…you know it when you see it.

An old buddy of mine recently posted this on his Facebook page, along with a congratulatory message to Virgin. Why not indeed? It is a fine piece of work.

And it exemplifies what I mean when I talk about ‘character’ as one of my triumvirate of essentials for good copy. Whatever the medium, whatever the message, it’s not just about what it says; it’s about how it says what it says, and what that says about you.

It is of course easier for some than for others. The Virgin brand reeks of character. A Virgin financial product I once bought had a heading: ‘Ok, here comes the small print…’ How many financial giants would dare? (For how many would it be appropriate?)

But while relatively few large organisations enjoy quite Virgin’s freedom to ‘express themselves’, most have a lot more scope than they seem to appreciate – certainly far more than they exploit.

• Issue: commoditisation
• Solution: differentiation
• Means: copy with character

Goldfish optional.