Speech marks

I had an interesting discussion last night about the similarities between copywriting and political speech writing. In both cases, you are trying to persuade people to do something – vote with your wallet in the former case, and with your heart and mind in the latter.

So what’s the ultimate copywriter’s gig?

As the late and great Bill Bernbach once said, "Good advertising builds sales. Great advertising builds factories."

But how about motivating a whole nation of people? Remember Churchill’s ‘We will fight them on the beaches*' rallying call? It’s one of the defining speeches of WWII and had a profound effect on an entire population. Think about ‘I have a dream’ by Martin Luther King – and the impact this had (and continues to have) on more than one generation.

It also made me wonder who is writing today’s political speeches... Those of Brown et al in this country (none of which are particularly memorable, save for his recent ‘This is no time for a novice’ which seems to have bought him more time), but particularly those of Obama and McCain in the states. As the US goes to the polls, who is actually putting the words of these two candidates into their mouths?

* Everyone quotes it as this. It’s actually ‘We shall fight on the beaches,’ text below. (Note the use of repetition to really drill the message home.)

“We shall go on to the end,
We shall fight in France, 

We shall fight on the seas and oceans, 

We shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air,
We shall defend our Island, whatever the cost may be,

We shall fight on the beaches, 

We shall fight on the landing grounds, 

We shall fight in the fields and in the streets, 

We shall fight in the hills; 

We shall never surrender, and even if, which I do not for a moment believe, this Island or a large part of it were subjugated and starving, then our Empire beyond the seas, armed and guarded by the British Fleet, would carry on the struggle, until, in God's good time, the New World, with all its power and might, steps forth to the rescue and the liberation of the old."