I am a contributor to The Guardian Newspaper. My writing has also appeared in Buzzfeed, The Metro, TimeOut, Mashable, The Mirror, BBC, etc etc.
Need a writer, but not sure how to seperate the truth from the marketing? Well, don’t listen to me - ask Google.
Not sure if I, or Google can be trusted? Need a third source? Ask Wikipedia.
Pencil cases, phone cases, t-shirts, coffee cups, key rings and all sorts of other things. The Mr. Men sell over £200 million worth of merchandise a year around the globe.
My slogans are on Mr. Men products across the country, in Debenhams, Tesco's, John Lewis, Amazon etc.
Getting the right words on the right products is crucial for sales. Back the wrong Mr. Men with the wrong words and sales will dive. Promote the wrong Mr. Men, and sales will dive. Target the wrong age group, and sales will dive.
The Mr. Men needed a new approach. They decided to target an older age group, to put a bit of a playful edge on their merchandise. Mr Grumpy will get a bit more focus than Mr Happy - why? Because teenagers are all about cool, and Mr Happy isn't cool and Mr Grumpy is.
My work consisted of writing original, versatile and market reputable slogans for all The Mr. Men apparel. Extensive research was carried out - I learnt what sells and what doesn't. The job was about creating original slogans, and also about evolving old classics and giving them a modern twist to increase sales.
Here's the full list of ideas.
My blog is one of the most popular blogs in the UK and has been nominated for the UK Blog Awards.
I am one half of Patrick & Stone. We make books for kids. I write them, Alex draws them. Our first book, The Yoga Bear, was going to be published by Quarto books - but at the last hurdle they said no.
Still, I expect to be a published kid’s book author eventually.
The bread and butter of copywriting. A good press ad attracts the eye with a headline that captures attention, batters the brain with information and then dips the frontal lobe into a vat of design oil.
Mmm press ads.
I've penned successful press ads for all sorts of clients, including: The Co-Op, The National Trust, MacMillan, Costa, Alcon, DTW1991, Heathrow, Network Rail, ZTE, Pioneer Underwriters, EY, Piper, RMP...
My tweets/books/writing/life story has featured in The Sun, The Mirror, The Daily Mail, Mashable, Buzzfeed, The Evening Standard, The Metro etc.
In the digital world, the keyboard is more than king. It is a God with 78 teeth that comes alive at the fingertips of the righteous. Obviously, that's nonsense - but if I can't push the boundaries of copy on my own website then I can't push them anywhere.
I've penned copy for everything digital, including: SEO friendly web copy (plus ideas and creative direction), apps, blog articles, content marketing articles (editing, writing, distributing and delivering results), SEO friendly copy, Tweets, Facebook posts, LinkedIn updates, articles that drive traffic etc.
As a social media copywriter I've created from scratch and managed Twitter and Facebook pages (not including my own) for: The Mr Men, Chaos Design, RMP, DTW1991, Free Partners, Beyond Design.
You don't see many long copy ads these days, mostly because we've all become lobotomised idiots, unable to hold a conversation for more than 30 seconds without checking our phones. And I'm not judging, because I'm one of those idiots. Just ask my wife.
However, I love long copy. When it's done right, it's brilliant. It allows the copywriter a bit of scope to take the reader on a journey, and surprise them in the end with something truly memorable.
I've penned long copy for tube adverts for Costa Coffee and Trivago. The rest of the examples here are not long copy ads, just samples of long copy.
I've penned long CM articles for plenty of clients; from creative agencies and publishing houses, to those in finance and insurance.
A good business brochure can soon become a vampire with werewolf eyes if you decide to scrimp on the copy. It can turn from being a product that can shape culture for staff and attract the best people, to a beast that drains your business of funds and then rips it apart in a frenzy of blood, and howling. So make sure you get it right, because once a brochure has gone to print, there's no going back.
I've penned the copy for plenty of brochures for all sorts of industries, from the highly legislated world of insurance to the more relaxed world of holidays and breweries.
Experience
Brand Guidelines, Sales Brochures, Internal Comms, Flyers, Inserts, Event Brochures etc.
