Charles Schwab struck brilliance with its tagline “Talk to Chuck,” inviting us in and promising no airs. The company’s marketing team is at it again with copy that expresses exactly what its target customers are thinking. For example, their Schwab New Client Concierge ad reads:

I need a new investment account.
I just don’t need the hassle of opening one.

The word hassle is loaded with emotion. Who doesn’t fret the task of opening a financial account of any kind? The idea of a financial concierge is brilliant.

How do they know what we’re thinking? Forrester blog, Groundswell reports that that the firm gained insight from their “Money and More’ private online community made up of 350 25-to-40 year old Generation X non-Schwab clients.” Since then, Schwab has “added 32% more Gen Xers YTD when compared to similar timeframes last year.”

From a copy perspective, Schwab competitors Ameritrade and Scottrade are trailing. Scottrade boasts “More broker for your money.” If you don’t know what a broker does or if you don’t have much money, the tagline is meaningless. Ameritrade focuses on providing you with the tools you need to “pursue success as an independent investor.” Huh?

Schwab has mastered the art of connecting with their customers through words. I say bravo to the copywriters. They have helped Schwab eliminate the product-killing gap known as “them and us.”

“It’s the economy, stupid.”

Ever since that famous saying from 1992, I’ve been a student of political campaign language. It fascinates me that elections boil down to just a few words.

Yesterday, here in Seattle citizens voted down Proposition 1, a joint package developed by the Regional Transportation Investment District that, if passed, would’ve raised $17.8 billion in taxes to build bridge, light rail and transit projects up and down the Puget Sound corridor.

I’m not surprised this failed. It desperately needed to pass, and I won’t go in to my feelings about Seattle traffic or the lack of vision most constituents display in solving, and ponying up, for long-term transportation issues. It’s going to hurt and everybody will pay eventually.

Alas, I believe the reason this proposition failed is flaccid word choices. The marketing campaign for the proposition came down to this:

Roads & Transit. Move on.

How uninspiring is that? Move on? Isn’t that a left-leaning PAC? Is that supposed to motivate me to add $400 to my family’s annual car tab costs or comfortable with upping an already bloated general sales tax to 9.5 cents on the dollar? And 10 cents on the dollar for restaurants? What did the poor restaurants ever do the roads and bridges to deserve this?

Compare “Move on” to the opposition’s consistent stance:

“It costs too much, it does too little and it takes too long.”

Ouch. This prop didn’t stand a chance. The opposition was good. They framed this around money and road rage. “Move on” versus a rally cry that tugs at the core of every voter who is tired of their Ship Canal/Michigan Street/520/405 slog. “You mean, I’m gonna pay to sit is this for the next 25 years of my life?”

The words “regressive tax,” also flew around. Even if you don’t know what that really means, it just sounds painful. And people don’t vote to inflict more pain on themselves.

Plus, the opposition was consistent. They all stuck to the same script, starting at the top when King County Executive Ron Sims came out against the prop. I knew they were in trouble when Sims uttered these 13 words on the 6 o’clock news. The Sierra Club repeated the mantra, and it filtered into letters to the editor.

So until the RTID can craft a compelling zinger to get us to unclench our checkbooks, it’s going to suck to get anywhere in this region on time.

Seth Godin will give a keynote at the Search Engine Strategies 2007 Conference and Expo. I’m a big Godin fan. He suggests that individuals and businesses approach change as an opportunity for something better and I think that’s smart.

A self-proclaimed “change junkie,” Godin has written several books about marketing, change and work. It sounds like his keynote will update the discussion:

“Fourteen trends are changing marketing forever, and you and your clients have the chance of a generation to reinvent what you do and how you do it.”

As a writer, reinvention is a big part of my work with clients. Companies that introduce new words at the right time can take advantage of marketing trends to reap reward or stay competitive in spite of market change. As I wrote in a recent post, I think Starbucks is doing that with the word “breakfast” right now.

