And now, the end is near...

It seems like I've spent my whole life writing. First as a kid, writing short stories. Then as a teenager, agonising over angst-ridden poetry. At university I wrote articles for the student newspaper, alongside essays on European history. And as a radio journalist, I wrote reports on everything from crime to rugby and football matches. Eventually, I stumbled into recruitment communications - and I've stayed there for the past 39 years.

But now, as I approach my 65th birthday, it's time to hang up my quill (look it up, kids), and retire. So, what have I learned over the course of my career? Grab a cuppa, settle down and let me tell you...

Find something you enjoy and stick with it

I always loved reading. My mum taught me to read well before I started school, and wherever I went, there was usually a book, a comic or a magazine in my hand. But I'd never thought about myself as a writer. Until when I was 12, and Miss Bostock became my English teacher.

Those were the days when creative writing was an integral part of the school curriculum. You were actively encouraged to use your imagination. So I did. And something in what I wrote gave Miss Bostock an inkling that I might be a decent writer. She encouraged me to write more. Short stories. Poems. Anything I could think of. And the best thing about it from my point of view was that I loved it.

Then at the age of 13, I won second prize in a short story writing competition for under 16s with a piece I'd written at school. And I was hooked. I continued writing through my schooldays. Plays, revue sketches, more short stories and poetry. And then on to university, where I became a DJ on the student radio station and wrote articles and reviews for the student newspaper.

So, when I graduated, I decided I wanted to combine broadcasting and writing by becoming a radio journalist. It took me a year to get a place on a radio journalism course at the National Broadcasting School. And during that time I worked in hotels and restaurants - anything to earn the money I needed.

After my course, I worked at a couple of radio stations, first as a football reporter and then as a news journalist. But I soon realised I enjoyed writing the reports far more than being on air. So, when the station I was working at went bust, I turned to marketing, writing brochures.

When that contract came to an end, I was still focused on writing to earn a living. But after countless job applications and six months of unemployment, I eventually applied for a role as a proofreader. I didn't know it at the time, but that was to be my introduction to the wonderful world of recruitment advertising.

The advert was full of mistakes. And, as it was for a proofreader, I naturally assumed it was a test. So I rewrote the ad and sent off my application. That got me the job, and in January 1987, I joined the in-house ad agency for the UK's leading IT recruiter. I was proofreading the ads written by the recruitment consultants, and it soon became clear to them - and me - that I could do a far better job of writing them. So I quickly became a copywriter. And I haven't looked back since.

It had taken me just under five years from graduation to finding my true vocation. During that time, I took on anything and everything to earn a bit of money. Like running a high end restaurant and stepping in as Head Chef to cook 60 Sunday lunches when the usual chef called in ill at the last moment. Like being a news reporter on an English-speaking radio station, broadcasting to Monaco from the Italian Riviera. Like driving a Luton truck around south-east England - an area I'd never even visited before - just three weeks after passing my driving test. And like running the ticket hotline for the Capital Radio Music Festival in London - and having my pick of free tickets to all the gigs.

But through it all, I knew that writing was what I wanted to do. That's why I never gave up hope of finding a job to suit me. Now, here I am at the end of that journey. And I feel privileged to have built a successful, and most of all, enjoyable career doing the thing I always wanted to do.

But the industry I leave today is very different to the one I joined. A lot of those changes were for the better. But in terms of what it means to be a copywriter in 2026, I feel many of them have made the role less exciting, less challenging and less creative.

Why do I say that? Well...

Nobody wants memorable lines any more

When I started out as a professional copywriter, I got a genuine thrill from the idea that I could come up with lines that made people laugh out loud, or cry, or think about their life choices. The dream was to come up with a line so memorable that they'd repeat it to their mates - it might even end up in the Oxford Book of Quotations (yeah, right). And if I could tie it to a memorable idea that led the audience perfectly to that pay-off, I'd done my job. But the best bit was I got paid for doing it.

A couple of examples of memorable lines from the past

The crucial part was making any tagline memorable. Because at that time there were countless examples to prove that a great idea with a memorable pay-off could boost a client's reputation. And the majority of advertising was still appearing in print. Newspapers, magazines and posters were the way that most audiences saw the ads we were producing. So they had to stand out. They had to be memorable. And they had to say something meaningful.

When the internet came along and advertising started to move online, the thought that a tagline needed to be memorable still kept me busy. Then in the mid-noughties, YouTube took off, and something in the advertising industry as a whole and in what the audiences wanted shifted. What you said was still important, but how you presented it was how you'd engage your audience. It became more about the look, rather than the message.

For me, the ad that defined that shift was the Cadbury's drumming gorilla in 2007. Everybody who was around at the time will remember it. 'In The Air Tonight' by Phil Collins playing over close-up shots of a CGI gorilla sitting at a drum kit, who suddenly starts playing when the heavy iconic drum part kicks in.

But who remembers the tagline? I certainly didn't. I had to look it up (on YouTube, natch).

"A glass and a half full of joy."

To me, that seems like an afterthought. A throwaway comment that has very little connection or relevance to the previous 90 seconds.

