At first, I thought it was the stupidest PR pitch I had ever received.
The rep wanted me to write about string. Yes, string.
“When creating a price tag or hang tag for products, the choice of attachment material is as important as the tag itself,” began the pitch.
“So how do retailers go about selecting a material? One particularly popular attachment is string because of its versatility. Not only does it serve a functional purpose, it also plays an important part in the overall look of tags. Retailers can choose from multiple high-end string materials in a wide range of colors to complete the presentation of a product or brand,” the pitch continued.
“Below is a press release about the different types of strings used for tags and the advantages of each type. I thought your readers might want to know more information about each material so that they can make more educated decisions when creating tags for their products.”
If I die tomorrow, I die a completed man, I thought. I’ve just been pitched on writing about string.
Then I thought again. Maybe the pitch wasn’t so stupid after all.
A little background is in order. In the early 90s, I was a copy writer for four-title business-to-business cataloger Cornerstone Direct in a suburb of Buffalo, NY.
The company sold a lot of essential—but decidedly unsexy—stuff like warehouse supplies, first aid kits and white boards.
Arguably the most unsexy products Cornerstone sold were safety signs under the brand Ready Made. Ugh. Writing headlines for the Ready Made was like performing a self appendectomy with child-safety scissors.
I was taught catalog headlines should convey action and be benefit oriented, resulting in such stunning copy as “Display OSHA Requirements Clearly and Effectively” and “Protect Against Slips and Falls.”
As an aside, to this day I consider my time at Cornerstone—the company still exists, but as Masune First Aid, and without the Ready Made brand—the best writing experience I’ve ever had in terms of honing the craft.
Catalog copy writing requires concision and clarity—all while selling—like no other type of writing to which I’ve been exposed.
But back to Ready Made. Did I mention writing copy for that catalog was painful? They were safety signs for Pete’s sake. Moreover, they weren’t any different than anyone else’s safety signs and, if I remember correctly, our prices weren’t any better than anyone else’s. We offered the same materials as everyone else, the same custom options as everyone else, and the same colors as everyone else. They were safety signs.
What does this have to do with the string pitch? Well, after ridiculing the angle, it occurred to me that its sender, Lindsey Barenholtz from the St. Louis Tag Co., is in the same situation I was in at Ready Made.
They’re hang tags. What the hell kind of an angle can there possibly be for a PR pitch about hang-tags?
Well, why not the different types of attachment material? Heck, it’s an angle, and certainly a better one than I’d have come up with.
So though I won’t be writing a feature on hang-tag string anytime soon, I salute Ms. Barenholtz for coming up with a viable angle where most others would have failed.
