Author: Simon Townley

  • Seiko kinetic watches – a sales spiel so good I even bought one myself

    Writing marketing copy can be dangerous for your finances: it brings you into contact with products and services that sometimes are just impossible to resist.

    For Seiko, I was asked to write a marketing pitch for their new range of auto-relay kinetic watches – watches that need no battery and which draw their power from the wearer’s own movement: (more…)

  • Articles, news and interviews for multi-national electronics firm FCI

    Articles and news items for  electronics manufacturer FCI
    Articles and news items for electronics manufacturer FCI
    FCI Electronics designs and manufactures connectors used in cars, telecoms, data storage, consumer electronics, industrial applications and medical instruments. The company is headquartered in France but has nearly 7,000 employees based around the world, with major manufacturing plants in Europe, the Americas and China.

    The company produces a magazine, Panorama, to keep staff informed of everything that’s going, from financial performance to new products, marketing initiatives, HR projects and major company announcements.

    Over many years I’ve written a range of news items and in-depth articles on a huge range of subjects. (more…)

  • Magazine articles for multi-national cable manufacturer Nexans

    Making sure the corporate message is heard and understood – worldwide

    articles for corporate internal magazine
    Articles for corporate magazine for French multi-national cable manufacturer

    Nexans manufactures cables and cabling systems designed to raise industrial productivity, improve business performance, enhance security, and deliver network reliability.

    The company is a global player in the infrastructure, industry, building and Local Area Network (LAN) markets, with an industrial presence in 40 countries and commercial activities worldwide. Nexans employs 25,000 people and had sales in 2012 of 7.2 billion euros.

    Across a company this large, with manufacturing spread across several continents and serving truly global markets, effective internal communications are vital. The company’s people need to know what is happening elsewhere, what the future holds, what changes are coming and what new products are around the corner. (more…)

  • Brochures, direct mail, letters and mailers for software giant SAP

    Explaining the benefits of technology – in clear English

    SAP is one of the world’s biggest software companies – creators of the one of the leading ERP (enterprise resource planning) solutions. This is the kind of software used to run major corporations – and it can handle everything from controlling robots on the factory floor to administering the HR department and fine-tuning the supply chain for precision parts delivery. (more…)

  • Website copy for hard commodities trading company Autilla

    Creating a consistent tone while explaining complex concepts

    Website text for commodities trading company Autilla
    Website text for commodities trading company Autilla

    Autilla is a relatively new company formed by a small team of broking experts, all them with extensive experience in the sphere of hard commodities trading. For those not familiar with the field, this essentially means gold, silver, platinum metals, similar precious metals and iron ore. (more…)

  • Axis Group website

    Targeting the text at different audiences

    The Axis Group specialises in maintaining and improving housing, retail and commercial properties.Axis-Logo-sq The Group has turnover in excess of £75 million and employs more than 500 people working out of six offices across England.

    The group needed a website that would demonstrate the range of its expertise, its extensive experience and the wide range of benefits it can deliver to clients. I was asked to write large sections of this site, generating the material through a series of interviews with senior staff at the company.

    The challenge was to address the needs and concerns of very different audiences: Axis works in three distinct areas, and each has its own requirements. Axis focuses on providing services for: (more…)

  • Adverts and postcards for the Chagos environmental campaign

    Chagos environmental campaign

    Creative campaign for environmental cause

    The Chagos Islands lie in the middle of the Indian Ocean – the world’s largest coral atoll made up of 55 tiny islands in quarter of a million square miles of the world’s cleanest seas.

    The official name for the islands is the British Indian Ocean Territory, and they have belonged to Britain since the Treaty of Paris in 1814. The only inhabited island is Diego Garcia, which is home to a military base.

    The waters around the islands are exceptionally clean and the coral reefs have not, so far, been significantly damaged by human pollution or climate change. A survey in 1996 concluded that the waters around the archipelago were the cleanest anywhere in the world.

    I was asked to help create marketing literature in support of a campaign to protect and preserve this pristine natural environment. (more…)

  • Magazine articles for financial software company

    articles for financial software companyIT company Agresso creates software that handles financial transactions for major companies.  The solutions compete with ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) offerings from the likes of SAP and Oracle – although Agresso’s software often provides greater agility and value.

    The company needed to promote its services and solutions both to prospects and to existing clients, to help them get more from the software.

    I was asked  to write all of the editorial for their magazine Inform which goes out to their existing customers. The magazine provides information on training, upgrades and product development. It also highlights important new customers that are joining the Agresso community. I researched the project extensively, talking to senior executives at the company as well as important clients and partners. I then turned the information into a series of compelling, readable but highly informative articles. (more…)

  • Articles for Environment Agency fishing magazines

    articles for environment agencyThe environment agency produces a range of magazines it sends out to anglers – who are a major source of revenue for the organisation. Fishermen are also highly useful to the agency, because they can act as eyes and ears on the ground and raise the alarm if there are any problems with water quality. (more…)

  • Recruitment brochure and adverts for ABN AMRO bank

    ABN- recruitment copywritingAhhhh, recruitment advertising. Most of it is cheesy, done on the cheap and in a rush. All too often it ends up clichéd, unimaginative and dull.

    However, the ABN AMRO bank assignment was a little different. They wanted a quality product – one that would help them to attract the brightest and best young graduates to join their organisation. (more…)