Editing photo from Flickr by Nic's events

1. Plan – think about why you’re writing and how you want your reader to respond to it. Having a goal keeps your writing focused.
2. Put the issues up front – stating in the first paragraph what you’re writing about gives context to your communication. It helps readers to take in what you’re telling them or asking of them, within the boundaries you’ve set.
3. Write in plain language – using everyday words, short sentences, short paragraphs and other plain language writing techniques makes your writing easier to read and understand for all readers, regardless of their literacy level or expertise in the subject matter.
4. Structure your document – long, unbroken chunks of text are hard to read and almost impossible to scan. Headings, bullet lists, graphics and other layout techniques guide readers visually through the information.
5. Proofread – sloppy grammar, misused (or just plain missing) punctuation and spelling mistakes degrade your written communication, and your credibility.

Find out what other tips our senior copywriter and content strategist, Aimee Said, has to share by emailing info@thecword.com.au or calling 03 9676 9040.

Yours in clever copy,

the c word

The new team in front of the cameras for ABC News 24, (c) ABC TV Blog

While the culinary skills of Master Chef may hold the attention of some Australians tonight, many will be tuning into the official launch of ABC’s 24 Hour new channel.

It’s been a topic of much conversation around the country, and our office, since ABC Managing Director Mark Scott made the announcement earlier this year.

And as the months have passed, the anticipation has built with an exciting range of programs, contributing journalists and new formats announced.

So what will we see tonight?

Well according to the media, there is going to be a major announcement kicking off the broadcast with Kerry O’Brien at the healm (who didn’t notice Kerry in the 80s on Sunday’s Hawke on Ten?)

Before the clock strikes 7.30, we thought we’d take a little peak at some of the 24 hour news network’s operating around the world.

If you’re spending time in the US (or pretty much anywhere around the world) you can catch the trailblazing CNN. I love that CNN launched with a husband and wife news reading team! Since CNN’s debut, more than 70 television channels have launched with 24-hour news coverage.

And we can’t create a list of 24 hour news channel without mentioing Aljazeera. Headquartered in Doha, Qatar, the station gained worldwide attention following the September 11, 2001 attacks, when it was the only channel to cover the war in Afghanistan live from its office there.

If you’re wanting 24 hour coverage of business news, there is CNBC World, a business news channel operated in the United States by NBC Universal.

How about if you’re in Russia? Want to know what’s happening, change the channel to Russia 24 (formally known as Vesti) which covers major national and international events.

And if you’re in Indonesia, check out their first 24-hour news channel, Metro TV. The station was established nearly 10 years ago and now has more than 53 transmission sites all over the country.

Or if you’re in New Zealand for a spot of bungy jumping, tune into their commercial-free 24-hour news and information channel, TVNZ 7, which has been on Freeview digital television since March 2008.

And of course, in Australia but only on Pay TV, there is Sky News.

If you can’t wait for tonight, check out the preview below and then get ready to settle in for non-stop news from around Australia and the world.

We can’t wait to wake up with Virginia Trioli and her fellow breakfasteers and fall asleep with Tony Jones and Leigh Sales. While you can do both already, it’s always nice to have a new home to do it in!

Enjoy your news,

the c word

New crew member, copywriter and content strategist Aimee Said

Meet Aimee Said, our new crew member, copywriter and content strategist.

Aimee is a writer, editor and web content strategist who has worked in the arts, publishing, not-for-profit and government sectors. Her writing and editing experience includes website content, annual reports and other organisational documents, news articles and training manuals.

Having written and managed website content for more than ten years, Aimee is also passionate about content strategy: planning, publishing and managing content that meets users’ needs and is aligned with organisational goals.

Tell us about your typical day in communications?

The actual ‘work’ part of my day depends whether I’m writing, editing or strategising (or juggling all three), but my daily morning ritual is: coffee, reply to email, coffee, scan blog feeds, coffee.

When did you first know you wanted to work in communications?

When I typed my first html tag, back in 1998.

Who’s your communication hero/mentor?

Gerry McGovern constantly reminds me that the best communication is audience-focused.

Which tools can’t you live without?

I’m a google-hag – I use everything from gmail, to blogger to google docs. If I could choose only one? Email.

What are the biggest challenges in your role?

Convincing People to Stop Overusing Capital Letters.

Which campaign do you most admire?

At the moment, Get Up’s ‘enrol to vote’ campaign – a great example of using the right medium, tone and distribution channel to reach your target audience.

What’s been the biggest change to communication/marketing/public relations since you began your career?