A tone of voice is just as important as a logo, it's an integral part of the company’s branding. There’s no point wearing a sharp suit if when you open your mouth, you sound like the awkward paper shuffle of the best man who hasn’t learnt his speech. The visual and the words are a partnership, which only work well when they’re together.
The way we speak and what we say is the tone of voice. It’s not simply about talking jibberish but delivering it in the style of Morgan Freeman, so everyone pays attention. What we say is just as important as how we say it.
I've penned the tone of voice guidelines for the following:
Pioneer Underwriters, RMP, DTW1991, Free Partners, Tesco, Gemini Search.
Content marketing is not something mystical, like dragons or sea urchins that speak through their eyeballs. In fact, there's no question about it: An effective content marketing campaign increases traffic. An increase in traffic increases awareness around your brand. Increase awareness, and you can create dialogue, create dialogue and you can influence sales.
So, if you are looking for someone who does all this stuff and can prove that he has. Think Steve Jobs. Try and call Mark Zuckerberg. But if they aren't available, give me a shout. My beard is better than Steve's and I'm balder than Mark.
My tweets and blogposts often go viral. My most popular tweet was seen by over 350,000 people in 24hrs. And then it went viral, appearing on everything from The Independent to Unilad.
I tweet about anything, from politics and world issues, to fun stuff like a Duck-Billed Platypus sucking a man's face off at Wimbledon.
This means I can take even established brands to another level, and for the smaller brands - I can even the playing field.
Some of the media outlets my tweets and blogposts have appeared:
Channel 4, BT.com, Business Insider, Independent, Unilad. The Poke, Buzzfeed, Huffington Post, The Cyprus Reporter, BBC, Breaking News, Eurosport, Paddy Power (stolen), UsvThem, Metro, The Telegraph, Mirror, MTV, Observer, Mashable, IT News Africa, B2C, Irish Examiner, Football Burp etc.
2017 Santa's Little Workshop
- Full web copy
- Twitter advice
- Brand advice
Client Quotes
"I have been so busy. The new copy is making a difference."
"Thank you for all the help, I can now see the vision and will do my best to keep to it. I have spoken to Selfridges and it looks like I will be able to get credit for the costumes and maybe more!"
"Thank you, you have done great work and I am really pleased."
Radka Podolska - Director, SLW.
https://www.santaslittleworkshop.co.uk/
TIQLD - LAUNCH 2017
- Full brand advice
- Full website copy from scratch
- Brand advice, including packaging
- Creation of brand tagline
Client Quotes
"Added the family members to the descriptor. All set with the amends; social media strategy looks good too! Will be in touch later next week to share the first couple of posts for your feedback. Thanks much again for being such a wonderful partner!!"
"Very well done! And yes, the multi-sensory effect is unique and really shines through. Thank you!!"
Jyotika Wadhwa - Director, TIQLD
I wrote the web copy for Free Partners, a design agency based in London Bridge.
Piper is a massive drink on the clubbing scene in Ibiza; but don't think sex, drugs and slender women in bikinis - think Lemon Balm, recovery and clarity. Piper is all natural, non alcoholic and definitely not an energy drink. It's all of the good things rolled up in a ball, and forced down the throat of man.
The client wanted bold catchy headlines that would grab minds, and funny but intelligent body copy for a series of press ads.
This is wisdom, in a funny can.
I worked with designer Guy Cornet for this project. His website and creative company "Bungalow" can be found here:
The art of the snap. You've got 5 seconds to sell. Don't waste it with unnecessary words. There are a few things more beautiful* than a 6 words that capture a brand. Or a few words that form a slogan, that go on to sell merchandise in the millions.
I've penned short copy for mugs, clothing ranges, pencil cases, cookie tins. If you can put words on it, I have. And my words have increased sales.
*Does not include:
Butterflies, Birds, Parasols, Stained Glass, Ice, Fairy Lights, Bunnies, Shade on a hot day, Balloons, Mermaids, Stars, Tin Foil, Bubble Wrap etc.
I created, defined the tone of voice, targeted a specific age demographic, launched tweets that reflected the strategy and eventually used the account to sell out the Mr. Men's stock of new mugs (for a campaign that was targeted at the age group I had attracted to the account). In 4-5 months 16000 Twitter users followed the account, and the tweets received plenty of compliments from the general public about tone of voice and approach. The famous blue tick was awarded to the account within a record timeframe.
