One of my early memories, from before I started school, so I must have been four years old, was my mother taking down Christmas decorations. It's a sad memory. It was early January. My dad had gone back to work (as a math teacher). My brother and sister had gone back to school. It was just mumsie and me. The house was sort of chilly and grey feeling. She put Christmas music on the record player. And methodically took down ornaments, wrapped them, and put them into the large cardboard carton where they lived. And she wept the whole time.…

We're starting out the new year by sprinkling the love! We have two fine-art, mounted canvas prints of the Banksy installation, "There is always hope." And we're going to give them away. Maybe to you! At 5:00 on January 6, we are going to put all of the names of all of our Facebook friends and LinkedIn followers into a hat. Karen Kong will mix the names up, so that nobody can stack the deck. And Elizabeth Bordeaux (known for her prudence and forthrightness) will draw two names. If your name is drawn, we will contact you for shipping information.…

Our offices used to be in the Markley Building, an old hardware store on South Main Street, Greenville, SC. At the time, I used to park in the Bowater parking garage. So, I would park my car, then walk the short path under the Main Street Bridge, up the steps, and just around the corner to our front door. One morning, it was foggy and chilly. Must have been about this time of year. As I walked toward the bridge, I heard this "clop, clop, clop" sound. It was one of those images that came to me in slow motion.…

Back in the 1980s, I worked on the Taster's Choice coffee account. It was a good account. Good brand. Did pretty well. But Folgers always whipped TC and everyone else in the category. They had a simple formula: own the coffee occasions; go big with the budget. Christmas of 1988, they hit this homerun. The best part of Christmas is Peter coming home...and Folgers in your cup. We've talked a lot here about the mnemonic value of music. Well, here's a great example. No coffee pouring scenes anywhere near the beginning of the spot. No coffee cups. No logos. No…

Learning about good copy is easy. Mastering copywriting is hard. It's like the blues. And the ukulele. And Haiku. Much of the art of copywriting comes from decades of practice. Trial and error. This and that. Boom. Boom. Boom. Period. But there are some simple things. Like, these seven words you should avoid:1. That. As in "It was so cold, that our tongues stuck to the parking meters." In this case, the problem is not with the grammar. It's with the poetry. If you slow down my ears, my brain might get bored and walk away before you finish your…