Copywriter

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Copywriter (also copywriter or copywriters) is one of the classic careers in advertising agencies . Copywriters are also used outside the agency world, for example as web copywriters in companies with their own marketing departments or as freelance copywriters. The task is the effective linguistic design of an advertising text for advertising material (including posters, advertisements, brochures, TV spots, radio spots, online advertising materials). In addition, copywriters develop the concept and ideas for individual advertising media or complete advertising campaigns .

Task and responsibility

Depending on the agency's philosophy, the weighting of tasks between copywriter and art director varies. The creative development can start from the copywriter and the art director or graphic designer implements this idea visually. In such cases, copywriters in German agencies often have names such as concept , conception or conception writer (in Austria also: conceptionist). On the other hand, there are agencies in which the art director specifies the visual concept of a campaign, which is then only supplemented by the copywriter with linguistic content such as headlines , slogans and paragraph text (the so-called copy). In the meantime, however, the copywriters and art directors in most of the larger advertising agencies form a permanent team that inspires each other and jointly develops the basic ideas for advertising campaigns and individual advertising materials.

education

In contrast to the commercial and creative professions in the communications industry, training to become a copywriter is not regulated.

Employment as an intern or trainee is often the first step into the profession. During this initial period, which usually lasts between three months and a year, the future copywriter learns the basics of text writing. He can then be employed as a junior copywriter. Many copywriters are lateral entrants and had hardly any contact with the industry before they started working as copywriters. Some come from related professions such as B. journalism.

An academic background is not mandatory, but the advertising agency market is also under pressure to adapt to the level of the rest of the job market. To this day, the decisive factor is the creative ability to develop linguistic and sales-oriented ideas under tight specifications and high time pressure. Agencies often check this ability using a so-called copy test , in which a series of realistic tasks from advertising practice are to be solved. In German-speaking countries there are training centers for budding copywriters, for example the Hamburg School of Ideas in Hamburg, the Miami Ad School in Hamburg and Berlin, the writing scene in Bern and Zurich, the KreativKader in Düsseldorf or the Text College in Munich.

Career

The copywriter usually starts his career in an advertising agency as a text intern, text trainee or in a PR agency as a volunteer . Internships certified by the GWA industry association are paid at least 350 euros / month (as of spring 2007). There is still no official standard in the industry for the remuneration of trainee positions. In a GWA survey in spring 2007, the average of recommendations made by agencies was around 1200 euros / month. With some previous experience, an apprenticeship or a very good copy test, there is also the option of skipping the internship and starting as a junior copywriter. It is also quite common to hire newcomers and employees from other areas of an advertising agency as copywriters if there is sufficient talent.

From junior copywriter, the copywriter can usually first move up to copywriter, then to senior copywriter, from there to Creative Director Text, later to Executive Creative Director and finally to Managing Director Creation, also known as CCO (Chief Creative Officer) in large agency networks . With particularly outstanding copywriters, the step to managing director creation can take place very quickly. Due to the inconsistency of the names, however, the levels in different agencies are designed differently and sometimes also have very different names, which explains the very different pay for copywriters. From 0.01 cents per word via so-called content portals to 120 € per hour or 2000 € daily rate, everything is possible. The decisive factor for paying copywriters is above all creative success, as well as years of market experience, references and specialization (for example in search engine optimization or as a speechwriter ).

Free and independent copywriters usually work on a fee basis as freelancers (so-called. Freelancer) for advertising or communication agencies, but also directly on behalf of commercial enterprises, government agencies or associations.

Associations

German copywriters organize themselves in the Texterverband e. V. (formerly Fachverband Freier Werbetexter, FFW) or in the Bundesverband professional Werbetexter Germany e. V. (BPWD), Swiss copywriter in the Textverband (formerly SCRIPT Swiss Copywriters Association). In 2012, the German Texts Association published a “Market Monitor” which advertising and web copywriters can use to orientate their fees.

Well-known German-speaking copywriters

Well-known international copywriters

literature

  • Astrid della Giustina: job description “conceptual text”. Tips and perspectives for talented writers . VDM Verlag Dr. Müller, Düsseldorf 2004, ISBN 3-936755-88-4 .
  • David Ogilvy : Ogilvy on advertising . Econ, Düsseldorf 1984, ISBN 3-430-17272-1 .
  • Dominik Pietzcker: Writing advertising. From idea and concept to a media-effective message . Cornelsen Verlag, Berlin 2003, ISBN 3-589-21927-0 .
  • Armin Reins (Hrsg.): The murderer torch - The textbook of the text forge Hamburg . 2nd Edition. Hermann Schmidt, Mainz 2003, ISBN 3-87439-607-X .
  • Jörn Winter (Ed.): Handbook advertising text. About good ideas, successful strategies and appropriate words . 2nd Edition. German specialist publisher, Frankfurt / M. 2004, ISBN 3-87150-771-7 .
  • Gottschling, Stefan: Texts! The How-To Book®. Augsburg: SGV Verlag, 2013, ISBN 978-3-9815445-1-0

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ text association. Retrieved on January 10, 2020 (Texterverband - professional association of freelance advertising copywriters; Germany).
  2. ↑ mediafon.net October 7, 2011, accessed November 12, 2015
  3. ↑ BPWD. Retrieved on January 10, 2020 (Federal Association of Professional Advertising Copywriters Germany eV).
  4. ^ Text association. Retrieved on January 10, 2020 (Textverband - professional association of copywriters in Switzerland).
  5. ↑ Annette Mattgey: Texts for the Web: Fees benefit from the online advertising boom. In: Lead Digital. Verlag Werben & Sell, November 8, 2012, archived from the original on October 1, 2013 ; Retrieved December 8, 2015 .