The copywriter or advertising editor is one of the typical professional figures within advertising communication who, working in the service of agencies and companies, is called to write content that will then be used for advertising campaigns, announcements, press, radio and TV. His profession is becoming increasingly popular also on the Internet: with the widespread use of this medium, in fact, web agencies are increasingly using these professions to carry out works of this kind, sometimes very delicate.
The professional role of the copywriter can be carried out both within service agencies and in companies working as an employee or independently working as a freelance. Within a classic advertising agency, the copywriter always works in tandem with the art director, another professional figure typical of advertising communication who studies the graphic part of communication: together, the two figures elaborate creative ideas at starting from a strategy that is usually produced within the agency and which must respond to all the information on the product, the brief, integrating the words and images into the video and thus creating a strategic proposal ( copy strategy). The two figures are coordinated by a creative director who can, in turn, be a more experienced copywriter or art director. The copywriter, regardless of the creative role he assumes, also carries out other tasks that always and in any case affect the sphere of communication: the copywriter, in fact, must have the skills to develop a communication strategy, the so-called copy strategy; he writes texts for the official speeches of politicians and entrepreneurs, drawing up press releases and carrying out the profession of ghost writer. The copywriter also carries out purely advertising and marketing tasks, for example writing the names for new products as well as texts of various publications such as leaflets, institutional monographs or leaflets for a product and writes the dialogues of the commercials. The tone and style chosen by the copywriter must be adapted to the medium chosen for the promotion (TV, print, internet, a press release, etc.) and with respect to the characteristics of the end user (target). This can change considerably from one context to another: it can be the voter of a party or its detractor, the user of a computer system or that of a laundress, a housewife, a student, etc. and the more a copywriter is good , the easier it is to modulate the message that has been commissioned. In principle, an extremely synthetic style is favored and this trend has been strongly encouraged by the importance that the Internet has assumed, a medium that favors short texts.
Most of the time when one intends to undertake this profession, one wonders what are the requirements and the training path to follow to become a copywriter. Taking into consideration the educational path, there is not a specific degree course to start doing this profession, even if it is advisable in a preparatory way to undertake a classical schooling in high schools and maybe a degree in humanities during university period. The element that, instead, turns out to be important, is the need to possess certain requisites and basic knowledge as a good copywriter must be able to address the average user in a clear and simple way by inviting him to purchase a product, to join an initiative or simply find out about a new product or a new attraction. A person who has an interest in undertaking this profession, therefore, must first of all be able to write perfectly in Italian as well as know and be able to use the different lexicon registers in sectoral use such as journalistic, informative, scientific, etc. Furthermore, the copywriter must have an excellent cultural education and a great knowledge of general culture, have creativity and good taste. As regards the purely character-based requirements, it is necessary that the copywriter is a very responsible person, who knows how to organize his spaces respecting the deadlines imposed by the clients, who is able to extricate himself from the unexpected and various problems as well as a great capacity communicative. As far as training is concerned, aspiring copywriters will be able to attend one of the various in-depth courses on the various issues concerning the profession of copywriters provided by companies and service agencies and which provide the appropriate skills to carry out this work in the best possible way even if, it is necessary to admit it, a lot of our basic knowledge and our predisposition to writing. A good launching pad for novice copywriters to gain experience are certainly the web portals that deal directly with putting companies that require commissions in direct relation, sometimes even with specific stylistic requests and copywriters that will have to try to make the best the content using the indications and suggestions given by the client.