{"id":70217,"date":"2015-08-19T12:13:05","date_gmt":"2015-08-19T11:13:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.strattoncraig.com\/insight\/lets-be-frank-what-you-can-gain-from-honest-copywriting\/"},"modified":"2015-08-19T12:13:05","modified_gmt":"2015-08-19T11:13:05","slug":"lets-be-frank-what-you-can-gain-from-honest-copywriting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.strattoncraig.com\/us\/insight\/lets-be-frank-what-you-can-gain-from-honest-copywriting\/","title":{"rendered":"Let’s be frank: what you can gain from honest copywriting"},"content":{"rendered":"

Honest advertising<\/strong>
\nIt\u2019s fair to say that advertising has a bit of a reputation for exaggeration. Well, maybe a bit more than a bit. Which is why we have the Advertising Standards Authority to keep things straight. There\u2019s no doubt that advertising is aspirational \u2013 selling us little packages of fantasy that promise to make our lives and ourselves better. But somewhere between fantasy, sex appeal and hyperbole<\/a>\u00a0has emerged a new trend\u2026honesty. With a number of scandals in recent years \u2013 from corporates to celebrities to governments \u2013 our appetite for simple, honest truths is greater than ever. And businesses that recognise this are more likely to slice through the haze of exaggeration and get their message across.
\nBe refreshing<\/strong>
\nThe likes of Apple, Facebook and Google have set a new tone in straight-talking, minimalist messaging. And others are catching up. We love Oasis\u2019s latest advert: \u201cIt\u2019s summer. You\u2019re thirsty. We\u2019ve got sales targets\u201d. True to its word, its campaign tagline is \u201cRefreshing Stuff\u201d.
\nThink small<\/strong>
\nOne of the forefathers of simple, honest ad campaigns is Volkswagen. In the 1950s, they laughed in the face of perfectionist ideals and went in the other direction \u2013 practicality. The Beetle was a German car \u2013 an unpopular provenance in post-war America. What\u2019s more, its strange, unattractive exterior was in direct contrast to the popular big, shiny, muscle cars. But with a bit of wit and honesty, Volkswagen\u2019s \u201cThink Small\u201d campaign changed the nature of advertising and established one of the most successful campaigns of its time. Realising it was on to a winner, Volkswagen nurtured humorous, direct copywriting<\/a> for years to come \u2013 making sure its adverts stood out from the crowd as much as its cars did. One of our favourites is this gem from 1964, which we think would still work as well today. Well played, Volkswagen.
\nPresenting America\u2019s slowest fastback<\/em><\/strong>
\n\u201cThere are some new cars around with very streamlined roofs.
\nBut they are not Volkswagens.
\nThey are called fastbacks, and some of them are named after fish.
\nYou can tell them from Volkswagens because a VW won\u2019t go over 72 mph. (Even though the speedometer shows a wildly optimistic top speed of 90)\u2026
\nThe VW engine may not be the fastest, but it\u2019s among the most advanced. It\u2019s made of magnesium alloy (one step better than aluminium)\u2026
\nThe VW engine is cooled by air, so it can never freeze up or boil over.
\nIt won\u2019t have anything to do with water.
\nSo we saw no reason to name it after a fish.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Honest advertising It\u2019s fair to say that advertising has a bit of a reputation for exaggeration. Well, maybe a bit more than a bit. Which is why we have the Advertising Standards Authority to keep things straight. There\u2019s no doubt that advertising is aspirational \u2013 selling us little packages of fantasy that promise to make […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[305,314],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-70217","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-content-strategy-us","category-copywriting-us"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nLet's be frank: what you can gain from honest copywriting - Stratton Craig - Global Copywriting & Content Marketing Agency<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.strattoncraig.com\/us\/insight\/lets-be-frank-what-you-can-gain-from-honest-copywriting\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Let's be frank: what you can gain from honest copywriting - Stratton Craig - Global Copywriting & Content Marketing Agency\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Honest advertising It\u2019s fair to say that advertising has a bit of a reputation for exaggeration. Well, maybe a bit more than a bit. Which is why we have the Advertising Standards Authority to keep things straight. There\u2019s no doubt that advertising is aspirational \u2013 selling us little packages of fantasy that promise to make […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.strattoncraig.com\/us\/insight\/lets-be-frank-what-you-can-gain-from-honest-copywriting\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Stratton Craig - Global Copywriting & Content Marketing Agency\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-08-19T11:13:05+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.strattoncraig.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/stratton-craig-share.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"630\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Stratton Craig\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Stratton Craig\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.strattoncraig.com\\\/us\\\/insight\\\/lets-be-frank-what-you-can-gain-from-honest-copywriting\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.strattoncraig.com\\\/us\\\/insight\\\/lets-be-frank-what-you-can-gain-from-honest-copywriting\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Stratton Craig\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.strattoncraig.com\\\/us\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/5e1a5300b8954ddf765b2a201f88e90b\"},\"headline\":\"Let’s be frank: what you can gain from honest copywriting\",\"datePublished\":\"2015-08-19T11:13:05+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.strattoncraig.com\\\/us\\\/insight\\\/lets-be-frank-what-you-can-gain-from-honest-copywriting\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":440,\"articleSection\":[\"Content strategy\",\"Copywriting\"],\"inLanguage\":\"us-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.strattoncraig.com\\\/us\\\/insight\\\/lets-be-frank-what-you-can-gain-from-honest-copywriting\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.strattoncraig.com\\\/us\\\/insight\\\/lets-be-frank-what-you-can-gain-from-honest-copywriting\\\/\",\"name\":\"Let's be frank: what you can gain from honest copywriting - Stratton Craig - Global Copywriting & Content Marketing Agency\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.strattoncraig.com\\\/us\\\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2015-08-19T11:13:05+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.strattoncraig.com\\\/us\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/5e1a5300b8954ddf765b2a201f88e90b\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.strattoncraig.com\\\/us\\\/insight\\\/lets-be-frank-what-you-can-gain-from-honest-copywriting\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"us-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.strattoncraig.com\\\/us\\\/insight\\\/lets-be-frank-what-you-can-gain-from-honest-copywriting\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.strattoncraig.com\\\/us\\\/insight\\\/lets-be-frank-what-you-can-gain-from-honest-copywriting\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.strattoncraig.com\\\/us\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Let’s