Web Copywriting for Dummies: Be Interesting, Not Brilliant

By • Aug 17th, 2009 • Category: website copywriting

Today my Dad sent me this YouTube video titled “Ebay wicked sick BMX.” He knew I’d love it. And I did.

If you’re okay with a sample size of 1, then get ready to suspend your long held beliefs about what it takes to be a rockstar web copywriter. This clever vignette proves that you don’t have to be Seth Godin or Copyblogger or any other kind of “guru” to write web copy that sells (though I think the aforementioned are very talented writers!).

I’ve been preaching the “branding versus brilliance” message to my own tribe for a long time, but I do get this niggling feeling that the notion of copywriting not being terribly difficult is a tough sell.

Ironic when you think about it.

The 2 dudes in this video prove that you can take something pretty ordinary (in this case, a well-used BMX bike) and make it extra-ordinary. And you don’t have to lie either. Yes, they exaggerate the bike’s features and supposedly stunt-filled history that only a dyed-in-the-wool BMXer would appreciate. But everyone reading their eBay ad loved it. Loved it so much that it went viral. In fact, the exaggerated claims only made them love it more! People totally “got” the gnarly story that was very obviously hype.

A bike destined for the trash heap was literally reinvented through someone’s obvious passion for the BMX subculture (can I call it that?).

The result? Someone very willingly paid much much more than the bike’s original “appraisal” value. Even after seeing what an old relic it was. He didn’t care. He wanted to be a part of that bike’s history. He wanted to own the coolness and possibly, as a result of purchasing something so cool, become a little cooler himself.

Nothing wrong with that now, is there?

Anyway, just watch the video. Take notes. These guys get marketing. And boy do they ever get web copywriting.

  • http://www.mudcreative.com Louise Desmarais

    This was pure entertainment Karri – which I thoroughly enjoyed.

    Kudos to those two guys for their creativity!

    I can’t help but be a little concerned about its irreverent nature though. This approach is becoming so widely acceptable among the younger set, and sometimes the “hook” boils down to making innocent people look like bad because they’ve been duped. And I don’t think that that’s where we want to see the future of web marketing.

    But, great diversion on a Monday!

    Thanks for sharing.

  • http://snap-va.com Karri

    @Louise Yes, you make a good point re exploitation of innocent people. I would never ever encourage such a thing of course. And we have to always strive for media education versus infatuation. Moreover, as adults, I believe in educating our children to think critically about what they see in the media.

    I don’t think the guy who ended up buying the bike was unaware of what was going on – i.e. that he was buying a clunker.

    IMHO it comes down to creating meaning with your product or service, meaning for your target audience. I think our 2 BMX guys achieved this in spades. And I think they achieved it without really tricking anyone at all. That’s what I loved about the video. They say that “hype” is what sells. But if you dig a little deeper, you see that it wasn’t hype at all. Everyone who spread the video and certainly the guy who ended up paying for the bike loved the story attached to it. It had meaning. It had relevance. Everyone wanted to be a part of the story in all it exaggerated, gnarly glory ;)

    Sorta comes back to the old “Are you buying a drill or the hole in the wall the drill helps you create?”

  • http://fishingnhunting.blogspot.com/ Springer

    There’s an old adage in sales that states: Don’t just sell the steak, sell the sizzle!

    Certainly not lost on these two young pups, eh?

  • http://riccwebb.posterous.com/ Ricc Webb

    I’d just like to say that regardless of whether or not this is creativity, legitimate or awesome…which it is…I can vouch that it works.

    I tried selling my car with a very basic post to Twitter “VW polo for sale R109’000”…then I remembered the wicked sick BMX project and decided to re-write my ad a little differently. You can read the post here (http://riccwebb.posterous.com/the-story-of-riccwebb-and-sophiathe-vw-polo)

    Basically, within 30min of putting up the “new/awesome” story, I managed to sell my car, after having no responses at all during the first week of having the original story up.
    Thanks guys, your inspiration helped me get rid of the only thing keeping me back from leaving South Africa.