Groundswell’s Josh Bernoff got a chance to sit in on a Webcast preview of Godin’s speech and he tells us that the 14 trends include things like, “direct communication between producers and consumers, amplification of individuals’ voices, short attention spans, the long tail, and the shift from How Many to Who…”

Trends like these are changing the way we talk to each other. In that way, they require that we pay close attention to the way we talk about what we do, who we are and what we stand for. Fortunately, there is always room to change our tone.

I believe that a good writer is a correlator. She brings together two (or more) ideas to make new meaning. This is a huge part of my process. Lately, I get inspiration from just observing life as it happens. In fact, I’ve been thinking that I need to carry a camera with me at all times and start capturing the things that incite me and lead to ideas.

An example: last winter while I was in New England to meet with a client about their brand’s messaging strategy, I got stuck in the Manchester, NH airport due to a snowstorm. I sat there for 6 hours waiting to get out. I watched the snowplows go back and forth and I thought about what an amazing species we humans are, how our singular purpose seems to be coming up with answers to problems. And then the idea for my client’s primary messaging struck. They’re more than a solution (which is what everyone says). They’re THE answer to their customers’ problems. That sounds really simplistic, but I was able to craft their entire positioning strategy around that one moment of reflection and insight. And they loved it.

Do you have the guts to grind up your new iPhone into a smoking cocktail of twisted metal and dust?

In the name of marketing brilliance, Blendtec does.

There’s been a lot of discussion about Blendtec, the company behind the Will It Blend? campaign. Check out Groundswell for a summary of what’s going on with this company and their visceral marketing campaign that’s generating big buzz.

I want one of these blenders, and I’m a skeptical marketer who sees through most claims of product gusto. I see it as blender therapy, which over time is likely to be way more cost-effective than retail therapy.

You don’t like my copy? Fine. That 50-page Word doc just became bedding for my worm bin. Stuck in traffic for 2.5 hours on a 100-degree Friday afternoon? No worries. This baby whips up double-strength margaritas that go zero to drunk in under 60 seconds. You want to break in my house and steal my plasma TV? Well step right over here. I’d like for your hand to meet my little rotating friend of fury.

Yes. I can really see myself with this product. I could make a movie about this blender.

A shout out to the big new bird flying out of my town, and a great post about the evocative name from NameWire.

It’s easy to forget that we’re writing for real people who could use a little sympathy as they hurtle through life.

Visual Thesaurus has 5 pointers on how to be more kind to your readers.

This is also a good reminder about how to improve client relationships. Be likable. Be competent. Hopefully both at the same time.

Last week I got caught up in a small battle over using contractions in web copy. I solicited an opinion from Word Wise, and his response is better, and more diplomatic, than what I would’ve said. Is your copy constipated?

Similes. Metaphors. Analogies. Writing is making connections between dissimilar things.

Lawrence Cheek’s article on Seattle architecture and the “human scale” reminds me of good copywriting. The approach is everything. If you don’t grab the reader immediately with an emotional connection, they’re gone.

Cheek’s comparison of the entryways to the University of Washington’s Suzzallo Library versus the Rem Koolhaas designed Central Library is wonderful. I love the idea of the grand procession upward (Suzzallo) and the size of the risers, which encourage a physiological slow down. It makes one feel an emotional connection to the space they’re about to enter; it makes the person feel important.

Copy today has to do this, usually in just a few words.

By way of John Cook’s Venture Blog comes The Name Inspector. It’s a thoughtful analysis of company names, although the content could apply to any naming exercise, including products.

I love the idea of company names as nanopoems, and agree with his advice that it’s natural to be uncomfortable with a name you pick. I tell this to clients all the time. If the name doesn’t make you at least a little bit nervous when you first start saying it, then it’s not original enough.

When I chose my company name, for months I thought that I made a big mistake. It was too Wild West-y. It undermined the role of well-chosen words. It didn’t sound right coming out of my mouth. But the positive feedback and ongoing recognition far exceeds the negative. I’ve had the name since 1998 and, to this day, people still say, “That’s a great name.”