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Reviewing the portfolio of a freelance advertising copywriter is a waste of time.
All you’ll see is very good, very historical work, created to solve problems very
different from the ones you’re now facing. My copywriting portfolio is a three-ring
binder; it weighs 9-1/2 pounds and has hundreds of ads, mailers, and brochures (and that
doesn’t include my radio spots, tv commercials, and websites). Out of all that, there
are maybe two or three marketing pieces that are truly relevant to solving the
problems you face. I think our time together is better spent solving your problems,
not reviewing yesterday’s work.
Here are a handful of ads and brochures I’ve written, selected more or less at
random. Click on the thumbnails to see them bigger. Scroll past the clickable .jpgs for my
.pdf
archive, featuring more print advertising. You can view
entire ad campaigns here. Beyond that is my radio archive and my television archive. For brochures, go to my brochure portfolio.
City of Carlsbad Flower Fields ad:
print ad affirming the City’s commitment to a popular local
attraction.
Mears HDD ad:
print ad focusing on horizontal directional drilling capabilities.
Sherwood Scuba magazine insert:
a single piece uniting three distinct brands of scuba and travel gear.
Compact
Devices ad: a print ad for Twister, an intranet server.
Step CD ad: print ad (newspaper) for
First Northern Credit Union.
Auto loan ad: print ad taking aim at 0%
financing. Hear the radio commercial (as an .mp3) here.
Auto loan postcard: front and back of the
direct mail follow-up to the above newspaper ad.
Money market account ad: print ad emphasizing stability in a volatile market.
Credit union membership ad #1:
newspaper ad for First Northern aimed at college faculty, staff, and students.
Credit union membership ad #2:
another newspaper ad for First Northern aimed at college faculty, staff, and students.
International funding for commercial and residential real estate: the Jordny campaign
These ads for a company offering U.S.-based financing for Costa Rican real estate grabbed attention with their
bright colors, bold copy, and charming native animals. They successfully launched the company into this new arena of capital
financing; the company’s website used a similar look and feel, extending an
already successful brand identity to the web.
Print ad #1: Service launch
- this ad introduced the company and established the brand look and feel.
Print ad
#2: Addressed the needs of American citizens thinking of retiring to
Costa Rica.
Print ad
#3:
Spoke to commercial developers.
Print ad
#4: Spoke to investors.
Home loan products: the Three Little Pigs campaign
This multi-faceted ad campaign took an attention-getting concept, matched it
with a fun style, and set it to work across all consumer touchpoints including radio and TV. The result was an unqualified success.
Print ad: the
black and white newspaper ad (300 KB .pdf file).
Mailer: the multi-page, full-color execution of the
concept (800 KB .pdf file).
Radio commercials (as .mp3 files):
First Northern Credit Union (Illinois):
How do you sell the all-around benefits of a credit union? With an evolving chimp, of
course.
Okay, then, how about with a talking cat?
And, to promote money market accounts, you’d have to use a
thundering herd of chickens.
No animals were used for the SmartChoice Auto Loan, but the panel was not exactly
human, either.
For conventional auto loans, a disclaimer and (back to the animals) a skydiving
moose.
And, for home equity loans, a human but very rapidly expanding
family.
Television archive:
The following are 15-second television spots for Winston Tires, written to run in
pairs. They were recorded for the web by sticking a camera in front of a television set,
like in the cinescope days. The 640 x 480 .avi files average 9 MB, and take about two
minutes to download with a broadband connection. By contrast, the small-screen executable
files average 1.65 MB and take about 20 seconds to download with a broadband connection.
The executable bit is a VideoImpression applet from ArcSoft.
Brake service: “Dime” as an .avi file | “Dime” as an executable
Tire selection: “Skysurfer” as an .avi file | “Skysurfer” as an executable (and, yes, we threw wheels
and tires out of an airplane, and that’s a real dude riding the tire down.)
Tire selection: “Stopwatch” as an .avi file | “Stopwatch” as an executable
Summer sale: “Move” as an .avi file | “Move” as an executable
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Why should you hire me as your advertising copywriter? | FAQ
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An advertising copywriter’s bookshelf: recommended books
Brands and branding: a white paper
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Free (yes, free) advertising copywriting resources
Four ad copy traps that ensnare even experienced copywriters
How to become an advertising
copywriter
How to take your copywriting portfolio to the next level
How to write a brochure: advice from an advertising copywriter
How to write better ads
Long John Silver on writing ads
More career advice: what’s it like being an advertising
copywriter?
Napoleon’s advice to entrepreneurs, Part I: starting the
enterprise
Napoleon’s advice to entrepreneurs, Part II: the
entrepreneurial character
Napoleon’s advice to entrepreneurs, Part III: growing the
enterprise
The ART of repurposing marketing copy (Or, why you shouldn’t use brochure copy as web content)
The economy (and what to do about it)
When you should consider hiring a freelance copywriter
Advertising copywriting
mentorship
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