The term ‘pet parents’ has become increasingly popular, and is one that we’re often asked to include in our copy for pet owners. However you may feel about this phrase, it is actually a relatively accurate reflection of the communication challenges that we face in animal health…

We get a lot of people getting in touch looking to make the move into copywriting as a career. Many of them are vets who are looking for their next challenge – something we can relate to and love to support. Lots of them tell us that they ‘love to write’ – sometimes they describe this as a lifelong passion. Great, right? Well, not always…

Life is full of ‘whys’, and copywriting is no different.

Asking ourselves three key ‘whys’ before starting a piece helps make sure that the audience isn’t left thinking ‘why?’ after they’ve read it…

Selling a product or service is all about behaviour change – you want your audience to stop doing what they are doing, and instead switch to your offering! Understanding your audience helps you to develop compelling marketing messages that elicit that all-important behaviour change.

From gin distilleries making hand sanitiser, to car manufacturers making ventilators – so many businesses are adapting their offering to contribute to the COVID-19 pandemic effort. It’s amazing - people really do kick ass sometimes

Good commercial or educational copy should inspire a change in behaviour. Maybe not immedietely - although we all strive for that 'life changing' one-hit wonder, of course! But perhaps reading your copy is the first step on a person's journey to change, or it will pop out from their memory banks in the future to reiterate another source of information, lowering their barriers. Either way, it should cause a shift (even if subtle) in an individual's beliefs or attitudes.

It can be tricky getting a launch, relaunch or educational campaign right. It’s often brand new information and there is a lot for the intended audience to take in – how do you make sure that what you have to say hits home?

Often, what needs communicating in a healthcare campaign is pretty well understood but how to say it most effectively (and efficiently – because everyone has a budget, right?!) can cause some to draw a blank.

This time a year ago, Sarah and I conceived Roar on her kitchen table (!)

We’d been planning it for a while but it took a few glasses of wine to loosen us up enough to take the plunge and send our application to Companies House.

The world is getting smaller.

In March 2019, Quantas premiered the longest non-stop passenger flight in the world, from London Heathrow to Perth, Australia.

While 17 hours might be a bit of a trek for a meeting, our passports are getting aired more often than ever as increasing numbers of projects that we work on are designed for European or even global roll-out.

In a sector that is hyper-aware of the importance of an evidence based approach, data has become near-essential to include as proof points for the promotional statements that we make in the marketing pieces we produce for our clients.

The campaign is set, the creative developed, the list of assets decided. Time to get the copywriters in to do their bit, right?

This scenario is common and can work just fine but what if you want more than fine?

The briefing information that we get from our clients varies hugely. Some are delivered via a quick chat on the phone, some are sent as lengthy written documents.

A good brief though, whatever form it comes to us in has to contain the following piece of information:

All too often in written content for commercial use, words are used a bit carelessly. They are thrown down to ensure that the facts are there, should anyone want them.

But effective communication is so much more than just the words themselves. How those words are structured, ordered and what other words are used around them can give words, the basic tool we use to communicate information, the power to change how people feel.

Sarah and I met in 2005, on our first day of vet school. Full of nervous excitement, we bonded as we studiously pondered the answers to a series of ludicrous questions, set as a con for the first years.