Perfecting The One Sheet

March 25, 2009 By David Burn 5 Comments

I’ll never tire of showcasing well written long copy. It’s not something one sees much of today, but when it works it works. And Ground Zero knows how to work it. Here’s the sum total of their newly undesigned, non sticky Web site:

I love how it ends. “Imagine where we’d be if we’d had a plan.” That’s poetry coming from a corporation.
[via Spike @ Brains on Fire, an identity firm with its own story to tell]

Filed Under: Agencies, Self-Promotion

About David Burn

I wrote my first ad for a local political candidate when I was 17 (she went on to win her race, and I felt the power of persuasive copy for the first time). Today, I live near Portland, Oregon and spend my days building brands for companies that matter.

bilbo

brilliant…makes me think I should stop bugging my kids about having a plan for their futures!
http://timwindsor.com Tim Windsor

Sorry.
I love how it’s written, but it’s a terrible web experience. Let’s just say they piqued my interest about their work — they did — now what? No links. No other pages. Nothing.
As advertising, it fails.
http://adpulp.com David Burn

I disagree. Agency web sites are notoriously full of pomp and circumstance a.k.a shit. They’re deep (in Web terms) when they needn’t be. That’s failure on an epic stage.
GroundZero’s new site makes an elevator pitch impression and inspires action—a phone call perhaps, or the dreaded email. And that’s its entire point, same with every agency’s site. New business and recruiting—that’s why agencies have sites.
Stephen

I’ll have to take your word for it that the copy is well written. Frankly, I couldn’t make it past the first couple of sentences. It’s not the writing that’s the problem: It’s the art direction. Between the all-cap copy and the too-light typeface, it’s a chore to read. I have 20/20 vision but it wasn’t worth the eyestrain. Ground Zero is a great agency and all, but they really should come up with a more reader-friendly design.
By the way, according to the IMDB, Court Crandall is not one of the two credited screenwriters for “Old School.” He did come up with the story for the movie along with two other guys. The Ground Zero site makes it sound like he wrote the whole thing himself.
Rachel

I enjoyed visiting Ground Zero’s Web site. Although it is a lot of copy, I read through the entire page because I thought it was well-written and interesting to read. It highlights the unique and innovative techniques that Ground Zero has used for different clients and explains its success with each. Although its Web site is not interactive for visitors, it stands out in comparison to others because of its simplistic design. I agree with David, I think this Web site works.