Hip, hip ...
It was my birthday, yesterday.
On Friday, someone asked how old I was going to be. I had to think quite hard.
While I did, they commented: 'Anything between 40 and 60 is unremarkable. No great milestones.'
So I'll stick to that range.
What a 12 months it's been. A topsy-turvy world, alright.
Lessons.
1. Something that would appear to be breathtakingly catastrophic (i.e., losing all your work in one go) is 100% survivable.
2. The new normal is uncertainty. Can't plan anything further ahead than a few weeks (months at the most).
3. Something companies fought against for so long (i.e., WFH and virtual training) can be embraced, overnight.
4. Sourdough bread is bloomin' impossible to make at home.
Wonder what the next 12 months are going to be like. I'll update you this time next year.
Onto the stuff that grabbed me from the last seven days ...
Sound the excuse
The day before my birthday was World Mental Health Day.
So here's a new campaign from the UK. Using humour to tackle a real issue - Zoom fatigue.
Apparently, 37% of employees are struggling with the pressure of online presenteeism. And '35% cite long virtual video conferencing meetings as a stressor'.
So now, when you need an excuse to escape a Zoom (WebEx/Teams/GoTo) meeting, you can play an appropriate sound in the background.
A cat being sick. Spilling tea all over your laptop. The sound of kids arguing. A helicopter landing close by.
'Oops: sorry, guys. Gotta go!'
A fun idea for a serious issue.
Webinars
Remote learning: copywriting courses, by remote. Got an internet connection? You can learn. Pick your topic, then contact me Nice idea, Jon ... >
Jargon = low status
I like this.
Research has found that people who are lower-down on the corporate ladder use more jargon than those further up.
Yep. Low status increases the use of jargon.
And: 'acronyms and legalese serve a similar status-compensation function as other forms of jargon'.
Hah! 'Status-compensation'. You mean like when a middle-aged man buys a sports-car?
This adds to one of my favourite pieces of research from Danny Oppenheimer: that big words make you look dumb.
Complex language doesn't reflect well on the author.
Just one more reason to do my training ... (kidding).
Clever stuff
This is the type of work I really admire.
It's a campaign for a brand of rental scooters.
Follow the logic.
If you rent a scooter, you don't need a car. If you don't have a car, you don't need a garage.
If you don't fill a garage with a car, what could you do with that space?
Well, look at how garages have been used before.
Cue photos of the garage where Apple was founded. Where Disney began. Where the Ramones first started.
This is in the 'wish I'd worked on that' category.
QotW
Quote of the week:
'You know you're getting old when the candles cost more than the cake.’ Bob Hope
Workshops
• Maximum Copy: online and in-house
• Copy Ninja: the craft via Zoom
• Writing for Digital: about the web, over the web
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