26 Fruits

Most businesses want you to remember them. And to pick them out when faced with a choice. So, writing words that are easily remembered – and associated with a particular company, brand or product – is an important objective for a writer, especially for an advertising copywriter.

This was brought home again by the latest McDonald’s ad on TV. This has the actor David Morrissey speaking the words in his light Liverpudlian accent. It grabbed my attention the first time I heard it and I keep enjoying it. My first thought was that it was a poem by Roger McGough. Later I discovered that it was actually written by copywriters at the ad agency Leo Burnett, who had based it on the lyrics of a song by Rolf Harris. Strange but true. In part it goes….

“the Gothy types and scoffy types

and like-their-coffee-frothy types

were just passing by”

It’s unusual – and memorable – to come across a TV ad that takes such obvious enjoyment in playing with words: words that are poetry.

Poetry is not used that often in business writing but when it is, it can be very effective. Poetic techniques have passed down the centuries because they recognise the need for memorability. Rhyme, alliteration, repetition are an aid to the listener or the reader, encouraging them to remember the words.

Whenever I hear the words “I remember” my brain is triggered to recite in my head the words from Thomas Hood’s poem that I remember from my childhood:

“I remember, I remember

The house where I was born.”

With my granddaughter Aimee the other day I surprised myself by reciting much of Edward Lear’s “The owl and the pussycat”.

I’ve enjoyed using poetic techniques when writing for businesses. Coleridge’s lines from Kubla Khan came into my head when, many years ago, I was working on a new brand of goat’s cheese. And “for he on honey-dew hath fed/ and drunk the milk of paradise” appeared on the packaging.

Then this morning, shopping in Marks & Spencer, I pushed the shopping trolley around. Ten years ago I wrote many of the M&S words that appeared on packaging, point of sale and shop signs. Most of it has now gone, inevitably replaced over time. But one example at least remains, staring at me from the sign on the shopping trolley: “Too heavy? Too far? Collect by car.”

Poetry’s an enduring love of mine. So I was delighted a couple of days ago to be elected to the Board of the Poetry Society as a trustee. In that role I’ll be exploring more ways to show the relevance of poetry not just to our personal lives but also to our working lives.