Universitat Internacional de Catalunya
Copy Writing
Teaching staff
Introduction
This course involves a mainly practical approach, by considering the theoretical principles on which advertising copywriting is based. Its main objective is to get students used to creating advertising concepts and their creative verbal expression. It will be taken into account that the copywriter is meant to write ‘on probation’, that is, according to multiple factors, such as the objectives of communication, the brand’s personality, the target audience, the tone conveyed, the characteristics of different media and advertising formats, or even the most common types of advertising appeals.
Pre-course requirements
No pre-course requirements are needed to enrol in this subject.
Objectives
- Understand that thinking comes previous to writing.
- Create and develop ideas, concepts and advertising texts.
- Learn to adapt advertising texts to your target audience, products, brands, media and different advertising formats, keeping in mind a suitable style for advertising communication.
- Understand the role of the copywriter in all its dimensions: technical evolution, skills, tasks and current professional profile.
Learning outcomes of the subject
At the end of this course, students should be able to:
- Be creative about shaping the advertising message.
- Create accurately advertising texts according to the conditions of creativity imposed by a strategy and a brief.
- Understand the complexity of the copywriter’s tasks, roles, attitudes, skills as well as competences.
- Know about the verbal identity of brands and how this identity can be managed.
Syllabus
T1: Copywriting; beyond persuasion.
T2: The copywriter: technical and functional evolution, skills and qualities.
T3: Text and image: how they coexist.
T4: Basic principles of copywriting.
T5: Copywriting applied to different platforms and advertising formats.
T6: The verbal identity of brands: naming and nomenclature, tone, style, messaging and brand-related words.
Bibliography and resources
ALTARRIBA, Miquel. Què dir, a qui i per què: retòrica i redacció publicitària. Barcelona: Trípodos, 2005.
CURTO, Víctor; REY, Juan; SABATÉ, Joan. Redacción publicitaria. Barcelona: UOC, 2008.
IEZZI, Teresa. The Idea Writers. Copywriting in a new media and marketing era. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2010.
REY, Juan (2004). Palabras para vender, palabras para soñar: introducción a la redacción publicitaria. Barcelona: Paidós.
SAWYER, Robert. Kiss & Sell. Redacción publicitaria. Barcelona: Index Book, 2006.
The Copy Book. How some of the best advertising writers in the world write their advertising. Köln: Taschen / D&AD, 2018.