The Mr. Men Facebook account is directed at Mums and children, so the Twitter approach was to aim at the older demographic: If Facebook was for the Mums, Twitter was for the drunks.
The introduction from the October report
All stats are up. More tweets, more impressions, more followers, more likes and more RTs than in the previous months. Over 10,000 people visited the Mr. Men Twitter page in October. After a few emails and phone calls, the Mr. Men are now a verified account. In three months, this is great news. The UK Mr. Men and Little Miss account is now the official account in the world. This will mean more followers, which means more buyers. One tweet this month was picked up by Buzzfeed, and sparked an article on the Buzzfeed website. 2 hours after the tweet, and the Mr. Men were on the frontpage of buzzfeed – a website with over 200 million viewers.
Launched in 1991, DTW’s ambition is to be recognised as the No1 delegated underwriting syndicate at Lloyd’s. I am working with a design, brand and marketing agency in London to develop DTW's business, strategy, concepts, brand guidelines and delivery. The tip of the iceberg is a new content friendly website that positions DTW1991 unlike anyone else in insurance, corporate and finance. That’s not just in the UK, but in the world.
I have interviewed every member of staff, and added stories to the website. Each employee has their own area, their own soapbox to shout from. For the highly regulated insurance market, this is changing-the-world-of-insurance, previously unheard of stuff.
To read more of the stories, visit the website.
Reddit is an entertainment, social news networking service, and news website where registered community members can submit content, such as text posts or direct links, making it essentially an online bulletin board system. Registered users can then vote submissions up or down to organise the posts and determine their position on the site's pages. Content entries are organised by areas of interest called "subreddits". The subreddit topics include news, gaming, movies, music, books, fitness, food, and photosharing, among many others.
As of 2015, Reddit had 542 million monthly visitors (234 million unique users), ranking 14th most visited web-site in US and 36th in the world. Across 2015, Reddit saw 82.54 billion page views, 73.15 million submissions, 725.85 million comments, and 6.89 billion upvotes from its users.
My posts have often reached the front page of Reddit, commonly more known as "The front page of the internet".
For a business to hit the front page of reddit is a tricky thing, as it's upvoting by people - and advertising is shunned. However, hitting the front page of reddit, is evidence of a creative who understands how to create and share contagious ideas that spread.
Over 500 million tweets a day are posted on Twitter, so it's almost impossible to trend on the back of a single tweet. To trend, the hashtag or tweet has to influence others, it has to spread, it has to beat 499 million 990 thousand and 99 others tweets. I've trended on Twitter as 'craigstone_' which shows that it is possible to create a trend.
Whether a business if just starting out or already established, if it trends on Twitter - it's big business.
Working with a top 50 Design agency in London, I've been the copywriter for several Heathrow projects.
I was responsible for the B2C solus that was sent to hundreds of thousands of Heathrow passengers all over the world, announcing the opening of the world famous, £2.3 billion, Heathrow Terminal 2. Called The Queens Terminal, which to me sounds like a sad prediction of a not too distant future, I had to write exciting, engaging and practical copy.
Not the most exciting thing in the world, but not without a tiny bit of prestige. Something I could show my mum. And she almost understood it - though she did get lost at Solus, and email, and internet. She had heard of planes though, which is something.
I've also created the copy for the Heathrow VIP website. Think high-end, think elegant. Think a tiny bit pretentious.
I write that kind of copy too.
The best copywriters in the world are those who aren't writing for the money, but write because if they didn't, their hearts would implode. Tears for rain. Streets of blood. Clouds of why go on?
I'm one of those.
I've been writing since I was 14 years old. There's no trick to becoming a good writer, being a good writer is merely the result of thousands of hours, twenty years, sat staring, moving, editing, hating and making brain love with words.
I'm the author of 3 novels and one silly cartoon book, the titles:
Deep in the Bin of Bob
Life Knocks
The Squirrel that Dreamt of Madness
How to Hide from Humans.
