Who's winning the digital communications race?
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Blogs - 2011
The Copywriter December 2011 - Season's Greetings
We can’t quite believe it’s nearly the end of 2011. Our first full year in London has flown by in a whirlwind of websites, annual reports, tone of voice workshops, brochures, email campaigns and lots more. The team has grown, with our Head of Copy, Jack, and three new copywriters on board, and with that our service offering and depth of knowledge has also developed. So we’re looking forward to 2012 – a year set to be full of exciting projects and developments!
Posted By: Nina Whittaker @ December 22 2011
Plain English Day 2011
Today, the Plain English Campaign is celebrating its 31st anniversary with another Plain English Day celebrating the merits of clear communications.
Posted By: Nina Whittaker @ December 9 2011
Accounting for sustainability - Clarity in corporate reporting, part 2
In these times of global economic crisis, an increasing number of stakeholders are calling for companies to look beyond their profits and demonstrate commitment to the ‘triple bottom line’ of economics, society and the environment. In the second of our articles on corporate reporting, we look at the growing need for companies to produce clear and compelling sustainability reports.
Posted By: Jack Craze @ November 30 2011
Pennon Group Wins Most Improved Annual Report at IR Society Best Practice Awards 2011
Last night, the Investor Relations Society Best Practice Awards and Annual Dinner were held. Our Client Director Harriette attended the event with London-based creative communications agency, Luminous.
Posted By: Nina Whittaker @ November 23 2011
The Copywriter - November 2011
Digital. It’s a whole new world; one that exploded sometime between the development of computers in the 1950s and Twitter’s fifth birthday this year. Today at least one in three members of the world’s population uses the internet (Internet World Stats).
Posted By: Nina Whitaker @ November 15 2011
SEO for website headlines
A great headline can be hard to achieve. But when you also need to think about search engine optimisation (SEO), optimal headline length, the effect on design and the need for fresh and unique content, it can sometimes seem impossible.
Posted By: @ November 9 2011
In the news - Investor Relations Society Best Practice Awards 2011
We were delighted to see that a number of past and present clients have made it into the 2011 Investor Relations Society Best Practice Awards shortlist.
Posted By: Nina Whittaker @ November 1 2011
Telling a good story or losing the plot? Clarity in corporate reporting, part 1
Every good story needs a strong and compelling narrative. Be it a novel, newspaper article or film, clarity of plot and content is what keeps an audience interested and engaged. The same is also true of annual reports, where clear communication is vital to connecting with investors and stakeholders.
Posted By: Jack Craze @ October 26 2011
Stratton Craig's New Face
We’ve just launched our new and improved website, which will become a hub for us to share our latest stories with you.
Posted By: Nina Whittaker @ October 14 2011
#wisewords
This week we’ve been sharing our favourite wise words over on Twitter (@strattoncraig). Each and every quote highlights the importance of excellent communication or how to achieve it.
Posted By: Harriette Hobbs @ October 7 2011
National Punctuation Day
On the 24th, the USA celebrated National Punctuation Day. We won’t spend this sunny afternoon telling you why correct punctuation is important, but thought we’d join in the celebrations with a few examples that make the argument quite well for us!
Posted By: Nina Whittaker @ September 30 2011
How you can turn employees into brand ambassadors without breaking the bank
Following our blog post last week, we’ve taken some of the best tips from fellow bloggers about how best to turn employees into brand ambassadors. Because ultimately that’s what every organisation wants to do. And the good news, particularly for many public sector organisations, is that we’ve then applied our knowledge for implementing each action on a budget.
Posted By: Nina Whittaker @ September 23 2011
Restructuring internal communications in the public sector
At a time when the public sector is experiencing some of the biggest upheaval in many of its employees’ lifetimes, it goes without saying that internal communication and engagement needs a lot of thought.
Posted By: Nina Whittaker @ September 16 2011
An addition to the team: Jack, Head of Copy
We’d like to welcome Jack, who joined our client services team in the London office on Wednesday.
Posted By: Nina Whittaker @ September 2 2011
Because story time counts…
The annual report is a landmark in a company’s ongoing narrative and, as such, must be consistent with the story they have already created.
