Finding the perfect words to tell your story
When you’re doing something amazing, you want to share it with the world. Finding the right words to do this can sometimes be difficult, though. That’s where I come in. As a poet, storyteller and copywriter I help translate feelings to words and concepts to copy. And every once in a while, I’ll share a story on stage as a spoken word performer.
Case 1
Making INNRs copy smarter
INNR is an international company that creates quality smart lightbulbs. I was asked by Studio Hands (who were working on a redesign of the INNR brand) to find the perfect words to match their visual ideas. After writing three concepts we narrowed it down to ‘Anyone can be smart, with INNR’. With this statement in mind I continued writing most of the copy for the website. The personal stories of the two founders, the different category pages and multiple articles. All while keeping SEO (search engine optimisation) in mind. Check out the results on Innrs new website.
Anyone can be smart, with INNR
Case 2
Writing the submission for award winning designer Sjoerd Verbeek
Sjoerd is an Arnhem based designer that won not one, but two European Design Awards in 2019. Sjoerd’s illustrations and designs can be seen at Schiphol (the biggest airport in the Netherlands) and in marketing campaigns from ABN AMRO or the municipality of Arnhem. To make sure the copy for his submissions was as powerful as his illustrations, he asked me to write them. For each submission I sought after the essence of the project, the reason why he made what he made and presented it in a way that would be understandable and relatable for the reader. Read the winning submissions here and here.
Case 3
Writing a poem for the heroes of Arnhem
Many heroes reside in the city of Arnhem. Heroes that go about their daily lives not even knowing that they are more than just ordinary citizens. To give these heroes the recognition they deserve, the local cultural community center/library Rozet started the Heroes of Arnhem award. They asked me to write a poem for the five final nominees and perform it during the award ceremony. Because I thought these people deserved something more than just words I asked Vincent Hammingh to create an illustration to accompany the poem.
Met bombastisch grote gebaren versla ik al het kwade red ik elke dag de aarde zoals in oude stripverhalen. Ja, ik ben super, met iedere denkbare kracht. Vluchtig vlieg ik door de lucht en stop kogels met mijn lach. Ik maak mezelf onzichtbaar en til een trein op met één hand, vecht tegen schurken in de ruimte, en met mijn adem blus ik brand. Dus ja, ik ben echt super maar dat maakt me nog geen held, want het goede doen is simpel als je onverwoestbaar bent gesteld. Nee, een echte held is iemand die geeft het kwade van katoen juist wanneer het goede niet zo makkelijk is om te doen.
Want echte helden vliegen niet, met hun vuisten strak vooruit, maar reiken uit met open hand, die de jouwe dan omsluit. En echte helden schieten niet, dwars door staal met laserogen, maar zien anderen voor wie ze zijn, en tonen mededogen. Je zal helden niet zien vechten, of in de Batmobile zien scheuren, maar wel met jou zien toeren, om je vakantie op te beuren.
En als je in de put zit, en van je vertrouwen bent beroofd, dan boksen zij met jou een match, tot jij weer in jezelf gelooft.
En zolang er mensen zijn die dagelijks blijven knokken, zijn zij de echte helden, en blijf ik een held op sokken.
Thanks for reading!
If you like what you see, feel free to contact me at marcelkleinlegtenberg@gmail.com or call me at 0612607128