Google them, if you like. They're all available on Amazon. They're often in the top #100 books in their categories. They're best-sellers. Life Knocks was shortlisted for the Dundee Book Prize. My first Literary agency was once JK Rowling's agent. My second Literary agent belongs to the oldest agency in London. (Christopher Little Agency and Sheil Land Associates).
I'm the #10 most popular author on Goodreads. Goodreads is the global online frontrunner for books and authors - the home to every major author and dreamer, the home to every fan and reader.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Craig-Stone/e/B006YHNM08
Working with a design agency in London, I was part of a 3 strong team asked to pitch for a large mental health NHS re-branding project.
I wrote the copy for the RFP and presented the pitch alongside the account manager and director of the company.
We won the pitch - and my contribution was highlighted for praise. The technical stuff and the financial stuff was handled by the MD and the account manager, but I bring to the table the ability to think on my feet, a little bit of philosophy and an ability to engage on a more personal level - all the attributes required for a successful brand.
After creating the Mr. Men Twitter account and delivering 16,000 followers in a few short months, I pulled together some statistics to present to the people at The Mr. Men. I thought it might be a bit of fun to present the statistics in a book, and created a new character called Mr. Social to deliver the news.
Story and creative concept: Craig Stone
Illustration by Alex Patrick
Art direction by Guy Cornet and Peter Stimpson.
ZTE. I know, you've never heard of them. Neither had I. But, hey, there's a lot of things I don't know, like how come we measure in square feet, even though our feet are oblong? It turns out, ZTE are the world's fourth largest mobile phone manufacturer. They are the fastest growing manufacturer in America. They once sold their phones to the famous brands, and the famous brands put their names on the phone. ZTE have decided they don't want to live in the shadows like vampire second hand car salesmen. They want their moment in the sun. They want to stare into the sun and turn into gold. They want people to whisper 'ZTE' instead of "I love you" or "Ich Liebe Dich."
ZTE are launching all over the UK. Even under your bed, in your fridge and in the glove-box of your neighbours' car. Professor Green is heading the campaign. Working alongside a top 50 Design agency in London, I created a series of ideas for a campaign of press ads, writing all headlines & copy, for two of their mobile phones. The Blade III and Kis III.
*I am.
Egmont publishing, the largest children and young adult publisher in the world, are adding a twist to the original Mr Men series. They're turning the glass of warm milk into a Martini with double olives.
This is an ongoing project, so watch this space. Well, not this space - watch the bookshelves and the media. Launching some time 2017.
Cushman spoke to Wakefield, telling him he was afraid if they didn't remind their staff of how they want to look and sound, they would lose their identity. And their business would clutch its heart and die.
Wakefield nodded. Wakefield never spoke. He pulled his pipe from his mouth, and breathed out a cloud of smoke shaped like a child's head.
Wood filled the room. Wakefield nodded.
My phone rang. It was Cushman, on account of how Wakefield never speaks because his light voice is forever strangled by his deep thoughts.
"Make a pamphlet our staff will read because it sounds mildly amusing. Tell them we are nothing without them. Then remind them if they keep using different fonts and forgetting our brand guidelines, we'll never return their children."
I said sure. I mean, think of the children.
New brand guidelines were created.
Somewhere, Wakefield nodded.
http://www.cushmanwakefield.co.uk/
I worked alongside amazing art director and designer Guy Cornet for this project. His website and creative company "Bungalow" can be found here:
Independent verification of 0.5% status:
http://klear.com/profile/craigstone_
Twitter. To those who are not in the know, a waste of time. A platform to scream about yourself to yourself. To those in the know, a money spinner, a business winner and a chance to add real weight and gravitas to your business or person.
I currently have over 100,000 Twitter followers - putting me in the top 1% of Twitter users on the planet.
My most popular tweet to date has been the Andy Murray duck-billed platypus tweet, which you may have seen. It was Retweeted over 3,000 times on Twitter, shared over 60,000 times on Facebook, was stolen and shared by every sporting company in the world, from Paddy Power to the New York Red Bulls. The tweet became viral.
My tweets regularly appear in every media outlet in this country and beyond - from The Telegraph to The Huffington Post.
I have taken complete control of Twitter accounts for agencies, and doubled, tripled and quadrupled their following. I have taken agencies from zero followers to thousands, from hundreds to tens of thousands.
