December 2010

Appearances are deceptive. What is apparently a simple and effective message is usually the product of long and careful crafting. This process is impossible without a sound grasp of language from the ground up. So whether it’s copy writing from scratch, a light edit or major surgery involving a complete rethink of an existing document, let us craft you a leaner, cleaner and more concise read that can be understood and acted on after one reading. Of course, while editing we rigorously maintain the original meaning and intent and never change facts or figures.

Below are some recent examples of plain English copywriting and editing.

The brief:

APM helped conceive content and wrote the copy for three microsites that support NAB’s Help, Guidance and Advice imperative. The sites target potential and existing NAB customers with wise, open and honest advice in plain English. Subject matter includes life events, money basics and choosing banking products.

moneybasics.nab.com.au

lifeevents.nab.com.au

bankingproducts.nab.com.au

Copy sample:

Goal Setting

In the words of entrepreneur Jim Rohn, “if you go to work on your goals, your goals will go to work on you”. Goals take you closer to what you want in life and where you want to go and most importantly they offer choice. Setting goals and developing your financial strategy today gives you that choice and working out what your personal goals are is a good place to start.

The brief:

The Australian Government plan for a National Broadband Network (NBN) represents the largest ever infrastructure project undertaken in this country. The government’s web agency commissioned APM to adapt existing brochure copy and corporate documents into a web-friendly form. The final product explained the NBN roll out and its benefits, transforming technical information into plain English.

Copy sample:

What is broadband?

Basically broadband is super-fast internet that is always on. Unlike a dial-up connection, it does not block your phone line and there’s no need to reconnect to network after logging off.

Companies are developing new uses for broadband every day and we need the bandwidth and speeds available to handle them. The NBN will connect 90% of all Australians with state-of-the-art fibre optic wires and 10% with next-generation wireless and satellite technologies. It offers access to digital content, applications and a range of services 24/7 100 times faster than what we have now. Plus it can deliver much more video and data, voice, TV and simultaneously over really long distances.

As you can see, the NBN will serve us all very well for decades to come.

For more go to nbn.gov.au

The Brief:

As an agency of the Victorian Government, Sustainability Victoria aims to integrate sustainability into all aspects of Victorian life. For the past two years APM has served as Sustainability Victoria’s plain English editor across its wide range of crucial, public-facing corporate documents. Each document arrives at APM in rough draft form, to be finessed and proofread.

Copy sample:

Sustainability Victoria’s Role

We implement Victorian Government policy by working with business, government and the community to deliver tangible outcomes in carbon pollution reduction and the smarter use of resources like energy, materials and water.

Complementing other government and non-government agencies, we address areas of market gaps or failure and encourage innovation in sustainability. We’re changing Victorians behaviour with evidence, tools and incentives and partnering with governments, businesses, communities and individuals.

Our Vision

That Victorians use resources sustainably to support a thriving community and economy.

Our Purpose

We want to be a leading catalyst for Victoria’s sustainable growth and development. We bring together the knowledge and capabilities of people, organisations and communities to deliver social, economic and environmental outcomes.

The brief:

Talent2 is one of the fastest growing service companies on the Australian Stock Exchange, and one of the largest human resources operators in the Asia Pacific. Its annual revenues exceed $250 million. After interviews with senior management, APM wrote Talent2’s annual report. The final copy encompassed the CEO, MD and Chairman reports, Talent2’s 2011 strategy, the ongoing robustness of the company’s business model and an overview of 2010 financial performance.

Copy sample:

2009 was very challenging. The GFC cut a swathe through world markets, companies and balance sheets. The result was unemployment, weak demand, budget cuts and lower profits. While many businesses restructured or revisited their strategy, Talent2 found efficiencies yet stayed true to our plan. What has emerged in 2010 is a company that is stronger and better positioned for growth.

The brief:

Sensis required a plain English edit of its 2010 Sustainability Report. The edit called for a consistent language and voice throughout, the checking of grammar and punctuation and the correct positioning of trademarks, all in accordance with house style. The end product was a clearer, more concise read for all stakeholders.

Copy sample:

The 2010 Sensis Sustainability Report summarises our Sustainability Strategy and commitments, and the performance and impacts of our Australian operations. Our international operations are covered in the Finance and Governance section.

This report is based on the Global Reporting Initiative’s (GRI) G3 guidelines. These guidelines make comparing ourselves to other companies a lot easier. They also identify key sustainability metrics and issues.

