Mmmm!

Can you smell that cherry pie?

A good ad gets all the senses going, all the juices flowing. Ace ad and PR man ROBERT CHAPPELL knows how to do just that with a quick turn of phrase.

Rob’s list of clients ranges from Lands’ End, with $2 billion in annual sales, to Trinity Church, where 30 or so Episcopalians gather every Sunday.

"I'd rather sell a million units

                    than win a million Addies."

Rob is not only a writer — a good one — but a thinker. He does the one thing too many forget — think like a customer. Get inside that customer’s head. Answer those all-important questions: what will make them stop flipping pages, make them stay on the couch during the commercials, make them pick up the phone or stop in the store?

Examine product positioning, customer profiles, competition and psychographics before ever taking pen in hand.

Produce multiple solutions to every problem.

Think in concepts, not just words.

Understand the place advertising has in integrated marketing efforts.

Work closely and well with art directors and designers to produce an ad (or campaign) that’s more than the sum of its parts.

Draw on his 15 years as a freelance and full-time journalist to create press releases that editors will not only read, but run.

Think broadly about media exposure. He can make a musician's story as appealing to a business editor as it is to an arts editor.

Emulate the late, great David Ogilvy.

The Globetrotter Ethic

In years of researching and writing about advertising and business, Rob Chappell has developed this concept to govern the way he works and writes ads.

The Harlem Globetrotters were once just another basketball team. Trouble was, they were better than every other team in the nation — by a lot. One day in 1932, they found themselves ahead 112-5. They started playing around, showing off, and an American institution was born.

The point? You can have fun, and be funny, but first you have to be damn good at what you do.

Rob Chappell laughs easily and loves to hear others laugh. He is a pleasure to work with. And his ads are infused with his unique, intelligent humor. But all of that only happens because he’s damn good at what he does.

Write amusing copy for the sake of amusement.

Use more words than absolutely necessary.

Start copy with a question, like “Do you need…?” or “Are you looking for…?” What if the answer is “No?”

Think copy is more or less important than art. The two must work together.

Just work on ads. He works on integrated marketing efforts.

Care about winning awards. They’re fun, but selling $5.4 million worth of shoes — at $29.95 a pop — from a single catalog page is more fun. And Rob should know. He’s done both.

S e r v i c e s

Copywriting. Hard-edged ads that put sales ahead of cuteness, results ahead of cleverness, product ahead of ad.

Press releases. Media materials that will stay out of  the editor’s recycle bin.

Catalog.  More than copy — consultation on organization, pacing, product selection, space allocation.

Custom publishing.  Targeted content for newsletters, customer letters, in-house magazines.