Zazou Marketing

Imagine how powerful a message could be created by some of the worlds’ most creative minds. Specifically, imagine what kind of a message the United Nations, the International Advertising Association and some of the world’s greatest advertising, marketing and media agencies could create…

Well, they have done just that with the launch of Hopenhagen, or hopenhagen.org, “a global marketing and communications initiative that will inspire and generate mass activation around the world,” according to the press release. Yep, we’ve got big names, big ideas and big, lofty goals all converging with this marketing campaign.

What exactly is Hopenhagen? Here’s the opening copy from the website:

“Welcome to Hopenhagen.
On December 7, 2009, leaders from 192 countries will gather at the UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen, Denmark to determine the fate of our planet. Let’s turn Copenhagen into Hopenhagen.”

The focus of the climate change conference is to solve our environmental crisis, explains the copy.

And accompanying the marketing campaign copy is a place to add your own thoughts on what gives you hope. The ideas that people have input then run as a scroll on the bottom of the web page.

The focus, then, is clearly hope. And here’s what the press release says about what inspired the idea:

“Hopenhagen stemmed from the idea that the UN Climate Change Conference is an opportunity to protect people and the planet, while powering global green growth. The campaign will emphasize a shift from “coping” or ignoring to “hoping” and ultimately acting to create a new reality.”

What I find most interesting about this marketing campaign is that in today’s world of flash and design-driven advertising and marketing campaigns, it’s primarily copy driven. Even more, it’s effective: the campaign is simple; the copy is creative; and it gets you engaged and thinking.

So, what gives you hope?

Many organizations create websites assuming that the product or service will sell itself… If you can just get people to your website, they’ll see how wonderful what you offer really is. And then they’ll go ahead and buy it, right?! Well, now that you’ve had your website for some time, you have probably realized that simply having a site doesn’t necessarily mean sales.

So, if you want your website to actually generate revenue, you may need to revamp a few important aspects of your site. In fact, there are six things you should update, says an April 28 article in The Washington Post. And since I’m writing about this article here, you won’t be surprised that one of the fixes that the article advises is to “write better product descriptions.” Here’s the article’s sage advice:

Spend some time reading your product descriptions to make sure they’re succinct and filler-free. The formula here can be difficult because, as Amy Schade says, you need to “convince [users] the product meets their needs,” but the verbiage “has to be short and descriptive.” There’s no salesperson available on a website, so shoppers “should be able to see a product and know what it does,” says Schade, a director at the Nielsen Norman Group in New York City and co-author of the second edition of the “E-Commerce User Experience” report. Writing new and better product descriptions, Schade says, “is time consuming but worth it.”

So there you have it. Good writing can equal sales. So, when you are creating product descriptions, remember to make them succint, descriptive, and filler-free, while also ensuring that they convince prospective buyers that the product meets their needs.

Zazou Marketing