be frank: what you can gain from honest copywriting\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.strattoncraig.com\\\/us\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.strattoncraig.com\\\/us\\\/\",\"name\":\"Stratton Craig - Global Copywriting & Content Marketing Agency\",\"description\":\"Written Communication\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.strattoncraig.com\\\/us\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"us-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.strattoncraig.com\\\/us\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/5e1a5300b8954ddf765b2a201f88e90b\",\"name\":\"Stratton Craig\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"us-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/f223aed3fe97fd5e2dc17a9a2aca217e0a922a2671c4026e23049bb6ebfade15?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/f223aed3fe97fd5e2dc17a9a2aca217e0a922a2671c4026e23049bb6ebfade15?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/f223aed3fe97fd5e2dc17a9a2aca217e0a922a2671c4026e23049bb6ebfade15?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Stratton Craig\"},\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.strattoncraig.com\\\/us\\\/insight\\\/author\\\/stratton-craig\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Let's be frank: what you can gain from honest copywriting - Stratton Craig - Global Copywriting & Content Marketing Agency","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.strattoncraig.com\/us\/insight\/lets-be-frank-what-you-can-gain-from-honest-copywriting\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Let's be frank: what you can gain from honest copywriting - Stratton Craig - Global Copywriting & Content Marketing Agency","og_description":"Honest advertising It\u2019s fair to say that advertising has a bit of a reputation for exaggeration. Well, maybe a bit more than a bit. Which is why we have the Advertising Standards Authority to keep things straight. There\u2019s no doubt that advertising is aspirational \u2013 selling us little packages of fantasy that promise to make […]","og_url":"https:\/\/www.strattoncraig.com\/us\/insight\/lets-be-frank-what-you-can-gain-from-honest-copywriting\/","og_site_name":"Stratton Craig - Global Copywriting & Content Marketing Agency","article_published_time":"2015-08-19T11:13:05+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1200,"height":630,"url":"https:\/\/www.strattoncraig.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/stratton-craig-share.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Stratton Craig","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Stratton Craig","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.strattoncraig.com\/us\/insight\/lets-be-frank-what-you-can-gain-from-honest-copywriting\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.strattoncraig.com\/us\/insight\/lets-be-frank-what-you-can-gain-from-honest-copywriting\/"},"author":{"name":"Stratton Craig","@id":"https:\/\/www.strattoncraig.com\/us\/#\/schema\/person\/5e1a5300b8954ddf765b2a201f88e90b"},"headline":"Let’s be frank: what you can gain from honest copywriting","datePublished":"2015-08-19T11:13:05+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.strattoncraig.com\/us\/insight\/lets-be-frank-what-you-can-gain-from-honest-copywriting\/"},"wordCount":440,"articleSection":["Content strategy","Copywriting"],"inLanguage":"us-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.strattoncraig.com\/us\/insight\/lets-be-frank-what-you-can-gain-from-honest-copywriting\/","url":"https:\/\/www.strattoncraig.com\/us\/insight\/lets-be-frank-what-you-can-gain-from-honest-copywriting\/","name":"Let's be frank: what you can gain from honest copywriting - Stratton Craig - Global Copywriting & Content Marketing Agency","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.strattoncraig.com\/us\/#website"},"datePublished":"2015-08-19T11:13:05+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.strattoncraig.com\/us\/#\/schema\/person\/5e1a5300b8954ddf765b2a201f88e90b"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.strattoncraig.com\/us\/insight\/lets-be-frank-what-you-can-gain-from-honest-copywriting\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"us-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.strattoncraig.com\/us\/insight\/lets-be-frank-what-you-can-gain-from-honest-copywriting\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.strattoncraig.com\/us\/insight\/lets-be-frank-what-you-can-gain-from-honest-copywriting\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.strattoncraig.com\/us\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Let’s be frank: what you can gain from honest copywriting"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.strattoncraig.com\/us\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.strattoncraig.com\/us\/","name":"Stratton Craig - Global Copywriting & Content Marketing Agency","description":"Written Communication","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.strattoncraig.com\/us\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"us-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.strattoncraig.com\/us\/#\/schema\/person\/5e1a5300b8954ddf765b2a201f88e90b","name":"Stratton Craig","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"us-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f223aed3fe97fd5e2dc17a9a2aca217e0a922a2671c4026e23049bb6ebfade15?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f223aed3fe97fd5e2dc17a9a2aca217e0a922a2671c4026e23049bb6ebfade15?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f223aed3fe97fd5e2dc17a9a2aca217e0a922a2671c4026e23049bb6ebfade15?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Stratton Craig"},"url":"https:\/\/www.strattoncraig.com\/us\/insight\/author\/stratton-craig\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.strattoncraig.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70217","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.strattoncraig.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.strattoncraig.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.strattoncraig.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.strattoncraig.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=70217"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.strattoncraig.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70217\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.strattoncraig.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=70217"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.strattoncraig.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=70217"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.strattoncraig.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=70217"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}