Copywriting

I worked for six years at the Greater London Authority (GLA) as inhouse Creative Copywriter, concepting for and writing multi-channel content for marketing campaigns across the Mayor of London’s policy remit. Campaigns welcoming migrants to London, flagging improvements to air quality or encouraging Londoners to engage with adult education, for example. Typically the channel mix of these campaigns would comprise digital and social assets, print, OOH, radio and VOD.

Now, on a maternity cover as Campaign Copywriter at the British Medical Assocation (BMA), I’m channelling the voice of the co-chairs of the resident doctors committee through weekly emails and newsletters to members. The role calls for a strong understanding of tone of voice, longer-form writing skills, political nous, and the ability to work quickly and cross-functionally across the organisation. I also regularly update web pages, brainstorm ideas for social and digital graphics and help shape messaging for campaigns.

Internal comms: equality monitoring campaign

The BMA wanted to encourage more members to fill in their equality monitoring data. This campaign borrowed from Scrabble to turn a topic about data into a creative piece of internal comms, reminding members about the overall mission underlying what might otherwise have felt like a tick-box exercise.

Don’t skip the vote!: VOD ad

I created this ad to draw attention to the Mayoral and London Assembly elections taking place in May 2021, and to (humorously) remind Londoners not to skip the vote. My idea – bringing to life the skip button of on-demand media as a plasticine stop motion character – lent itself to a witty, sideways spot that used humour to grab attention and cajole voters into action. A finalist at both the Adobe Government Creativity Awards and the Inside Out Awards 2021.

Free School Meals: radio ad

School dinners set to the tune of ‘Oranges and Lemons’ – arresting attention towards the Mayor’s announcement about funding free school meals for London’s state primary schoolchildren. That’s me on the piano too…

Carrying a knife: digital copy

Hard-hitting content for City Hall’s ‘London Needs You Alive’ website, aimed at vulnerable young Londoners at risk of being drawn into a life of crime.

You want to feel safe. To be respected. To fit in. To be left alone. Others do, so you do too.

Whatever your reasons, you carry a knife.

But however secure it makes you feel – the blade you carry – there’s a sharper truth: you’re more likely to be stabbed with your own knife than anyone else’s. By carrying a knife, you’re potentially arming your attacker. Potentially signing your own death warrant.

Because there’s no ‘safe’ place to stab someone, no safe place to be stabbed. Any stab wound can be fatal.

Then there are the legal reasons.

First off, self-defence is no defence in the eyes of the law. You can be imprisoned for up to four years for just carrying a knife, let alone using it. And you’ll get a criminal record. A record that’s going to cast a shadow over your future. Employers are far less likely to employ someone with a criminal record.

You might find it hard to enter some other countries, like the United States, on holiday. And don’t forget the impact of your actions on the people that love you. The heartache, grief, loss.

Carrying a knife might seem like the new normal. But it’s not.

You have a choice. Stay safe. London needs you alive.

Vaccine hesitancy: radio ad

Scripted to help dispel vaccine hesitancy in an older South Asian audience in London. Research revealed a high level of mistrust towards ‘official’ sources of information on the subject. Instead we chose to focus on family relationships and the high regard felt towards health professionals within the community. The resulting script featured an affecting dialogue between mother and daughter which struck a chord with its intended audience.

Covid-19 face coverings: print, social, digital ads

‘Just wear it’, ‘It’s on you London’

Research revealed that young people were less likely to wear face coverings in public spaces. This campaign, with its playful nod to Nike, was aimed squarely at young Londoners.

Signposting newly arrived migrants: print, social

‘Home may feel far away, but it’s here too’

Warm, inclusive strapline communicating a core Mayor of London value – that London’s greatest asset is its diversity.

Rough Sleeping: OOH, social

‘We’re all human’

Creative emphasising our shared humanity developed from interviews with former rough sleepers.

Air Quality: escalator panels

‘Lowering emissions, not life expectancy’, ‘Limiting pollution, not young lungs’