TCC Podcast #198: Working at a Copywriting Agency with Sam Pollen

Copywriter and Creative Director Sam Pollen is our guest for the 198th episode of The Copywriter Club Podcast. Sam works in-house at an agency focused entirely on copy—there are no designers—which might be a dream for a lot of copywriters. We asked Sam about the differences between the freelance world and the work his team does. Here’s an idea of what we covered during the interview: •   how Sam went from zoology student to copywriter and creative director •   why Sam prefers to work in-house and leaves the freelancing to others •   how he works with other writers in his role as a CD •   the creative process at agencies and how everyone works together •   how they work with designers and hand off copy to the design team •   this skills and training a copywriter might need to be a creative director •   Sam’s writing process and how he generates ideas for each assignment •   asking “stupid questions” to truly understand the products we sell •   how asking the questions that aren’t in the brief leads to a big idea •   what’s involved in the process of naming •   how Sam and his agency present work to their clients •   the challenges of working on brand voice and brand guides •   writing luxury copy and the different approaches to a variety of products •   why he wrote a book about a boy with anorexia Sam’s story and advice are worth a listen. To hear what he told us, scroll down and click the play button. Or read a transcript a little farther down the page. And if you never want to miss an episode subscribe to the podcast with your podcast app, then leave a review.   The people and stuff we mentioned on the show: Reed Words Sam's Twitter Kira’s website Rob’s website The Copywriter Club Facebook Group The Copywriter Underground   Full Transcript: Rob:   This episode is brought to you by The Copywriter Underground, the place to connect with hundreds of smart copywriters who share ideas and strategies to help you master marketing, mindset, and copywriting in your business. Learn more at thecopywriterunderground.com. Kira:   What if you could hang out with seriously talented copywriters and other experts, ask them about their successes and failures, their work processes and their habits, then steal an idea or two to inspire your own work? That's what Rob and I do every week at The Copywriter Club Podcast. Rob:   You're invited to join The Club for episode 198 as we chat with copywriter and creative director Sam Pollen about working at an agency that's focused on great copy, what it takes to build a verbal identity, his biggest struggle as a creative and as a copywriter, and why he wrote a book about anorexia. Kira:   Welcome, Sam. Rob:   Hey, Sam. Sam Pollen:   Thanks very much for having me, guys. Kira:   Yeah, we're excited to have you today and let's just start this conversation with how you ended up as a creative director. What was that story? Sam Pollen:   I think the story for me is probably the story similar for a lot of people in that position in that I just worked my way up, basically. I did a degree in natural sciences, so zoology and psychology, of all things, so not really related to what I do now at all. Then I worked in photography for a little bit, and then I worked in marketing and sort of fell into copywriting. So copywriting was not a deliberate choice for me, but it was something that I did some of in a marketing job and found out I was good at or good enough at. And then honed my skills and developed and found that that was something I found interesting and had some talent for, and so went from there. About five, six years ago, I had started working with my now boss, Mike Reed, who set up the agency I work for, it's called Reed Words. I was initially hired just to write a sort of, he was starting to build an agency and then we have grown from that point. We have a team of writers and I'm the deputy creative director.