But that ad led the charge for a raft of campaigns that were based on an incongruous visual and very little in the way of messaging. The most successful example of which was the Compare The Meerkat campaign, launched in 2009. A campaign based on cute animals and the flimsiest of puns.

The thinking seemed to be that the purpose of a campaign was simply to catch the audience's attention. It was the equivalent of jumping up and down in a crowded room and shouting "We're over here!", rather than telling the audience anything meaningful about why they should actually be interested.

And even nowadays, when brands and their agencies produce incredibly compelling work, there's no memorable line that ties it all together. As an example, there are the John Lewis Christmas ads. I'm sure last year's had a tagline, but I can't remember it - can you?

Of course, where product advertising led, recruitment advertising inevitably followed. So clever, witty, inventive and informative lines - lines that made the audience work a little - were no longer in demand. Instead, the mantra was: "Keep it straightforward and simple".

Now, simplicity of language is something I've always been in favour of. And I'm not saying that lines like Nike's 'Just Do It' or 'I'm Lovin' It' for McDonald's aren't effective. But they don't possess that tongue-in-cheek sassiness that a lot of the older lines had. There's no room for an intriguing line that actually makes the audience think. In short, to coin another line, they simply do what they say on the tin.

And maybe that's what today's audiences want. Maybe I'm just a grumpy old fart who believes things were better way back when.

Except.

I started freelancing as a copywriter in 2012. And certainly for the first few years, the work I was involved in demanded strong, ideas-led lines, supported by visuals that captured the audience's attention. And the two worked together seamlessly.

Over the past few years, when I've worked on similar campaigns, most of the time, the focus has definitely been more on how the ideas looked, rather than what they said. And my role as a copywriter has become more about creating written content for websites and social media, rather than coming up with a killer line that sums up what the client wants to say in a few well-chosen words.

So, for me the evidence is there that memorable lines and copy just aren't in demand any more. And even if they were...

AI is not the answer

One of the things that hasn't changed throughout my career is that clients want their copy to sound distinctive. Since the turn of this century, Tone Of Voice has risen in importance as an increasing number of organisations recognise that it's an essential part of their brand.

Innocent's Tone Of Voice is spot on

That's not to say that I think Tone Of Voice is getting the recognition it deserves.

A few brands like Innocent are getting it right. But many more are only paying lip service.

Most client brand guides I've worked with were hundreds of pages long. They told you everything from the colour, proportions and positioning of the logo, to how ads, social media posts, posters, emails and even envelopes should look. And among those hundreds of pages, there were usually only two or three that covered copy and Tone Of Voice.

So I suppose it shouldn’t surprise me that many clients are turning to AI to generate their copy. The main issue I have is that those same clients want their copy to sound distinctive. They want it to give them a voice that represents exactly who they are. But, for the moment at least, AI-generated copy can only be based on existing copy, whether that’s for their own or other brands. Which prompts the question, if they want to sound distinctive, how is drawing on everybody else's copy going to achieve that?

Hopefully, I think we’ll reach a point where AI is just a tool that produces a draft version of what your brand wants to say, in a vague representation of the tone of voice you want to use. Then people with the skills that I’ve honed over the last 40-odd years will refine that AI-generated copy to make it individual to you. Whether they’re called copywriters, copy editors, or human content creators, it’ll be their job to introduce the unexpected leaps of imagination that only a human can make.

At least, that’s my hope, because I’d like to think there’s still room in the industry for people who can be genuinely creative with the written word.

This drive towards using AI brings me to another point.

Clients always think they can do better themselves

Throughout my career I've always argued that the art directors I've worked with are in a far more privileged position than I am as a writer.

The reason? Very few clients see themselves as designers. But they all think they can write. Because most of them write every day - emails, reports, shopping lists... So, they must be able to write. Mustn't they?

This means when they're presented with a pristine piece of copy - a masterpiece of the art, encapsulating every nuance and communicating exactly what their audience is looking for - they just have to tinker.

I'll admit that, as the mood and look of the visuals have become more important in recent years, art directors are experiencing some of that tinkering too. But I've been at the sharp end of it all my working life. In fact, I can count on the fingers of one hand the number of times I've written a piece of copy and it's been approved by the client with no changes.

Interestingly enough, on one of those occasions, my work ended up winning Best Copy at the CIPD Awards (now the RMAs).

I never wanted to do anything else but copywriting

I know this blog is turning out to be a list of grievances. But I didn't intend it to be like that. And despite these few niggles, it's been a blast.

I've worked with some incredibly talented people. And I've produced a huge portfolio of work that I'm genuinely proud of.

I always said that I'd carry on as long as I was still enjoying what I did. And, well, the honest truth is that over the past year or so, it hasn't been as enjoyable as it has been in the past.

That may be my age talking. But I think it's also because there are lots of other things in my life that I'm enjoying more. I want to spend more time with my growing family, I've taken up wildlife photography, I'm captain of my local lawn bowls club, I have my own music quiz YouTube channel, and my wife and I intend to do far more travelling.

As you can tell, I've got plenty to keep me occupied. So, all in all, I think it's the right time to be getting out, while I can still enjoy what life has to offer.

As I say, it's been a blast.