Copywriters strive to develop content that has a unique appeal and is memorable. In today’s metrics mad market, making memorable messages is a monumental mission. Every waking moment, the collective we are endlessly bombarded with information. Overload is inevitable. So how do copywriters make our particular message stick?
For the writer, it’s still about telling a compelling story. We have at our disposal many techniques to give our prose life. For example, I applied alliteration in the previous paragraph: In today’s metrics mad market, making memorable messages is a monumental mission.
Alliteration is the repetition of the initial consonant sound in verse. I wrote several examples of alliteration in this post.
A related figure of speech is consonance, which implements the repetition of consonant sounds either inside the lines of a verse or at the end of a line. For example: “Bicky Backer kicks her attacker.” The consonant sound “k” is stressed at the end of the syllable.
In advertising, we find consonance evident in brand names:
- Cracker Jack
- Seven Eleven
- Oshkosh
- Nutter Butter
- Piggly Wiggly
- Becton Dickinson
- Lean Cuisine
- Etch-a-Sketch
and in slogans:
- The quicker picker-upper
- Leggo of my Eggo
- Everything’s better with Blue Bonnet on it
- Crispety, crunchety, peanut-buttery Butterfinger
- Once you pop, you can't stop!
- Have another Nutter Butter peanut butter sandwich cookie
- A nose in need deserves Puffs indeed.
and even in jingles:
- "If it says Libby's, Libby's, Libby's
on the label, label, label.
You will like it, like it, like it
on your table table table."
It takes superior skills to craft crisp, clear and compelling copy utilizing consonance. Have you written or seen ad copy with consonance as a figure of speech to carry the message? If you have any examples, or you can add to my list of brand names or slogans, please write them in the Comments section.
Credit: some slogans sourced from here
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