There are many, many people who say they are an expert at social media. The only way to tell if they are, is to ask to see how many Twitter followers they have, or how big they are on Facebook. Usually, these so called social media experts blather on about knowing all the secrets, but only have a hundred and thirty followers. The truth is, they know nothing.
My numbers speak for themselves.
Alcon Contact Lenses - you can probably guess what they do. Working with Magic Pencil in Switzerland, I wrote the copy for the press ads to go alongside the campaign idea.
The campaign needed to appeal to women - and break down any pre-conceived notions and fears about the ageing process.
In the usual back and forth with the client the body copy was watered down to something a little safer. It moved from a roaring lion chasing a frightened deer, to a mouse crying in the front row of an Opera.
But, still, the client was happy and there's still a bit of snap to the press ad.
Trivago, the world's number 1 hotel booking website, needed a campaign to run on the London underground. Armed with a brief, three green teabags, a red pen low on ink and a mind that sometimes flickers to graphic scenes of carnage, I set to work.
I created an idea that revolved around thanking all the people of London for making Trivago the world's no1 website. The idea was pretty good, and the copy flowed and worked well in the environment, but, in the end Trivago chose the ads about Alan the odd looking bean by creative agency Noah.
Fair enough, I quite like those ads, and I applaud Trivago for going down the full creative route. Unfortunately, the route Trivago chose gained a negative reaction on social media, and has since been accused of racism. The route did have a flaw, in the fact that the main character Alan lies to people. Racist? I don't think so, it was surely intended as a bit of fun.
The Mr.Men - those funny shapes we all remember from childhood. Those circles of fun and sunshine; triangles of grumpy and oblongs of surreal and the mercurial.
The Mr. Men initially contacted me to work on another project, but after seeing a bit of my work, they wondered if I could come up with some slogan ideas to encapsulate 45 years of characters, adventures and wisdom.
Armed with my brain, a jar of coffee, a broken pencil and the initial works of the official Mr.Men collection, I got to work.
The Mr. Men were looking for one brand slogan, but they loved at least 3 of my ideas, so are considering alternating slogans.
Sanrio wanted a batch of ideas, rather than one or two - so here's the full list.
Every business owner needs to get their message across - whether that be to their clients, customers or members of staff.
There is one thing all people have in common: nobody likes to be bored. There is an art to delivering a message in an engaging way that sticks in the mind of the recipient.
If a message goes in one ear and out the other, what's the point in sending it?
I can take a message from any industry and give it a creative spin. I can put hooks in all the right places, so your audience gets a bucket of water in the face, so they are fully alert just at the moment they need to absorb the lesson.
When I took over the Twitter account of Chaos Design, they had 400 followers. In a few short months I have taken their following from 400 to over 3,000 - putting them in the top % of design agencies in London. They now have an online audience. Through this following I have been able to track down new business - a big job hasn't quite materialised yet, but with the new Twitter following it's always a possibility.
I continue to manage the social media for Chaos Design.
The LankellyChase Foundation distribute funds to charities all over the UK. They help homeless charities, people dealing with substance abuse and mental illness. They are the good guys.
They are looking to rebrand, so working with a design agency in London, I put together the RFP document. Competition was tough, but because of the work I had put in on the RFP and my personal history, we were shortlisted down to the final 2 from 35 entries.
After a meeting with the Chief Executive and the powers that be, we just missed out on winning the contract.
A great shame, because what they do is really close to my heart.
Again, I was highlighted by the potential client for my presence and thoughts in not only the initial meeting with the communications manager, but in the subsequent meeting with the rest of the decision makers.
Chaos Design are a top 50 Design agency in London. Chaos Design acquired Roundel in December 2013, and haven't looked back.
Chaos asked me to create a brochure they could give to clients and creative minds who might want to work with Chaos. A brochure that spoke about who Chaos are, how they think, and what they do. Something creative. Something that made the reader turn the next page, and occasionally look to the sky and think to themselves 'I wish I created this."
Chaos wanted a brochure that no human being or dolphin could read without thinking "I want to work with Chaos" or "eeuur Eehr Errr Err Err".