Posted By: Brit Kennedy @ August 26 2011
Face value
Last month saw two L’Oreal ads banned by the Advertising Standards Authority for using digitally altered photographs deemed as ‘misleading’. This could be the start of something big for industries like fashion and beauty. And by ‘something big’ we mean a shift away from their heavy reliance on imagery, and towards more consideration of their written communications.
Posted By: Nina Whittaker @ August 19 2011
Lost in Translation
It may be a clichéd phrase but there’s definitely some meaning in this phrase. And Corp Comms Magazine’s recent article relating to the US X-Factor’s kerfuffle with Cheryl Cole’s accent reminds us all of how important that meaning is.
Posted By: Nina Whittaker @ August 12 2011
Our top tips for briefing copywriters
A good brief will almost always result in good copy. But we know that writing a good brief can be hard. Especially since we’re in the business of getting information from brain to paper.
Posted By: Nina Whittaker @ August 9 2011
The Storyteller – August 2011
Rupert Murdoch’s media empire took a damaging blow last month, as the oligarch’s son and News International chairman closed The News of the World in the wake of the phone-hacking scandals. But how did competing newspapers, both with the knowledge of writing to influence, tackle the same story?
Posted By: Nick Driver @ August 5 2011
Consumer Confidence Crisis
The level of trust consumers have in multinational corporations has taken quite a bashing over recent years. Burston-Marsteller’s first European Trust & Purpose survey confirms and highlights just that.
Posted By: Nina Whittaker @ July 29 2011
A whole new domain
The news last month that Icann has approved a proposal to create new website domain suffixes really does put a new spin on the internet as we know it. Almost any word in any language could be used as a domain ending, but anyone wishing to create one will need to pay quite a hefty price (£114,000 to be precise). In...
Posted By: Nina Whittaker @ July 22 2011
Spelling mistakes could cost millions
In today’s society, the internet has become an inherent part of life for most people, and more importantly it’s become a hub for businesses. But there is evidence suggesting that poor spelling could cost the UK’s online businesses millions of pounds in lost revenue. In fact ‘a single spelling mistake can...
Posted By: Nina Whittaker @ July 15 2011
The Google Matrix
When it comes to optimising your website for internet search engines, Google continues to be somewhat of a conundrum. It’s unlikely that anyone other than the Google masterminds themselves could ever fully grasp the complexities of the system (and if they did, there’d be a whole new one developing at the...
Posted By: Nina Whittaker @ July 8 2011
What we can all learn from Helen
As Tom Maddocks so rightly pointed out in one of his recent ‘Lessons from The Apprentice’ blogs, a huge part of the challenge of The Apprentice, and business in general, is good communication. Whether during a teteatete with Sir Alan Sugar, in a sales pitch or in a piece of sales or marketing literature -...
Posted By: Nina Whittaker @ July 1 2011
Tips for a website overhaul – part 2
Let your experience speak for itself As writers, we know the importance of keeping copy concise. You’ll get more response from a wellworded paragraph or two than a jampacked bulky page describing a project. Give your audience all they need to know, not just every detail you want...
Posted By: Nina Whittaker @ June 24 2011
Tips for a website overhaul – part 1
We’re currently in the process of refreshing our website. We’ll be adding more about our portfolio, much more about our team and plenty of food for thought too. For anyone else about to undertake a similar project here are just a few tips and ideas: Start from the very beginning... It’s a very good...
Posted By: Nina Whittaker @ June 17 2011
SmithsRatings 2011 – in the news
SmithsRatings provides a comprehensive analysis of FTSE annual reports - you can find out all about it here. It was great to see a number of our recent clients popping up in the SmithsRatings ‘Best in Class’ lists. In particular, Inchcape and African Barrick Gold received glowing praise: Inchcape: Online...
Posted By: Nina Whittaker @ June 10 2011
Gullible adj: Easily persuaded to believe something
Harold Camping’s recent failed prediction of Armageddon highlighted a very well known fact: the majority of people (apparently Americans in particular) will believe the majority of things they read. Humans are naturally gullible. There’s a whole load of psychological reasoning behind that statement and it...
Posted By: Nina Whittaker @ June 3 2011
That’s one small step for man... one giant leap for mankind.
Fascinating to read last week that as of October this year, the US will be enforcing a Plain Writing Act on all documents for public consumption. Although the federal government will still be able to ‘write nonsensically to itself' (thanks to this article for that fantastic phrasing), any...
