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Guidelines

THE LOWDOWN ON:
Corporate copy

The genre

Organisations who want to communicate with their employees, customers, shareholders or suppliers usually go to production companies who specialise in this type of communication. Often, they ask them to pitch for the work. These production companies employ freelance writers firstly, to write a proposal, which helps them win the business, and secondly, to write the video script, web site, conference speech, or whatever, the client needs.

The client has a specific set of messages she wants to get across. The writer’s job, working closely with the production company, is to understand the issues, be part of the team which comes up with a creative approach, and then write in a way that is appropriate to the medium and effective with the target audience.

Writers often work closely with freelance directors and designers as well as with producers. Programmes tend to be shorter than in the broadcast sector (12 to 15 minutes on average).

3 of the best

The corporate communications sector has its own awards given annually. Recent winners include:

• A DRAMA: four short, powerful dramas, aimed at prison officers, depicting prisoners with mental health problems.
• A LAUNCH: a spectacular car launch for 8,000 delegates from 32 countries speaking 26 different languages.
• A WEBSITE: a well-designed, well-written, educational web site, passing on key lessons learned by exceptional business leaders. l

What’s hot

Writers who are creative and empathetic, work well under pressure and think for themselves, but understand the constraints of a brief. They can produce high quality work on message, to deadline and work with others without being precious. They are able to find and absorb complex information, understand the context of what they are writing about and have good listening skills.

The market

‘Varied work, good pay, nice people. But you have to market yourself well and you need skills, apart from the writing, to make it.’
ANNE WILSON, CORPORATE WRITER

The UK corporate visual communication industry has a turnover approaching three billion pounds. It provides communications for businesses, as well as public service information for the public sector. Subjects range from a drama aimed at 15-year-olds to stop them truanting, to an intranet site for a global company, to get across the new business strategy. Some writers specialise in certain types of communication (e.g. live events) or certain subjects (e.g. scientific/technical, staff training, education issues etc.):

• VIDEO/DVD: these can be dramas, documentaries or presenter-led news reports. Or like commercials – short sequences of images set to music – for which the writer is needed especially to write the proposal, which sells the idea to the client. The best programmes are inventive, imaginative and play to the strengths of the medium, showing rather than telling, powerful, emotive, and visual. Clients often want to squeeze in too much detail; part of the writer and production company’s job is to convince them that less is more.
• INTERACTIVE MEDIA: production companies want writers who understand non-linear communication, can work with interactive designers and write spare, succinct text which reads easily on a screen. On line training is a growing market, especially for writers with specialist knowledge (e.g. scientific or technical, management training, or experience of a particular market sector). Some companies only produce communication for interactive media; others are part of a company or group, that also produces other media. There are more opportunities for in the latter.
• LIVE EVENTS: conferences, launches, exhibitions, PR events, roadshows...Writers are needed for speeches, exhibition panels, scripts for the presenter and commentary/script for any videos that form part of the event.
  Production companies usually specialise in either live events or video/DVD – some do both, but big public events (such as the opening and closing ceremonies of the Olympic Games) are always handled by specialist companies. Most event companies include video and interactive as part of what they do. Video companies do not do events, as a rule.

The competition

‘I’m looking for an understanding of the client’s problem, good research skills, clear prose, and vivid writing which brings the idea to life’
HANNAH MABLY, CORPORATE VIDEO PRODUCER

Every producer will tell you that the sector is short of writers – especially good ones. This is because few writers know about this market and because writers who try to make the leap – for example, from journalism or broadcast – don’t have the necessary skills. Producers are usually good writers themselves – they employ freelance writers to deliver something special – a pitch-winning proposal followed by an inventive, engaging script that hits every button for the client and for the target audience. Hannah Mably of Worldwide Pictures says, ‘I welcome contacts from new writers but I have to be convinced they understand their role, know how to get under the skin of a project and can write better than me. I rarely take risks with new writers – I’ve been disappointed too many times.’

The money

Writers earn from on average £350 to £400 per day, depending on talent and experience. If it’s a long project (more than four or five days) they may agree a single fee. Fees are agreed verbally (there is rarely a contract). It works (most of the time) because production companies rely heavily on freelance talent. Writers may charge less for a pitch on the basis that they get to write the script/website or whatever if the company wins the job. Most successful writers have several projects running concurrently.

The best strategy

• Become aware of the training/information/publicity material you come across in daily life – at work, in shops, from central and local government, school, college. Could you improve on it?
• Examine your own work. What have you done that might persuade a production company to give you a chance?
• Before you approach a production company, do your homework on them.
• Write a persuasive piece along with your CV that illustrates your interest and talent and send it to production companies in your area or within commuting distance. Most are London-based, but if you are willing to travel to the odd meeting, you should be fine.
• Be honest about your lack of experience as a corporate copywriter, but write confidently about your belief that you can make the switch, and demonstrate that you are willing and able to learn fast.

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From Issue 29 ◊ Apr/May/Jun 2006

THE INFO YOU NEED

ORGANISATIONS

The professional organisation for the sector is the International Visual Communications Association (IVCA) www.ivca.org. It produces a handbook which lists every production company in the UK that is a member. It also gives you an idea of the kind of work they do or specialise in, as well as names of producers and contact details. It’s like a Writers’ and Artists’ Handbook for the corporate sector. If you join the IVCA as a freelance member, you get free entry into the handbook listing your name, contact details and specialities (if any). As well as the awards, the IVCA organises many networking events throughout the year. Membership costs £175 + VAT per annum for individual members with special rates for students/trainees available on request.

OUTLETS AND INSPIRATION

Ask your friends about the organisations they work for and what sort of internal communications they have (newsletters, websites, videos, live events). Find out as much as you can about these and ask who wrote the materials and made the videos. In large organisations, commissioning is usually the responsibility of the internal communications department­ – in turn, they might commission a production company to do the work for them. Read the business pages of newspapers, the Society section of the Guardian and specialist publications. Training courses are a good source of inspiration. Think about what the course is trying to achieve and how you would make the material more effective. Look at the websites of some big public and private sector organisations to give you an idea of what they do. Think about how you could improve the copy on the website to make it more readable, more informative or more persuasive. Go along to a trade show or public exhibition, and pay attention to the leaflets you get, the text on the displays and so on. This will give you a sense of what corporate communication is all about. Try to imagine the process by which a particular display was commissioned – what was the brief to the production company?

COURSES

Scriptwriting and screenwriting courses (run by many colleges, universities and specialist training organisations) can be useful, but they don’t help you understand the role of a freelance corporate writer, or help you develop the skills you need to help production companies win business (which is what they want most). There are currently very few courses specifically designed to help writers move into the corporate sector.

• PHOTO © PHOTOGRAPHER/ ILLUSTRATOR