books we are currently enchanted by, thanks to them using their own depth and knowledge to create two books which empower, encourage and teach readers the best tips and tricks in advertising and writing.

Tim Collins ‘100 Ways to Creat a Great Ad,’ offers us a look at 100 great advertising techniques used over the years, depicting the most effective ways to create a consumer ad campaign. Filled with advertising tips across television, print, radio and more, Collins dissects these ad campaigns semiotically and uses them as a tool to create great advertising tips for us to learn. In the book, Collins acknowledges ad campaign techniques such as storytelling, stating;

“Telling a story with a successful beginning, middle and end is difficult enough in a two-hour movie. Making one work in a TV ad is incredibly difficult, though ads that manage it are often very popular.”

Other techniques used in Collin’s guide include the use of slang in advertising, which he attributes to the 60s;

“The Madison Avenue creative revolution of the sixties, which generated many of the creative strategies still used today, witnessed a great shift from formal to colloquial language,” to the anti-advertising technique embraced in the 2000’s, used by brands such as Tango. “In 2002, the soft drink Tango Tropical launched with the line ‘Don’t slag it off until you’ve tried it. (Then slag it off .) This tone uses self-criticism to pre-empt the hostile reaction of jaded consumers.”

Encapsulating extensive information into one book is no easy task, yet  ‘Read Me’ by Roger Horberry & Gyles Lingwood have also mastered the art of working dense material into one package. ‘Read Me’ addresses a variety of techniques used to help improve writing skills, from slogans; “A slogan is there to deliver a USP or branding. If you love my commercial you shouldn’t be able to describe it to anyone else without mentioning the name of the product and the slogan,” to research ‘Research starts with reading the brief,’ to planning and more.

Each chapter is a self taught lesson, with contribututions from commercial writers and journalist, who assist readers in improving their writing skills. Sharp, effective and easy to read,  ‘Read Me’ is a practical guide which will take readers on a high energy ride into the world of writing, and all in 185 pages.