We are...

You may have seen our ad in the Evening Standard yesterday. If not, it's going to be in Campaign tomorrow. Looking forward to seeing what the industry has to say about them. Judgement by your peers is always tricky...

(Yes, we've spotted the typos and they'll be fixed! *Can't be perfect all the time*)

Comments

[Ben]

You should have spotted the typos before you put the ad out. Basic stuff. You should have also spotted how poorly written the ad is. A waste of everyone's time.

[Joel Scott]

If you were the Creative Director who approved this ad, and you didn't realise how sloppy, stupid and boring it made your agency look, then you should go. Seriously. Go.

[The Fleece]

I thought I’d put my two penny-worth in, as JT is far too much of a gentleman to respond to these first two posters. Not that he needs to. The bloke has led Rapier to being a hugely successful and genuinely through-the-line outfit. (Perhaps that’s the problem these posters have?)

Oh, and he’s done it by being an infuriatingly good judge of work, an inspiring leader of his department - and by treating people bloody decently. The nearest agency I’ve come across in terms of ethos is AMV.

Regarding the ad; yes, a few typos squirmed out, but 99% of everyone’s communications have them these days. Content-wise, I actually like the way the ad had the stones to use really long copy, rather than dumbed-down short copy.

Happy Christmas, one and all!

[Steve Harrison]

Sorry it's taken me a while to get round to writing but I'm not as preoccupied with this kind of thing as some of you are. However, I've always been interested in long copy and you've invited comment, so here goes.

What strikes me most about your house ad is the tone of voice. Forgive me but it reads like something knocked off by a vaguely business-like Phoebe from the old tv show Friends.

Puzzled, I went to the Rapier site in search of clues as to why you decided to write the copy in this way. I've always assumed that a house ad is supposed to reflect the general house style and that it will be delivered in a tone and manner that's congruent with the personality of the company it's promoting. Try as I might, I could find no sign of Phoebe on the Rapier site.

What I did see (The Story etc) was that Rapier is still very much the child of the two Jo(h)ns. Which makes Pheobe's ditzy discourse even more bizarre as its delivery couldn't be more different from the instinctively conservative bearing of the men who run the place.

Those chaps have, to quote another commentator, had "the stones to use really long copy". I think he means "balls" but he may well be talking bollocks. Because to do "really long copy" right you need craft as well as courage. And if there's to be another foray into long copy then I'd suggest hiring the writer who, on 29th November, posted the extensive critique of Phoebe's ad on If This Is A Blog Then What's Christmas?

As you'll see, that critique is well reasoned, well written and delivered with a sincerity and passion that are quite lacking from Phoebe's efforts. Given the right brief, this copywriter would do justice to the good, solid, successful shop that Rapier is and has been for many years. I suspect he'd also rid it of the hyperbole that led the above quoted commentator to liken Rapier to Abbott Mead Vickers in its heyday.

I'm sure this must have embarrassed "JT" as much as it surprised me. As "JT" will no doubt tell you, back then, AMV was led by the best writer and creative director of his generation. One who had the common sense to hire great talents like Alf Marcantonio and Tony Brignull and then the self-confidence to then give them the freedom to express themselves. David Abbott also nurtured such young turks as Souter and Brazier, Campbell (Robert) and Rolfe, Carty and Campbell (Walter) and Briginshaw and Duffy. And, in the process, produced brilliant business-like creative that won more awards than any agency in town. Rapier as the latterday AMV? To borrow from Phoebe's mid-'90s New York argot, "Purhleease!"

[The Fleece]

Oh dear, Steve. You sound like a very bitter individual for such a huge Friends fan.

However, I’m afraid I haven’t the time or inclination (or ‘argot’) to perpetuate this silliness with you.

So please go ahead and have the last word, as you strike me as the sort who needs to have it.

Bye!

[Joel Scott]

@The Fleece: You clearly know next to nothing about advertising or copywriting. Rapier is like AMV? Do you seriously think AMV would lob a load of poorly-punctuated drivel into the public domain and call it a house ad? You're obviously deluded. Unless you actually work at Rapier, in which case you're worse - a deluded sycophant.