The internet! When I started my first job after uni (back in the online dark ages of 1994), only a couple of our clients had email addresses and the only content we could find that wasn’t scientific research was a weekly rundown of Melrose Place.

If you had to cut/keep something in your communication budget, what would it be?

Cut: website design bells and whistles, like animated site introductions (unless you’re in the animation business). Keep: well-written content (no bias here, obviously!).

What quality do you look for in your communication team members?

An ability to see a project from all angles, not just the part of it they’re responsible for.

What book/blog do you think every communicator should read?

Gerry McGovern’s Giraffe Forum.

What tips do you wish you’d known starting out in communications?

Know your audience: writing for ‘Joe Public’ is never going to be effective.

Finish this sentence: ‘Communication is…’

…finding the balance between an organisation’s goals and its audience’s needs.

Aimee is also the author of Finding Freia Lockhart, available online and at all good book stores.

the c word guest star on Mad Men

Whether you’re tending to your flock of sheep on Farmville, testing your coordination with iDare on your iPhone, or turning yourself into a ‘Mad Men’ character with the help of JibJab, you’re immersed in the world of digital applications.

They come in all shapes and sizes; there are practical applications like the iPhone’s sleep monitor, as well as media applications like ABC and then there are pure entertainment applications such as “Age My Face”.

And with iPhones, iPads, BlackBerries and androids – to name a few – becoming a common part of the digital toolkit, the application is here to stay!

So what is an application? No we’re not talking about the form you complete when applying for a job at a fast food joint; in the digital age an application is computer software designed to help the user perform tasks.

Whether they’re helping get you to your destination – thanks Google Maps – or showing you what you might look like in 30 years, the aim of an application is to make your life easier or more entertaining.

If you’re an organisation looking to make your mark on the digital world, and you have a creative idea and access to the resources to create an application, get developing.

There are some excellent examples of branded applications, including Office Max’s ‘Elf yourself‘, Nike’s jogging applications, various banking applications and Wendy’s Shake ‘n’ Dog game.

Finally, to the inspiration for this post, earlier in the week the c word crew basked in the glow of a fabulous application which allowed us to bring our crew to life as 1960s Madison Avenue Mad Men (+ Women).

JibJab are a very interesting group out of California. They rose to fame thanks to their video of George W. Bush and John Kerry singing “This Land is Your Land” during the 2004 US Presidential election.

They’ve since gone on to develop a number of humorous video applications, which allow you to put your face onto the characters. You can be an ice skater, a disco dancer, the President of the US or have a starring role in Mad Men.

It’s a brilliant way to promote your brand because when people are having fun they’re more likely to share their experience and help spread the word.

On that note, enjoy our version of Mad Men and watch out for the new series hitting AMC on US Cable in a couple of weeks!

Cheerio,

the c word

Crossword chock-a-block with c-words

Download our crossword chock-a-block with c-words.

Betty White can have her cake and eat it too, photo from flickr by abbey*christine

Here is a highlight of what’s been happening in the world of communications this week:

• Hollywood is buzzing over Betty White after she helped catapult “Saturday Night Live” to its best ratings in 18 months
• Tourism NT uses “Abo” as paid search term and its media agency takes the blame one day later
• An accountant who used Twitter to threaten to blow up airport was fined 1000 pound
• While people are musing over “whether the British general election was a social media election”, Gordon Brown has handed in his keys to number 10 to make way for new British Prime Minister David Cameron
• Talk continues around Catherine Deveny’s tweets while Helen Razer is making time for more books by shutting down her Twitter account
• And, last but not least, Wayne Swan hands down his third budget as Treasurer

Have a chipper weekend,

the c word

Wallpaper from 9 to 5 musical, 9to5themusical.com

A belated happy “Administrative Professionals Day” to everyone. We’re a few weeks late (yes we know it was the 21 April 2010 and is traditionally observed on the Wednesday of the last full week of April) but wanted to celebrate it anyway.

Check out the International Association of Administrative Professionals for more information about the day and this wonderful profession.

To mark the occasion, we thought we’d share our list of our favourite administrative professionals:

• Remember Humphrey Bogart’s secretary (Ellen Corby) rifling through his undies (to pack them!!) before he sailed off with Audrey Hepburn’s Sabrina?
• Have you stopped laughing at David Walliam’s side-splitting portrayal of Sebastian Love, Little Britain’s Prime Ministerial aide?
• Were you shocked when President Bartlet’s longtime secretary Mrs Landingham was tragically killed in a car accident in season two?
• Did you love the no-nonsense, Alpaca farming, executive assistant to President Bartlet, Deborah Fiderer?
• And who can go past the West Wing’s Charlie, Donna, Margaret, Carol and Ginger?
• Or Maggie Gyllenhaal’s disturbing portrayal of James Spader’s secretary in, yes that’s right, Secretary?
• Finally, with more than “a cup of ambition”, who didn’t love Dolly Parton, Lily Tomlin and Jane Fonda in 9 to 5?

