Before I forget, just a little more from last week’s Copywriters’ Conference…
The last talk of the day came from Doug Kessler, Creative Director at Velocity Partners. He talked about brands who successfully use swear words in their marketing.
Not awkward cringey swearing like this (eugh). But funny, memorable – and actually clever – swearing. Like the fcuk campaign, which genuinely made people do an Exorcist-style head swivel when it came out on billboards back in the 90s. Like the Kmart ‘ship my pants‘ ad, which does faux-cursing in a delightfully silly way.
(I would at this point make some joke about Doug’s post being f*&king funny, but i) I would be about the five-millionth person to do so, and ii) I am actually too frightened that my mother-in-law might read this post. She’s a sweet, softly-spoken Irish lady and if she ever so much as uttered the word ‘crap’ I think she might turn to stone. I’ve even gone and used ‘asterisk cheating’ in the first sentence of this para, just to avoid offending her eyes, an option Doug describes as ‘flat-out lame’ and ‘for total p*ssies’. Hi Oonagh. Sorry Doug.
My own mother? Oh, she’s got a mouth like a docker.)
Anyway, I highly recommend Doug’s blog on the subject. Not interested? Well, you go fudge yourself.