Splenda Stevia Farms
Ten years ago organic products were at their peak. A number of consumers were rejecting artificial sweeteners. So Splenda invested in Stevia-the all-natural sweetener-by building their own Stevia farm in the United States. When they approached me, they gave me a wide variety of sweetener points and their Stevia farms brochure. With those things I drafted a script. What would consumers care about? What will drive viewers to watch a video about their farm?
Negotiating the stack holders within a company is an important part of my job as an ad copywriter. For example, some companies only want someone to check their grammar, others want me to draft all of the words from scratch. Both of those scenarios are extreme but both of them are fine. The Splenda Stevia process was an average process. They had content and they had an idea of the main points they wanted to make. They need me to edit down their documents and find a through line that matched their objective.
After I cut a script down, the next step is deciding which points should be included or excluded. What is the heart of the marketing strategy? Which part of the service or the product should be highlighted? I'm often asked by clients "What is the relationship between you the writer and our marketing team?" Usually my answer is “You are an expert in your product. I am an expert in video communication.” My job is to act as a third party consultant. I address questions of understanding and comprehension to ensure the viewers get the message. I also arrive at key visuals, tone, and a throughline. For me, writing effective ad copy requires a structured, customer-centric approach that blends research with creative, concise writing. Good ad copy must grab people’s attention immediately, highlighting unique benefits, and guide the user toward a specific action.
In addition to this work, perhaps my biggest job of all as a video ad copywriter is arriving at the visual themes. Images and icons remain in a viewer’s mind longer than words. So I work hard to epitomize a product or a service in selected visuals the viewer will remember. This project could be boiled down to three visuals–the Stevia leaf, the farm, and bees. The Stevia leaf was the most essential visual because it quickly communicates how Stevia is different than Splenda. Stevia is a leaf, so it is “organic” and “all-natural.” Take a look and listen closely.
In the end, Splenda decide to rehire me to create their consumer focused national TV commercial. Take a look.