Our hats off to the wonderful administrative professionals the world over … you know who you are … and if we haven’t thanked you lately, thank you!!

Now who have we forgotten? Please add to our list…

Check out this advertisement for the musical version of 9 to 5, currently on Broadway … oh if only we could all dart over to New York for a show!

Take care,

the c word

Jelly Baby by jimillpicit from flickr

From time to time (hopefully each Friday) we’ll be sharing our cellophane bag of lollies, which instead of gummy bears and raspberry bullets will be filled with a recap of the week’s communications and media news.

And what a great week to start … with all the excitement of the Logies (and I’m not even talking about the event itself).

Sunday’s star studded event saw the launch of Brynne Gordon’s new career as a red carpet correspondent for Fox FM. While her designer red frock stole the show, there’s no denying she did a stellar job and I’m sure will be called on again!

But Brynne’s red frock was a distant memory by the middle of the week with the spotlight firmly focused on the tweets of media personalities including the now ex-Age columnist Catherine Deveny.

Deveny and Wil Anderson made headlines with some rather controversial tweets about the Logies, particularly Deveny’s tweets about Bindi Irwin and Rove McManus. It’s been fascinating to watch the comments fly in from both sides of the fence. Who would have thought there were so many opinions in the world of social media … ha ha!

And the highlights from the hatches, matches and dispatches include Telstra’s new director of creativity and innovation, Qantas’ new head of brand and marketing and a great new gig for social media star @skirtforhire who we now know is none other than @karelee_.

And finally, Ray Meagher took home the Gold Logie after more than 20 years playing Home and Away’s Alf Stewart.

So on that note, “stone the flamin’ crows” and have a great weekend!

the c word

Hope you all have a safe and chocolatey four day weekend!

And for those youtube-aholics, we hope you don’t find any orang-utan fingers in your Easter eggs or cause an untimely end to a redhead.

Instead, get into some Peanuts action and check out what Charlie Brown, Snoopy, Peppermint Patty and the rest of the gang are up to over Easter.

Hope the Easter Beagle brings you plenty of goodies

Cheers,

the c word

Image by Geir Halvorsen

It’s been a creative, colourful and a collaborative year for the c word. We welcomed new characters, Skyped with poets, talked privacy with a strategic advisor for Facebook, had breakfast with Al Gore, and clinked champagne glasses at designer launches. We ended the year running – albeit virtually – alongside 25 emergency services runners as the official social media partner for Run for a Safe Climate. We followed them from Cooktown to Noosa, Brisbane, Sydney and Canberra and cheered them on as the crossed the finish line at St Kilda.

Between developing strategies and implementing campaigns, we launched our Cellophane blog about our work and the world of communication. And along the way we tweeted about what was happening in the day-to-day life of the c word.

I’m looking forward to another busy year filled with interesting projects – big and small. A big thanks to our cool clients, creative characters and cheeky collaborators – congratulations on another amazing year!

This is a taste of what happened in 2009.

International Association of Privacy Professionals

It’s not every day you spend time with someone who has worked with Presidents Clinton and Obama but in 2009 we did. In September, we managed a publicity tour with Mozelle Thompson, a former US Federal Trade Commissioner, a team leader of the Obama transition team and a privacy advisor to technology companies, including a little outfit in Palo Alto called Facebook.

Mozelle was in Australia to speak at the Australian conference of the International Association of Privacy Professionals, and we were engaged to develop a social media and publicity campaign for the event. We secured a significant amount of coverage including ABC2’s Breakfast News program, blogs, national radio stations and major metropolitan newspapers. We also developed brochures, web pages, posters, media releases, invitations, and tools to help the board members engage their professional networks. The end result was an increased number of attendees from the previous year.

Department of Justice, Victoria

Earlier in the year we worked with the Victorian Department of Justice team responsible for the establishment of a regional structure for their 6,000 employees. We worked on internal and stakeholder communication in the final months of the project and helped with the development of community engagement tools for staff, including a guidebook to assist staff with the transition. And we visited a number of Victorian regional locations to help produce videos about the staff and services in each region.

