A lesson in copywriting: Do your words caress your wares?
Posted January 29th, 2010It’s human nature. When someone loves something, we are drawn to it as well. Maybe it’s a borrowed esteem thing. But, when someone is that gaga over something, you just know there has to be something to it.
And that love cannot be faked. It’s in their eyes. And in their words. They don’t just describe the object of their affection; their words actually caress it. Let me give you an example.
The J. Peterman Company catalog is a copywriting lesson in and of itself. Each item is artfully displayed but it’s the description that enraptures the would-be shopper.
Listen to how they describe an item called Lucille’s Hooded Dress.
Darting through the back alleys of Shanghai to a secret rendezvous?
Cloaked, impossibly glamorous.
What does she look like?
Where is she going?
Will the hood come off?
Will she melt into the arms of her lover?
Or is she checking on a mysterious shipment coming in from Hong Kong?
Monks started this hood business back in the middle ages.
This effect is not like that.
Especially in a luxurious silk crepe de chine.
That is pure decadence. Love shimmers off every word. You get a sense of affection and a dash of reverence.
In a world of USA Today bullet point or colorful graph ads….this is remarkable. You can’t love something with bullet points or a bar chart. It’s just too efficient. Love isn’t efficient, it is effusive.
I liken this kind of writing to cotton candy. Do we technically need it? No. But its sticky sweetness melts in our mouth and creates an experience unto itself.
Do your words caress your wares? If you don’t show the love, how can you expect your customers to?
