If you’re in the business of communicating with your clients about superannuation, property investment and getting one’s life ready for retirement, just how familiar is your funky young writer with these ‘grey haired’ products?
From someone that’s been around the writing traps for years, here are a few thoughts to ponder over.
The recent budget was full to the brim of superannuation-affected changes. And yet, the few young writers I talk to emit a dull fog when I try and raise the subject. Hmmm, as well as realising I’ve gotta get out more, I’m also questioning if younger scribes can really connect with this particular product when writing about it.
My perspective is based on many years of copywriting, and having freelanced for around 100 advertising and marketing agencies, interstate and overseas. From the major agencies, the minors, and smaller two-man-bands, I’ve written for just about everything.
In the process, I can’t tell you how many times I’ve grabbed, squeezed, sniffed, eaten and ridden in the product I was working on. Really, the only way to understand what you’re writing about is to partake in it. Fortunately for me, I have never had to work on a funeral account.
Crack the idea
I even recall the week my art director and myself were working on the Le Snak account. We had wall-to-wall Le Snak up to our wahoozies, and we had to come up with a whiz-bang idea to fit the bus back, bus sides and metrolite (bus stop) media – the USP being portability.
In between experiencing all the other staff in the agency visiting us to say hi, briefly talk about life, and then briskly leave with a handful of Le Snak, I finally cracked the idea.
It was birthed from endless hours dwelling on portability, which led to a quick trip to the luggage section of Myers, Chatswood. As I started to look at all the different types of luggage – from airline bags and backpacks to bum bags, I started to notice that at the right angle their zippers looked like teeth. Ah, ha! Idea born.
We shot a series of bags with their zippers open, looking as if they were wild animals trying to eat a pack of Le Snak. The campaign ran nationally and was so successful, the client decided to run it the following year as well – plus, I was even able to keep some of the bags.
The point of all this, is that I had to connect with the product to deliver the strongest piece of communication.
And that’s the exact modus operandi that should be used for superannuation.
Aside from wine, the only thing that gets better with age is writing
In more recent times, I’ve been accepting the arrival of grey hairs as just God’s way of telling me the sleek, young body I’ve been living in all these years is about to get a factory recall. And, with that remodelling, thoughts arise of retirement and how to pay for it when I get that golden iWatch in 20 years.
Which means, when it comes to writing superannuation and investment copy, after all this time of playing with the clients’ products, I’m now actually living in one of them. And any writer over 40, such as myself, has more skin in the game than Kim Kardashian would on selfie night.
That’s why I’m throwing the gauntlet down at young writers. And by young, I mean someone young enough not to have any interest in super.
How much would they know about the product? Apart from the recent timing and contribution changes, are they aware of the propensity of people to have multiple super funds, on average around four funds each, and that females end up with about half the amount males squirrel away? Each fund sucking their very future away with fees and insurance charges. Yes, that’s a hassle. However, it can be even more of a hassle to combine them into one. And which one?
Which fund has strong returns and/or allows you to move your insurance over? What are the tax implications with the new super fund, if you’ve made after-tax contributions? And how do you avoid getting burnt by high fees with the funds you’re terminating?
Then there’s the hassle of getting it done. If you’re unsure which company you should pool your super with, good luck with the free government website – that site is more confused than Donald Trump’s hairdresser.
You should also be prepared for a shock when a private organisation offers their services. The one I contacted wanted to charge $1200, for something that a super fund will do for free.
Then, in the process of moving, when one of my accounts had the wrong birth date, instead of just changing it over the phone, I had to verify who I was with a frustrating trip to a distant police station for validation.
The harder things come, the more you appreciate them
Fortunately, all this angst is quite educational. Yes, superannuation content usually involves issues relating to timing, personal circumstances and taxation planning; however, any writer who hasn’t personally tried to sift their way through the super minefield may be accused of already retiring – as their content will reflect their inexperience.
So, if the blog or native advertising writer you’re using may be more interested in things other than super – like cheese – then start packing their travel bags. As great content is only written by those that love, and know, what they’re doing.
http://www.thatdigitalcopywriter.com.au