My major client in Houston has been David Weekley Homes, the national home builder. It’s different from what I usually do, but they’re nice and it’s a great place to work.
I essentially serve as the Junior Assistant Temp Copywriter; when they have a temporary staff shortage, I fill in, usually on-site in their Houston-based marketing department, often for several months at a time.
With residential developments in some two-dozen regions, from Atlanta to Portland, the process involves working with graphic artists to create ads, flyers, postcards, “e-blasts” (emailed marketing messages sent to lists of prospects) and web content to support marketing coordinators in each area. Often, this involves creating text messages for established, formatted concepts.
From a writing point of view, the challenge is in creating a persuasive message in a minimum number of words in a small space. Since the design is key, above all, it’s a team effort.
Here are several examples of collateral I worked on:
San Antonio: Open House Flyer This flyer actually won an award for creativity. I wrote the text but I feel confident in saying it was because of the great design by my colleague, graphic artist Kate Zurawski.
Actually, the same thing is true of all the samples. I wrote copy to describe new communities, but the graphic artists made them work.
Colorado Springs: Wolfe Ranch & Flying Horse “E-Blast”
Phoenix: Golf Canyon at Estrella Ad
Dallas: Parkside at Trinity Flyer
Charleston: Paired Homes “E-Blast”