Today is World Copywriters’ Day, and I’m feeling wonderfully nostalgic.
See if you can picture this: It’s the late 90s. I’m at my Gateway computer (remember those Friesian cow-spotted boxes?), the CRT monitor humming, dial-up modem screeching its electronic handshake. My cordless phone – antenna fully extended like I’m directing air traffic – sits beside me. The clickety-clack of my keyboard fills my home office as I write tech copy for clients in Covent Garden during the dot-com boom.
Getting a Nokia brick phone felt like living in an episode of Tomorrow’s World. (I can still hear Raymond Baxter’s voice: “And NOW… the future of communication!”) From rotary dials to predictive text, from fax jams to Slack notifications – what a journey.
My fascination with science and tech goes way back…
If you’re a bit of a science nerd like me, you might remember science historian James Burke in 1977. He’s explaining the evolution of the thermos through to rocket propulsion on live TV when the Voyager Space Craft launches spectacularly behind him – perfectly on cue, completely unrehearsed.
That moment captures everything about great copy: preparation meeting opportunity, complex ideas made simple, and timing so perfect it seems like magic.
After 30+ years of putting words to work, here are my top 3 tips:
1. The best copy comes from genuine curiosity Whether cold calling in the 90s or LinkedIn messaging today, magic happens when you’re genuinely fascinated by solving someone’s problem. Channel your inner James Burke – be endlessly curious about how things work and why they matter.
2. Simple always wins (but it’s often the hardest to write) We’ve gone from explaining “what’s a website?” to “what’s a large language model?” The technology changes; the need for clarity doesn’t. If Judith Hann, Maggie Philbin or Michael Rodd couldn’t explain it on Tomorrow’s World, rewrite it.
3. Perfect timing beats perfect prose Like Burke’s rocket moment, sometimes the stars align. But that “luck” comes from being prepared, understanding your subject inside out, and knowing when to let the moment speak for itself.
From theatrical agency beginnings to running my own PR company, from carbon copies to ChatGPT, the thrill remains the same: nailing that perfect headline, finding that simplicity hidden in the technical specs, making the complex compellingly simple.
To every copywriter grinding away today: Yes, AI is changing everything. Yes, clients still want it yesterday. But we’re still the translators of human desire, the architects of action, and occasionally, the poets of the purchase button!
Happy World Copywriters’ Day to all my fellow word-wranglers! What’s your favourite “back in my day” copywriting memory? I’d love you to pop it in the comments!
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Joanna 🖋️
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