Culture

Copywriting masterclass

Copywriter Roger Horberry paid us a visit recently to run a writing workshop with the Level 2 students. As well as being a full time copywriter Roger also has a great reputation as a teacher of writing skills to both students and the industry. His brilliant book 'Brilliant Copywriting' contains many useful techniques for the aspiring commercial writer and is recommended to any student of the subject.

So it was with great anticipation that the students awaited Roger to cast a critical eye over their work. Level 2 student Ben Williams explains how the day went.

'Today we had the privilege of having the independent copywriter, Roger Horberry (author of several books such as ‘Brilliant Copywriting’) to talk to us about copywriting. Roger discussed topics such as tone of voice, which involved considering the audience, and ‘who’s voice should we hear when we read the words?’ He also used a great example of using consistency in tone of voice with a reply to a complaint about innocent smoothies.'

'He got the class involved with a number of exercises: one was about personality in print, where we had to write in the style of a certain celebrity. Another was about everything we don’t have to say (but probably should) where we deconstructed famous speeches, which highlighted that we need more than just the facts to engage the audience.'

'We finished off with one final exercise that involved us writing six word stories using our favourite words which we chose at the beginning of the lecture. Overall, the workshop was incredible useful and I feel that I have learned a lot more about copywriting.'


It's always good to see Roger working with the students to improve their writing skills and hopefully it won't be long before we see him again soon.