What we can do

Writing in depth

Commercial writing requires far more than the elegant expression of a client’s message. It requires in-depth knowledge of the global industry in which the client operates, of the kind that would normally be required of a senior executive within the client’s organisation.

Example: one of our writers was commissioned in mid-2004 to write a comprehensive 6,000 word article on the pension (superannuation) system in Australia for a highly prestigious financial services publication. Production of the article involved extensive desk research and interviews with around a dozen senior industry figures. The deliverables included text, photos of interviewees and data for graphics and tables.

Example: one of our writers was commissioned in early-2005 to write 5,000 words on the extent and direction of corruption in East and South East Asia, by a publisher of commercial intelligence. The article considered the implications of corruption for investors and businesses. Once again, the article involved extensive desk research and compilation of large amounts of data for graphics and tables.

Writing to weekly deadlines

One of the challenges in commercial writing is often to produce large amounts of text, in a form in which it may be sent to clients, by a fixed deadline each week. Such a commitment can pose an unreasonable demand on people and resources that are best employed doing other things. In short, the production of weekly commentaries is often best outsourced.

Example: in late 1999, we were engaged by a major global investment management company in London to produce a four-page weekly market report that looks at developments in all major – and some emerging – financial markets. The format of this report has been changed, so that it now consists of around 1,200 words of text and an analysis of events. Five-and-a-half years later, we still deliver the text to the client by 9am, London time, each Monday.

Example: in early 2003, we were commissioned by a leading London-based publisher of magazines for the global investment and funds industries to produce copy for a weekly e-newsletter. Our assignment is to identify between four and eight stories about the global funds industry, undertake original research where necessary and to produce the copy. We are required to explain the significance of developments in a national or global context.

Writing large amounts in limited periods of time

Commercial writing often involves situations where literally thousands of words must be assembled for reports that follow pre-defined templates. Frequently a challenge lies in the fact that the information that is necessary to write the reports only becomes available a few days before the publication deadline. The reports on investment funds that are sent out – physically and electronically – by investment management companies are a classic example of this.

Example: in mid-2000, we were commissioned by a renowned London-based investment manager to produce 300 word monthly reports for each of 15 funds. The copy has to be delivered to the client four or five days before the end of each month. An additional challenge is that each report has to capture the personal style of the individual fund manager. We have access to minutes from investment meetings, and to details of each fund’s portfolio, but are not able to contact the individual fund managers themselves.

Example: in mid-2004, the London-based marketing team of one of the largest US investment management groups commissioned us to write/edit 400 word monthly reports for each of 40 or so funds that they were distributing in the UK, Europe and elsewhere. All 16,000 or so words have to be delivered, having been reviewed by the individual fund manager, by the beginning of the tenth business day in London. The funds cover a wide variety of asset classes in developed and emerging markets. The client asked for a process that visibly did not depend on any one individual within Universal Copywriters. The client also asked that, at the beginning of each of the first ten business days (London time), we have clearly done as much work as possible given the data and comments that they have provided us up to that point.

Writing at speed

In even the largest and best run organisations, circumstances result in writing engagements that are complex, specialised and, above all, urgent. The people who have the necessary writing skills, understanding of the readership and specialist knowledge are just not available within the organisation itself. In this instance, the organisation will have no alternative but to use an external writer.

Example: in early 2005, we were contacted by the New York-based staff of one of the most widely read global investment magazines on a Saturday morning. They needed material for a sponsored section that had been commissioned by the inwards investment agency of an OECD-member country. Because of their publication deadline, they needed 2,500 words of copy by the middle of the following Friday, New York time. They also needed data for graphics and suitable quotes from executives of multi-national companies operating in that country. We had access to the investment agency’s website, but were otherwise required to produce an original and compelling story about inwards investment to the country in question. We delivered all that was required of us by first thing on the Friday.

Example: In early 2005, we were working with a Hong Kong client – one of the leading custodian banks – to produce a range of marketing material. On one particular Friday, the executives with whom we were working found that they had to file copy for a 1,200 word advertorial in a specialist publication. They had to deliver the material that day in order to meet the publication’s deadline. Starting with a very lengthy and rough draft that had been compiled by one of the client’s technical staff in India, we were able to deliver a final version of the advertorial within five hours of first being asked to take on the assignment.

Providing a comprehensive and outsourced solution

It is often difficult to separate commercial writing from research and editing. With large and/or ongoing assignments, it will typically be necessary for a team of writers to work together and be involved with research, the compilation of data and the editing process. Few organisations will employ the right staff in-house – especially if the writing requires a high level of technical knowledge and the research requires competence in several foreign languages. In such a situation, the organisation which is commissioning the project will have to outsource the work.

Example: We are regularly asked by major investment companies with whom we are working to provide an instant editing service for reports and articles that are produced by their technical staff. Because we have sufficient numbers of associates with the requisite skills, and operating from convenient timezones, we are usually able to return edited material – even if it needs to be reworked completely – within hours or, at worst, overnight.

Example: In late 2004, one of our clients, a publisher, asked us to produce reports on the commercial banking sectors of 30 different developing countries. By co-ordinating a team of multi-lingual researchers and writers, we were able to create a template report that met the client’s needs, undertake the necessary desk research and derive the relevant insights from the data. We were able to deliver all 30 reports, each of at least 3,000 words in length, in the timetable specified by the client.

» back to the top