Word Play
25/07/2010

With six glorious weeks stretching out in front of the eyes of every student and pupil, the topic of our latest blog post turns to child play. Or rather, word play.

Straplines and puns, ditties and catchphrases - they will keep you awake for weeks. Crafting them, deciding what works and what doesn't, is serious business.

Documentaries and Channel Four programmes seem to have cornered the market in terms of high end, sophisticated word play. Businesses, publications and magazines also love a good play on words. I saw a great one last week on the side of a van advertising the services of a tree surgeon in Kent - Goodfellers.  Well, it made me smile.

The trouble starts to emerge when the customer experience doesn't quite match the sheer brilliance of the anagram or alliteration. A recent trip to Scotland found me sat on a runway for the best part of an hour reading the inflight magazine,  'High Life'. The lack of it, grounded at 10pm on a wet and windy wednesday night, was palpable.

So, if you are looking to inject a little fun into your business writing, where can you go for a little inspiration?

The Sun is an unlikely first thought I know, but there is method in my madness.

The Sun has used a writing technique to build a fan base. The headlines are undeniably legendary for a variety of reasons. A quick scoot to their website this morning revealed that the paper has turned their infamy for a pun, into a past time. Sun readers are invited to, er, 'outpun the Sun' (I know, I'm sorry) in a series of posts on a weekly theme. And some of them are pretty funny.

What the Sun has managed to do is combine their brand with wordplay. They have added a sprinkling of online marketing and built a following. High brow it isn't, but that is point. They know their readership. They are big enough to poke a little fun at themselves, and people, particularly teenagers, are reacting positively as a result. Educational? Somewhere among it all, maybe. Informative? Not really. Social? Absolutely. It creates a dialogue between supplier and buyer. Simple.

Make sure your word play captures the essence of the customer experience you are trying to communicate. Whether it is through a newsletter, brand campaign, event or website, focus on the key output and start to build your message from there. Don't be afraid to break the odd rule - normal grammatical etiquette need not apply. Just ensure that the meaning isn't lost. And finally, take a trip back to the classroom. A recap on alliterations, abbreviations, anagrams and antagonyms will get the literary juices flowing.

Need more help? A recommended read includes 'Words Fail Me' by Teresa Monachino, published by Phaidon. Failing that, simply get in touch!