john.

It was a humbling experience. It’s completely changed how I see the role of copywriting.

“Digital media doesn’t have the same physical
constraints as traditional media. This creates the
potential for an audience to engage with content
where and when they want to.”
The Razorfish Nimble Report by Rachel Lovinger

“Ah, storyteller”
Maybe storytelling would be a better description for what we do now. I was in China recently, and I got into an interesting conversation with a Chinese man sitting next to me on a domestic flight to Shanghai. He looked perplexed when I told him that I was a copywriter. So I told him what we copywriters do for a living. He thought about that for quite some time, nodding his head slowly side to side. Then he turned to me with a knowing glint in his eye and said, “Ah, storyteller”. So that’s what people call copywriters in China if you ever do business over there.

“It’s not just TV, print and brochures anymore.
That’s boxed-in thinking. Today it’s about being
a storyteller and connecting out of the box with
ideas that can spread across the Internet in ways
we haven’t begun to imagine yet. Not all clients
are ready for digital— and some are still making
brilliant traditional advertising— so we need writers
that can work successfully in both worlds.” 
John Richardson. Senior integrated copywriter and digital content strategist

Content is no longer king. On the traditional side of advertising, we’re very boxed in with the kind of media that we’re given–TV, print, brochures, billboards. On the digital side, you have to think about what it is you want to do, and work back from that. Content is no longer king. Ideas are the new digital currency. This completely opens up where ideas can go and how we become part of people’s lives and their culture.

This is what they said about this in Nimble: a Razorfish report on publishing in the digital age by Rachel Lovinger.

• Simply put, digital content needs to be free – to go where and when people want it most. In particular, content has to be mobile, and it has to be social.

• As a content producer, being nimble is about quick adaptation and preparation for future opportunities.

• “Container limitations” don’t exist with digital media in the same way that a TV program is limited by a timeslot, or a newspaper article is constrained by the available column inches.

Useful, usable, relevant, engaging and shareable
Digital copywriters collaborate with a wider range of people, from technologists right through to the customer. So you don’t only work with an art director and limit your thinking to media space or content. Now we make things that are useful, usable, relevant, engaging and shareable. This is the transformative nature of digital.

Do we still need copywriters?
Is there a role for the copywriters who can work in both traditional and digital? If we think more like digital storytellers and content strategists, then I think there is a major need for writers with this kind of mindset.

Be part of the conversation
If we start getting away from connecting with people through boxed-in media and start creating ideas that connect and engage in ways that are truly meaningful, then we can start building brands that are part of the conversation out there.

Versatile is the word
For now, though, I have my feet in both worlds. There are still clients out there who don’t get digital or don’t need it. So copywriters have to be versatile enough to work in both worlds for now.

Senior integrated storyteller
I suppose that now qualifies me as a senior integrated copywriter. Versatile and experienced enough to work in both traditional and digital advertising. It demands more flexibility, but it makes it more exciting.

“This is so 60s ad rev”
This is like the 60s advertising revolution with copywriters on the front line tearing down the old barriers. What a great place to be.

“The only way to different results is a different road”
Colleen Jones. Clout: The art and science of influential web content.