Advertising has its place. But not all ideas and messages can be crunched to a single short sentence or 30 second TVC. Long copy suits complexity – as long as it’s succinct-long and not lazy-long!

If you’ve ever spent time marketing something other than a juice, dress or chocolate bar, something more akin to a finance product, utility or building material, you’ll probably have had the need for explanatory – and often technical – long copy. You’ll undoubtedly have faced numerous challenges meeting that need:

• How to render technical jargon intelligible, interesting, (and comprehensibly intact when it returns from the legal department).
• How to distill the ideas of a complex subject, and bring them to life for lay readers.
• How to find a way to weave a company and brand storyline into a far bigger picture so that the soft-sell is not self-serving.

For example when building materials company James Hardie wanted to share its sustainablity credentials, one of the platforms we created was the Smarter Green Book.

Sustainability can be addressed in a multitude of ways. However we chose to speak to the heart of people’s concerns as they relate to the built form.

• What’s the impact on the environment in manufacturing these materials? we asked and then answered.
• What’s the impact on the physical environment by the way you construct with these materials?
• What’s the impact on the environment over the life of these materials?
• What’s the impact on people’s health living and working in buildings that are built from these materials?

Of course the answers couldn’t just be restricted to James Hardie® materials – the story is bigger than that and big brands shouldn’t be afraid to own the telling of them. In creating a short book – about 20,000 words and 56 pages – James Hardie took a leading educator position and at the same time got their specific product messages across.

This of course is just one example. Having spent over a decade in the building industry I’ve devised communication strategies and written about everything from bricks to fibre cement, from R-Values to construction methods. I’ve also marketed technical industrial and wet weather fabrics, art house films and boutique pyjamas – just to add the fluff! There is no subject too technical that it can’t – and shouldn’t – be reduced to simple communication.

Why the long copy should sometimes be video and not the printed word.

I’m the editor of the building and renovating magazine for consumers, LookHome. Readers love the magazine and – not understanding the cost of publishing – always want more issues. The company sponsoring the magazine is always trying to wrestle more from its budget – and reach audiences in different ways.

In 2009 I created the web-streamed TV programme myLOOKHOMEtv as a way to really bring green design to life. The 30 minute monthly programme not only covered all sorts of aspects of sustainable building, it also gave watchers the opportunity to ask their own questions of the experts in the studio. The core concept translates to lots of subjects though – check out the back episodes and trailer here.

The installation video is another example of where this approach is more efficient and can introduce other more technical material. This series of installation videos for the Scyon™ range was written and produced by me in 2007/8.

BLONDEcomm Pty Ltd was formed by marketer and writer Amanda Falconer. With over 20 year’s experience in marketing, she’s been everything from a film publicist to marketing manager. She’s also a published author – her book The Renovator’s Survival Guide was published by Penguin in 2009.

Having finally wrestled free of corporate slavery, she now freelances as a writer and marketing consultant for clients and brands that have complex stories to tell. (Chocolate brands need not apply.)