I’m a writer.
More specifically, I’m an award-winning conceptual copywriter and editorial specialist with 20 years of experience with companies such as Virgin, BBC, Fox, The Guardian, and Warner Brothers.
Huge brands, new brands. Agencies, clients. Print, digital, broadcast. On-asset copy, longform blogs. Straight copy, genius ideas that go viral. Social channels, paid media, SEO. Whatever it is, I’ll have a plan.
Please enjoy a few of my favorite and most notable projects that should help you understand how I can help you.
If you bear in mind that I don’t smoke and that I’m neither a woman nor a dog (really!), some of these achievements may seem more impressive.
01
Google Cloud x MLB
Copy strategy // ACD
On-asset copy strategy and execution for a Google Cloud x Major League Baseball social campaign.
02
Social Strategy Success
New brand 349% growth // Content strategy
As content strategist for The Heavy Grass - a heavy metal marijuana brand set to launch - I was brought on for my copywriting experience across multiple audience touchpoints, but also for my deep understanding of the music culture the brand was born from.
Responsibilities: developing social presence through messaging strategy, social calendaring, art direction, and copywriting.
A hugely successful growth initiative I concepted was a competition partnership with multi-platinum rock band, Avenged Sevenfold.
This cross-promotion and targeted ad strategy resulted in 349% follower growth and 236% engagement growth as well as massive video view increases.
03
275% Pageview Increase
UX funnel on-air to online // Ad revenue win
Sole online voice for the No.1 independent radio station in the UK, Virgin Radio.
Optimized 1000s of band pages to index on the first page of Google search.
Built a database linking bands and festivals - a key focus of the brand.
Results allowed Sales team to achieve £1,000,000 in revenue for the first (and last) time.
Dogs??
My Secret Life as a Dog Influencer
Social strategy // Voice development // Community engagement
I got a dog on 22 August 2015. I made her an Instagram account on 23 August 2015 because I didn’t want to annoy my friends with an endless stream of dog photos.
Being me, I decided to develop a content strategy and engage in the dog influencer sphere.
The result? 17,200 followers, and free luxury dog food (for Cindy). She misses it.
I developed a voice for Cindy Woofer (cantankerous, permanently hungry, politically left-leaning) and engaged the community authentically.
Screenshot of an ad placement by Wag!, a dog walking app.
Can you believe Cindy was recognized in Griffith Park by someone vacationing from New Zealand? What a world.
05
Award-winning Feminism
Viral engagement // Culturally relevant concept
To promote the launch of their book, I conceptualized an award-winning social media campaign for the women’s media criticism blog, The Vagenda.
The concept: ask their online audience to pick a sexist tabloid headline and “correct” them.
Aside from the concept itself winning an industry award, the campaign went viral on Twitter and Facebook, and received trade magazine coverage.
UX
Error Page Overhaul
User journey improvement // Increased user trust
As Content Editor of customer rewards website, Swagbucks, I overhauled the outdated error pages.
Being a financial website, I outlined how important this project was from a user trust standpoint.
Farewell, Swag Guy and Swag Gal.
These graphics - from 2008 - did not chime with the site almost a decade later.
The Product team was encouraged to improve the site as native users. I identified this project, and the result was an improved user journey, and increased trust.
Welcome, Dogs!
A range of in-house illustrated dogs joined the error messaging.
\m/
I also wrote a book
Music journalism was my life for 15 years and 1000s of articles everywhere from the BBC to DrownedinSound.com, and newspapers and magazines (The Guardian, Metal Hammer, Prog, Kerrang!) that all still have a home in my parents’ attic.
One project was writing one of ten chapters in this delicious coffee table tome that documents 50 years of the artwork associated with the various strands of heavy metal music, The Art of Metal.
With a foreword by the mighty Lemmy (RIP) of Motörhead, and contributions by esteemed rock writers, it’s something I’m immensely proud of.
A full-color spread with captioned cover artwork from the halcyon Nu Metal era - my specialty.
08
I write about running
This is my blog/newsletter/substack. Go to www.runningsucks101.com to read my interviews with people of interest within the running community.
Would you like to see my résumé?
More About Me
20 years sounds like a lot, but I started writing about music professionally in my teens. I was doing it during my BSc, MA, and my NCTJ in magazine journalism.
I went on to be the online voice of the UK’s largest independent radio station, Virgin Radio. It was my first experience of real UX copywriting.
Then I stepped into the marketing agency world. It was there I realized that I find an endless stream of new, completely disparate projects the most creative and energizing. Even though I’m not a smoker, a woman or a dog, I was able to write compelling copy. That’s what I like to do.
My move to Los Angeles saw me curating video content for an emerging tech company. It was a new experience but it required all my skills as someone who can identify emerging trends and hot button topics and use an agile eye for detail while using multiple voices across sites.
Another skill I possess is that I’m bilingual in British English and American English. You have copy that needs to connect in multiple English-speaking territories worldwide? I’m your guy. I have the lexicon and real-world grammatical nous to execute either or both.