Copywriting UK | TENFOUR blog

TENFOUR is reading Do good lives have to cost the earth? by Andrew Simms and Joe Smith.

Speaking about the growth in ethical products, essayists David Boyle writes:

“The Fairtrade and ethical sector in the UK, which began so small a generation ago, now stands at £29 billion a year - that’s bigger than alcohol or tobacco sales.”

Blimey. No wonder big businesses have been taking it all a bit more seriously of late. But, does big money and ethical selling mix well?

Nice idea from our local coffee cafe.

With a bus stop outside their front door, they have opened a coffee window onto the street. It means you can stand outside while they brew up your drink. You can see your bus coming down the road, stopping, then leaving while you wait…

We love London bus drivers.

TENFOUR has seen some great sales and marketing initiatives that play with price recently.

An article written by NME on the ‘pay what you like’  release of Radiohead’s In Rainbows album started us thinking. According to a band representative, online download sales generated more money than the total takings from previous album Hail to the Thief. Particularly amazing, considering a lot of people decided to pay nothing for the recording at all.

Another two other examples:

A reader of Devon Life Magazine recently ran a competition to win his country house. Entrants buy raffle tickets at £25 a pop and the draw is made once a certain amount of tickets had been taken - presumably covering the market price for the property. A creative way of selling in difficult property-selling times, don’t you think?

In a sushi shop, TENFOUR saw punters piling trays with raw fish and sticky rice. Everything on the shelves was buy-one-get-one-free: two packets of two sushi for £1.50 or so. You need a tonne of the stuff to touch the sides, of course. But, by selling two packets of two rather than one packet of four we presume customers will be more likely to pick up a tray and start a collection. What do you think?

On the subject of promotional signs (see down to a tea post), TENFOUR saw an example of ‘evil marketing’ this morning.

It was by the side of the pool at London Fields Lido… just as you stretched for the wall at the end of a length. ‘Best sausage sandwiches in London,’ it said.

Luckily, you’d have to be pretty masterful to combine eating and the front crawl. That fact alone saved the exercise plan.

There are some BRUTAL price competitions going on in our neck of the woods.

You’ve all probably heard about that High Street favourite, the pound shop. Everything for a pound, from sink cleaner and cheap deodorant to clocks with a three-week lifespan.

Well, down the road from us in Dalston, TENFOUR spied a 98 pence shop. Then we find out there’s a 99 pence shop somewhere too - though we haven’t got absolute proof.

Can any of you beat a 98p shop? Or, is Dalston forging the way in this revolutionary commerce shake-up?