Safe Climate Australia and Run for a Safe Climate

Our journey with Run for a Safe Climate began in July at an early morning breakfast with Al Gore. It was the launch of Safe Climate Australia – a group of business leaders, scientists and community members committed to developing a practical transition plan to move Australia to a safe climate. At the end of the breakfast, they launched the 6,000km run from Cooktown to Melbourne to raise money for the new initiative. A couple of months later we became the official social media partner for the run and joined the runners in Queensland, New South Wales, South Australia and Victoria to Tweet, Facebook and blog about their journey. The biggest challenge was translating complex ideas into simple messages, which we managed to do across a variety of social media platforms. We secured support from well-connected social media personalities and generated coverage on national and international blogs. In less than six weeks we attracted more than 850 Twitter followers and 1,500 Facebook fans.

housemouse

Our weekly catch-ups with housemouse often involve coffee, plenty of new ideas and are definitely creative affairs. the c word acts like a marketing director and work closely with the team with weekly, monthly and annual ‘catch-up’ meetings. We advise on business development, marketing and public relations plus events. The biggest achievement this year was the development of their company profile – a visual representation of their experience, skills and knowledge. We should all take a leaf out of their book and practice what we preach.

Overload Poetry Festival

For the second year running the c word worked with the Overload Poetry Festival, a 10-day smorgasbord of poetry. The program gets better every year, and this year’s line-up included exciting events at the National Gallery of Victoria and the Australian Centre for Moving Image. The most memorable moment was a stirring performance by poets at the National Gallery of Victoria – a must see in 2010. We secured coverage on radio and in print including The Age, Beat Magazine, Arts Hub, 3000 and Triple R. We also managed an exciting partnership with Overland Literary Journal, who focused their blog on the festival for the entire event.

Corporate video production

While we may not have been in front of the camera, we did help produce a number of videos including corporate documentaries for the Judicial College of Victoria and the Dandenong Drug Court and a community education video for VCAT. We interviewed judicial officers, authors, psychologists and educators, developed scripts, and treaded the boards at TheatreWorks in St Kilda. We also produced video newscasts for clients including the Neighbourhood Justice Centre.

Fluoro Mag

Not only did we help housemouse launch their design magazine fluoro at Federation Square at the start of October, we also helped put it together – providing creative content to go with the creative designs. Early on, we defined the audience for the publication, which informed the design and content. We also collaborated on a killer guest list, which can be a challenging task at the best of times but when well executed you end up with a chatty, cool and creative cohort like the fluoro launch crowd. The magazine received rave reviews and was the topic of discussion on a number of radio shows. Watch out for the next issue in March and get the current copy at bookstores including Borders.

Kate Robertson – photographer

We think you’ll be seeing a lot more of photographer Kate Robertson. She’s been part of plenty of exhibitions in the past but this year she launched her first solo exhibition – ‘After the Goldrush’. We spread the word by developing media materials, writing copy for her brochures and post cards and providing feedback on her website. We secured coverage on leading arts website Arts Hub, and helped her develop an image blog with photos of things that inspire her on a regular basis and old family snaps. We can’t wait to see what she has planned next year and look forward to celebrating gold, silver and diamond anniversaries with her.

Moving Galleries

We clocked up plenty of train travel this year with Moving Galleries. The team puts art and poetry on Melbourne trains and it is easily the most visited exhibition in town. The latest exhibition included photographs of art installations that had transformed city spaces including laneways and major buildings. We helped develop new marketing materials including a brochure which doubled as a poster, and helped raise their profile in the lead up to the transition to a new train provider. We also worked closely with them to develop an authentic social media experience on Twitter and Facebook.

Wrapped by housemouse

There will be plenty of gifts under trees this Christmas wrapped in the eco-friendly range of wrapping paper from wrapped by housemouse. It’s been a big year for the team with tradeshows, magazine photo shoots and meetings with big retailers. All the time the c word has been there with ideas and support – and tips on folding too. We’ve helped them develop a retail strategy for conquering Melbourne, Australia and the world plus we’ve come up with creative ideas for attracting media attention. To help the media get to know the product we worked on a designer press pack. We also shared advice on the fourth P of marketing: pricing. And we’ve got some pretty cool activities that will be unwrapped in 2010. Now all we need to do is wrap the presents to go under our Christmas trees – thankfully we have an abundant supply of eco-friendly wrapping paper.

Let’s kick of the silly season with a classic c word from Kool and the Gang – Celebration!

Best wishes for 2010

the c word