P.S.

Have you seen Jean Paul Gaultier’s designs for Diet Coke?

Move over H&M with your hot collaborations – this is the eighth designer collection for the brand.

French designer Gaultier has come up with three limited edition designs that will be available in nine countries acoss Europe, all very ooh-la-la.

The Day bottle is fashioned in Gaultier’s ‘hello sailor’ signature Breton stripes while the Night design has more than a passing nod to Madonna’s Blond Ambition underwear. Tattoo will be available later this year, resplendent with fishnet and body adornments.

Très haute coketure.

I’m off to see Il Divo tonight at the Royal Albert Hall, having written the TV ad for Sony at the end of last year to promote ‘Wicked Game’.

There’s only one way to define extraordinary. Click here to play it!

Can’t wait!

Introducing a new concept and an equally shiny new website: Provisita.com.

The site has just launched, helping relocating professionals get more out of London. As a freelance copywriter, I was asked to create the tone of voice and write the content from scratch. (A huge thank you to the lovely Jon Pink for recommending me.)

This membership-based company provides cultural and social integration services to assignees and expatriates (and their employers) in London.

Provisita has been set up by lawyer Nichole Esparon who came up with the idea while posted on assignment for three years. She felt like she was always on the sidelines looking in, and unable to find an organisation that introduced expatriates to the huge range of cultural and social opportunities in the city.

Here’s to Nichole for coming up with a great business idea. And thank you too, for some lovely words, “Caroline was quick to react to our needs and was timely in her delivery. Reliable and pleasant to work with, I would recommend Caroline to anyone looking for professional copywriting services.”

Answer: when it’s a spelling mistake on this week’s The Apprentice. Tut tut.

The teams were asked to create a condiment: ingredients, packaging, naming and all. But oh, how team Phoenix made a mistake that was sloppier than the Mediterranean ketchup they created.

“They’d made the sauce and they had the samples and actually the deal was in their sights. What has let them down is the spelling and I’m just not impressed. If you’re going to ask a stockist to put your product in their store you have got to get it right.” Quite right, Karren Brady.

It just goes to show what happens when you can’t use spell check. And even then, you should never rely on it 100%. Fellow Mac users will share the frustration of having those Apple-loving Zs suggested at every opportunity.

This week, as a freelance copywriter, I was asked to undertake something that’s rarely requested these days: a proof reading test. It was great fun, ekeing out apostrophes that shouldn’t have appeared, flagging up misspellings, and making sense out of a few bits of nonsense.

So I’m going to leave you with a little Easter eggs-travanganza. The first person to correctly identify which words are incorrect, will receive a visit from the chocolate bunny. Email your answers to caroline@carolinegibson.co.uk. Oh, and no cheating please. Tut, tut, tut.

accomodation

agression

bizarre

concious

embarrass

foreseeable

idiosyncracy

incidently

pavilion

Portugese

seperate

seige

supercede

unforeseen

Barclays Bank recently held a major exhibition at I Churchill Place, Canary Wharf.

The campaign required concepts and copy for ads, emails and a detailed brochure showcasing future technologies from some of the biggest names in the world.

Lots of lovely feedback from the client for all involved, including his thanks “for superb copy (everyone was talking about it)…….It has genuinely been my pleasure to work with you all.”

What a great way to end March!

It’s always lovely to see a new company get off the ground, none more so than my client: Freybors. The design, created by Ah-Studio is refreshingly simple and spot on brand.

Freybors is a unique idea that embraces all the power of group buying with all the convenience of delivery in your area.

It’s about friends and family coming together as a group to order market-fresh fruit and veg delivered within 24 hours. Choose a convenient place for delivery, such as someone’s house, local school – even the pub, and away you go.

As time goes on, Freybors will offer other services too that harness a community spirit and collaborative approach.

So, what did I do as Freybors’ freelance copywriter of choice?

I came up with the strapline, set the tone of voice, wrote the web content and the mailers. Oh, and gave lots of advice.

There’s always something feel-good about a collaborative approach.

On air now – my 30″ commercial for Harper Collins, advertising Cathy Kelly’s latest novel ‘The House on Willow Street’. It was recorded at USP Content and features Dervla Kirwan.

Have a listen here.

I’m just back from a visit to the Museum of Brands, Packaging and Advertising in Notting Hill, London. 10,000 household products and shopping basket favourites are on view in a brand evolution timeline, decade by decade, from the Victorian era to the present day.

Jam-packed with curiosities, this is the collection of Robert Opie, who kicked off his empire with a packet of Munchies at the tender age of sixteen.

The displays cover all aspects of daily life – toys, magazines, technology, travel, souvenirs, fashion and design.

Not so much about advertising, but definitely an Aladdin’s cave of branding and packaging, this is a huge social commentary and a massive nostalgia trip. Ah, Biba. Ooh, Aqua Manda. Mmm, Cadbury Icebreaker.  Faced with some emotional touch-points, I felt the years stripped away.

Last month, boxes of Shreddies from the ‘70s were discovered in a village shop in Hertfordshire. They’ve been selling for £160 each on eBay.

Somewhere, in the back of a cupboard, I have a rather old Colman’s mustard tin…………

Britain’s very first TV advert for dogs has high-frequency noises above 17,000Hz, which can be heard only by man’s best friend.

The TV commercial for Bakers dog food is based on ‘The Italian Job’ and features whistling, barking and a bell ringing designed to interest our four-legged friends and make unsuspecting owners think they’re interested in the products.

In 2007, a US TV ad for horror film ‘The Messengers’ used the same technique but on teenagers. The commercial contained a high-frequency noise that only their tender ears could discern. Over ghostly images in creepy settings, a voiceover spookily asked viewers, “If children can hear this, imagine what they are seeing.”

Call it subliminal messaging, call it Pavlovian reflex, or simply call it barking up a new tree – whatever will they get away with next?

Working as a freelance copywriter can be a lonely existence, so it’s always a cherry-on-the-icing feeling when feedback is received.

I produce corporate newsletters, case studies and brochures for the lovely marketing team at the St Ives Group, such as this recent brochure for one of their divisions: Pragma Consulting which you can download or view online here.

Wait Whitman said, “If you done it, it ain’t bragging” (but we all know it’s infinitely better when someone else blows your own trumpet). So I’ll end on these kind words from Rob Kelly, Marketing Director at St Ives:

“Caroline is smart and intuitive, two great assets for a top notch copy creator. I have worked with her on quite a few projects and her approach is excellent: she always starts with what the goals and aims are for the projects and what the subsequent client benefits are. She is quick to “get it” and usually spot on with first submissions. Apart from this, Caroline is fun to work with and I would recommend her wholeheartedly.”

Toot toot, for now.