So, I gave them: Chaos Theory. At first there was nothing.
Working with a top 50 design agency in London, I was a small part of the team that worked on the EY Risk Management campaign. I stress, the creative was not my idea - I wrote parts of the copy, and edited the full copy prior to launch. I also worked with the team to create some on-the-ground events around the idea.
This campaign won the 2014 B2B Marketing campaign award for "Best Internal Audience Campaign".
THE B2B MARKETING AWARDS
http://www.b2bmarketing.net/awards/winners-2014
STEVE, CD, PICKS UP THE AWARD ON THE NIGHT
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cUTY7REb9_Y
I have taken @thisisbeyond from 47 followers to over 2,000 in a few short months. I understand how Twitter works. I can take a new business from nothing to something, or I can take a popular business that thinks it knows what it's doing to new heights.
I arrived at the BBC studios early, I'm always early. I sat in a shop over the road wondering if I was going to make it through the interview without forgetting my name. I drank a coffee. But not before wrestling for 20 minutes over whether I was drinking one too soon, so would crash before the interview...or whether I should be drinking one at all. What if I turn grumpy and impatient? Maybe I should have a green tea and go all Buddha. I decided because I had too much big stuff to worry about that I didn’t have enough time to worry so much about the subtle implications of varying caffeine levels, so I ordered a coffee and took a seat. I drank the coffee. I nervously picked at the paper cup. Then I ate the paper cup, folded myself into a ball, and rolled myself into the corner. I waited, shivering beneath the weight of my deluded ambition. I had one eye on the clock, and another on the idea of my career being destroyed with the accidental shouting out of something racist or sexually deviant live on the radio. I’m not sexually deviant or racist, but when the pressure builds, my brain floods with all the things I shouldn’t think or say, instead of all the things it should probably be putting out there to help sell my books.
I walked into the BBC studios with my head full of erections and offensive words, knowing the adrenaline rush could literally push anything out of my mouth before I had a chance to veto it.
Comedian Glenn Wool was waiting to be interviewed. What a lovely down to earth bloke he is. He gave me some good advice, and helped calm me down. Then I listened to his interview, and he knocked it out of the park. I had to follow a professional comedian.
I sat down to have the interview, imagining my career in flames and the only way I could save it was to have sex with a goat on live radio. I was halfway through answering the first question when I became aware as I was talking that my mind was heading towards a completely black screen. Half way through my sentence, I suddenly had no idea how it ended.
My voice expressed the shattering of my mind by adding an unusual squeaky element to my voice.
You can listen to the rest of the interview yourself if you want, here it is:
My second novel Life Knocks was shortlisted for The Dundee International Book Prize. Judged by Stephen Fry, and Philip Pullman.
My book was selected for the final 10 from over 700 books entered from around the world.
There was an award ceremony.
There were speeches.
There was free booze and schmoozing.
There were invites to parties with other authors like James Meek.
There was waking up in the bath of my 5* hotel room the next day, still clutching a bottle of champagne.
There was even a few weeks where book deals, publishing contracts and possible fame was on the cards.
But then it all went away, like a mist of bees.
But, what a night.
What a memory.
What an achievement.
Go me.
Gemini Search are a recruitment agency owned by business kingpin and Dragons' Den favourite James Caan.
Before I took on the job, Gemini Search didn't really have a theme or a consistency to their website - I combined the stars and the galaxy, and wrote a copy around the theme of the Gemini Twins, and twining job seekers with their jobs.
They loved what I did, and the company - website in hand - would go on to win an award for most innovative new comer in the recruitment industry, a reward the ideas in their new website helped them win.
Steinway & Sons once had their American website as their English website. I know, crazy talk. Babbling-around-with-a-shotgun-outside-a-school-drunk-at-3am-naked-shooting-at-cars speak.
I translated this text from American to English, and added a few creative twists along the way.
Wildfish don't do fishing rods and maggots, or rivers, carp and green baggage. Or nets, and hooks and parties with crabs. They build, host and design working websites for the big boys like the BBC, to smaller companies just starting out.
They needed a copywriter to come in and turn some of their more technical heavy language into something the every day client could understand and relate to.
They asked me.
And the rest, as they say in France, est l' histoire.
