26 Fruits

This week I was mainly copywriting: toothpaste, skincare, New York retailer. In between times I was launching another project for 26, this time a collaboration with the V&A for the 2010 London Design Festival.

It’s called “26 Treasures” and it came originally from an idea by Rob Self-Pierson www.rob-writes.blogspot.com We evolved the idea along the way, the LDF supported our proposal and the V&A agreed with some enthusiasm.

Now the V&A has selected 26 objects from its British Galleries, a collection including the Great Bed of Ware and Mr Nobody with a Drinking Glass. The writers have then been paired with one of the objects and asked to write 62 words as a personal response to it.  The response will be displayed alongside the object during the London Design Festival in September. Among the 26 writers are poets Andrew Motion and Maura Dooley.

When we were trying to persuade the V&A to adopt the idea, Rob and I (with design and photographic help from Dan Oparison) visited the museum and chose an exhibit we liked. To test the idea I wrote 62 words about an Italian statue of the Angel Gabriel in the newly refurbished Renaissance Galleries. I wrote this poem for the proposal:

He cleared his throat. And raised his fingers high.
The brass had seemed, well, just a little bit
Too crass. Big news can come without trumpets,
Be spoken quietly. No need for drama.

He’d folded wings, not wishing to cause flight.
Why not just take some time to think it through?
The angel stepped forward and spoke to us
All about expectations.

I liked the idea of Gabriel announcing big news so calmly. Has anyone in history or story ever had such a profound announcement to make?

Inevitably I thought about the writing that’s all around us in the commercial world. As you walk down the street you see “Fantastic Deals” everywhere. The Angel Gabriel’s approach came to mind when I was running a workshop about web writing on Wednesday at The Writer www.thewriter.co.uk Here was one slide:

The most unbeatably effective way of making sure not one single reader ever reads your fantastic web writing is to fill it full of amazing adjectives and awesomely annoying ‘salesy’ waffle.

It’s true. The next time you’re tempted to use a string of empty adjectives to sell a new product or service, think again. There’s another better way. Think of the Angel Gabriel.