Many years ago I left work late; on the way out through reception I grabbed a paper to read on the tube.
As usual, the Sun had gone, the only paper left was the Guardian, no one wanted that.
So I took it and turned to the sports pages to read the West Ham write up.
I found the Guardian had a very different style of sports writing to the Sun.
I still remember what they wrote: “Bonds and Lampard are the Scylla and Charybdis of the West Ham defence.”
I remember it because I didn’t know what it meant.
I’d never heard of Scylla or Charybdis, obviously they played on some European team that only sophisticated Guardian sports writers knew about.
The sentence stuck with me, why hadn’t I heard about them if they were that good?
Eventually I looked them up.
It turned out they weren’t footballers at all, they were mythical sea monsters in ancient Greek mythology.
What did that have to do with a mid-week game at West Ham?
Well, according to Homer, Odysseus had to sail his ship between Sicily and the mainland.
To do that he had to pass between Scylla on one side and Charybdis on the other.
Scylla was a deadly group of rocks, depicted as a multi-headed sea monster, Charybdis was a whirlpool.
Basically, if one didn’t get you then the other one would.
And that’s what it had to with West Ham: “Bonds and Lampard are the Scylla and Charybdis of the West Ham defence”.
Put simply, if one didn’t get you then the other one would.
Of course, if the Guardian sports writer had written it like that I’d never have remembered it after all these years.
Which is a good thing to hold in mind about writing.
She could have written: “With Bonds and Lampard you are on the horns of a dilemma”.
Or: “Bonds and Lampard is a choice between the devil and the deep blue sea.”
Or: “Bonds and Lampard is like choosing between a rock and a hard place.”
But she didn’t, she wrote it that way because she considered her audience.
You couldn’t mention Scylla and Charybdis in the Sun because Sun readers wouldn’t have a clue (like me) what she’s talking about.
But the Guardian isn’t the Sun, all Guardian readers went to university, so they all know who Scylla and Charybdis are.
That’s why the Guardian requires a more educated standard of writing than the Sun.
The Sun was a quick laugh for working people who liked a joke in the pub (like me).
The Guardian considered itself, and its readers, to be much more thoughtful.
Which is why even football must be presented differently in those two papers.
Same product, but different audience.
In the Sun it’s tribal, in the Guardian it’s genteel, I appreciate that.
I appreciate someone who can change gear according to the audience.
Most ordinary, working people aren’t reading the Guardian, so you don’t cater for them.
Ordinary people haven’t got time to plough through acres of flowery language, they want the facts, fast.
But there are people who love what they consider quality writing.
We need to understand both, when and where they are appropriate.
We need to consider not just the product or brand, but more particularly the audience.
That’s real targeting, that’s our job.
Targeting is more than some automated media algorithm saying where the ads should run.
It’s making sure we write different ads for different people in different media.
Thanks Dave!
A simple, yet striking illustration of what we should always have in mind when developing communication pieces for brands. In the end, it is about the people (audience) and they do come in different hues.
Nice. In some agencies, the staff grabbed papers from front desk on their way in. Or receptionist was told to reserve for board members/owners their pulp of choice. On to more serious things.
Unfortunately, these days, tone and manner is usually dictated under the brand guide, that’s written in parts of the world which have zero idea about the rest of the world.
On an IT account headquartered in Paris, every ad running in a non 1st world country had to use a picture from their photo library, even when selling industrial stuff like servers and solutions. But in Europe and the US, pictures not necessary because audience are Guardian readers.
For a 2C1K client, “buy now” was deemed insufficiently classy for a whitening cream. But “purchase now” was ok. Who decided? Designers for whom English wasn’t their first language.
I seem to remember you saying at GGT you had different copywriters for different jobs — Steve Henry was your Guardian-type writer, but I forget the name of your Sun one.
Nick,
A bit like a football team, you don’t have 11 all-rounders.
Everyone has to be able to do everything, but they also have to know their speciality.
I’ve seen Bobby Moore play in goal, I’ve also seen him score goals.
But where he was WORLD-CLASS was number 6
So you are West Ham? Somebody told me a while back you were a Gooner. Glad to hear they were wrong.
Great piece as always Dave!
Peter,
Not in east London.
The two big northern clubs were always Spurs and Arsenal
But what happens when you’re trying to talk to everyone? White van man and the Merc driver will both happily go over the speed limit when they can, so how would an anti speeding campaign address both?
Different audiences.
White van man gets points and loses his licence (i.e. his job)
Merc driver gets points and loses his licence (i.e. his car)
Also seen in “Wrapped around your finger” by The Police:
You consider me the young apprentice
Caught between the Scylla and Charibdys
Hypnotized by you if I should linger
Staring at the ring around your finger
While I agree with your proposition, your example is wrong:
A) Not all Guardian readers are university educated by any means
B) Not all graduates will know who Scylla and Charybdis are. (I don’t, you didn’t)
So, the sports writer is referencing an analogy which is opaque to a certain proportion of the readership. Not clever journalism at all.
I read somewhere (probably in the Guardian) that most Sun journos were Oxford / Cambridge educated which for me has always been the ultimate achievement of the chameleon copywriter. The Proteus of publishing the Guardian may say.
I seem to remember a tabloid editor (Daily Mirror maybe) once describing his audience as people who read while moving their lips
Backed by another football reporting story.
I can’t remember if it was the Telegraph or the Times, but I’ve never forgotten the headline:
QPR, PDQ, QED