How do you make a technical product sound alluring? How do you make the thing come alive? How do you get techs to think, “Oooh, I want that”?
Try a trick that I swiped from the old Banana Republic catalog.
The model for compelling product copy
Ages ago, before the company went yuppie, they used to sell exotic travel clothing: khakis, boots, and other gear that Indiana Jones might wear.
Their irresistible formula: Start with an interesting product, then paint a picture that makes you ache to own one:
We wore the short-sleeved version on a six-hour Land Rover trip across the Yucatan. Even in 98-degree sun, the wide-weave fabric kept us remarkably cool, wicking away perspiration at what felt like a gallon an hour.
“Our friends, in their conventional cotton shirts, were soaked through and miserable. And with nine roomy pockets, our maps, cigars, film, and flask were always handy. No need to tote haversacks. Unlike our friends, we arrived happy and ready for anything.” *
That’s exactly how we should be talking about ceramic coatings and concrete additives and monitoring systems for steam turbines.
What is it like to use this thing? How does the surface feel to the touch after curing? What clever things can you do with the reconfigure module?
Save the bullet points, specs and schematics for later. Help me picture this thing humming away in my data center.
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* I made this up. But that’s how I remember the feel of the copy. The catalogs are long gone, but people still read them. Old copies sell for ten bucks.