Posted By: Nina Whittaker @ May 27 2011
Branding and Tone of Voice guidelines – our top tips
With rapid regularity, clients are talking to us about their use of... lack of... need for... tone of voice guidelines; a document that will help anyone writing about, for or from your brand to consistently and accurately encompass it. Guidelines determine the best language to use and how it should be used, both...
Posted By: Nina Whittaker @ May 13 2011
Our pick of the top tips for community management
One quick Google search on community management and you’ll soon be bombarded with tips, dos and don’ts, rules and advice on how to manage your digital community successfully. And it’s no wonder since more and more companies are creating specific community manager roles to oversee their social media sites....
Posted By: Nina Whittaker @ May 6 2011
So what is Community Management anyway?
Community management can be the key to reaching a wide range of clients successfully, but what does it actually entail? Originally, community management was the monitoring of resources of a particular community; so for example, managing the amount of fish that a community farms, or the amount of land allowed...
Posted By: Nina Whittaker @ April 15 2011
UK Uncut: Social Media Community Management Hits the Streets
On Saturday 23rd of March a tweet went out with a time and location; moments later Fortnum and Mason was overwhelmed by groups singing and individuals reading poetry. Not your ordinary protest to say the least but then there’s nothing ordinary about UK Uncut, the group that staged the sitin whilst pioneering...
Posted By: Nina Whittaker @ April 1 2011
Beware the Churn
A new website aims to highlight the trend for rechurning text and press releases in articles. Enter this blog post on Churnalism.com and hopefully it won’t tell you we’ve ‘churned’ some of the content from somewhere else. But this appears to be the temperament of the media today with so many blogs, websites,...
Posted By: Cyan Turan @ March 11 2011
Social Power
Protests and revolutions are nothing new, but the recent troubles in North Africa and the Middle East have swept across nations at a frightening pace that’s never been seen before. This worldwide phenomenon is helping protestors contact each other and organise...
Posted By: Nina Whittaker @ March 4 2011
The ASA is watching you!
Most people are aware of the Advertising Standards Authority’s remit of comprehensive consumer protection when it comes to factors like false advertising and misselling. Until now, this has covered TV ads, billboards, newspapers etc, but as of March 1st, their responsibility is extended to monitor companies’...
Posted By: Nina Whittaker @ February 25 2011
Have you ever been misunderstood?
Dear... Have you ever been misunderstood? As anyone who’s been in love knows, we don’t always say what we really mean to say, or hear what we want to hear. Instead, we cause confusion, disbelief, even hilarity, but we don't win hearts. Those crucial words are never heard and that special person...
Posted By: Nina Whittaker @ February 18 2011
The Story of Saint Valentine's Day
It’s the second most widely celebrated day of the year after Christmas, but the story behind Saint Valentine’s Day certainly isn’t as renowned as the Nativity. The 14th February is a mysterious celebration, first declared as such in 496 by Pope Galasius. It is believed it was marked in memory of a martyred...
Posted By: Nina Whittaker @ February 11 2011
KISS this Valentine's Day
My mistress’ eyes are nothing like the sun Coral is far more red than her lips’ red, If snow be white, why then her breasts are dun, If hairs be wires, black wires grow upon her head. ...Not a conventional attempt at expressing love through words, but a renowned one nonetheless. And perhaps a tad more...
Posted By: Nina Whittaker @ February 4 2011
Repetitive Redundancies
Our attention was recently drawn to this article: , which, while making us laugh, also reminded us of something we see and hear all the time. Repetitive redundancies do exactly what they say on the tin; use two words that inherently imply the same thing. For example, have you received a free gift recently?...
Posted By: Nina Whittaker @ January 18 2011
Newsflash
Stratton Craig was recently included in this blog post by the Ministry of Insights. Based on a number of quantitative measures we were placed fourth in the top blogs by agencies from Bristol. A real honour, that has really spurred us on and proves that regular posts really are appreciated by audiences. We...
Posted By: Nina Whittaker @ January 14 2011
Out with the old, in with the new
Let us start by wishing you all a very Happy New Year. We hope you enjoyed the Christmas break and have started 2011 feeling refreshed. This year is sure to bring many new brands, advertising campaigns and social networking trends to the fore, which gives businesses all the more reason to ensure their...
Posted By: Nina Whittaker @ January 7 2011
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