Based on feedback, this report also details our performance in the Workplace, Marketplace, Community and Environment. To improve our depth of reporting we’ve identified key statistics, achievements, case studies, areas of focus, and commitments for the year ahead in each of these areas.

The brief:

Andrew Pegler writes a humorous, plain English and educational blog for Ubank, commenting on domestic and international economics and finance. The weekly blog attracts about 2000 readers and contributes to Ubank’s highly successful social media strategy.

Read the blog: http://bit.ly/2SMjWb

Andrew Pegler – 3 December 2010

How did Ireland suddenly go from the Celtic tiger to the Celtic basket case?

It grew too fast

During the 1990s to early 2000s Ireland went from being the poor man of the EU franchise to one of its richest. Before then it was a bit of a joke. In fact there was an industry around Irish jokes (“Did you hear about the Irish banana business that went broke because they threw out all the bent ones?) But then it embarked on a reform program to attract foreign cashola and lowered company tax to 12.5% and “loosened” industrial policies. And it worked. Microsoft relocated there and a few other big players made sizeable investments. In addition it had joined the EMU in the late 90s giving it access to European capital markets, not just Ireland, and rewarding it with very low mortgage rates. GDP was averaging around 8%, everyone had well-paid, high-tech jobs, and low interest rates fired up an inevitable construction boom. The Guinness was on the “Celtic Tiger” and prosperity was in the Éire.

The familiar story of credit being too easy

The aforementioned low interest rates saw the public borrow and spend beyond their means and the banks lend to people they should not have. Meanwhile the government didn’t do things it should have like raise tax rates or better regulate credit. And with its banks up to their necks in the housing boom, when that went bad they fell over.

Its economy was too specialised

Ireland was precariously dependent on international investment, banking and construction, all of which had already started to take their bats and balls and gone home when the GFC slammed the place, bursting its real estate bubble, busting its banks and sending the economy to the dogs. The unluck of the Irish.

The AUD$114 billion or so bailout package by the (European) Commission and the IMF, in liaison with the ECB (European Central Bank), has been a pragmatic response to the threat of contagion. Ireland’s largest creditors are Germany and the UK and an Irish bank default would have damaged those banking systems at a time when they didn’t need it.

The big take-away for Australia lies in the perils of a specialised economy. Right now we’re knee deep in resources boom mark II but what are we going to do when the music stops? We ought to be ploughing government revenue into subsidising innovation in our manufacturing and tourism sectors which, after years of a high AUD and the flood of investment into mining, will have withered into something unrecognisable. Guinness anyone?

Andrew Pegler – 26 November 2010

Are the banks just gouging scoundrels or is there something to this “funding costs” malarkey?

As we all know the big four banks shared a $22 billion dollars profit this year, which is pretty good work if you can get it. The Super funds were happy and shareholders were grinning, but then they went and wrecked it all by saying something like let’s hike above the RBA. The torrent of abuse from the general public has since steamrolled into a national argy bargy that even went global as it sucked the oxygen out of Gillard’s overseas jaunt. While the punter in me hears the howls of outrage, the contrarian was keen to explore this curious claim that the big four had hiked beyond the RBA because of these mysterious “funding costs”. So what the hell are they?

PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC) has just finished a door-stopper on the major banks’ results and one of their pointy heads fronted up to Alan Kohler on Inside Business the other week to explain what “funding costs” mean. Here’s the plain English translation.

The cost of borrowing has gone up

Banks get some of the money they lend to us from big banks overseas. This source of green has become more expensive since the GFC forced a re-assessment of global risk. In other words, the fear that it may all go pear-shaped again has forced bankers to up the interest they charge other banks to cover their behinds. The big four are just passing this on.

A war for deposits

Another large part of the funding puzzle is deposits. The GFC has driven up overseas funding sources, forcing banks to rely more on our humble deposits. These longer-term sources of funds, like term deposits that can go out to five years and are highly likely to be rolled over upon maturity, are making up this shortfall. This has fuelled a price war that’s forced banks to pay more for our deposits.

Bank expenses are rising

According to the PWC report, bank expenses in general rose by 7.5% in the last two years and they gotta find ways to pay for these.

People aren’t borrowing much

Home lending hasn’t been so slow since the early eighties and business credit has gone backwards for the last two years. Over the past 25 years, credit has grown 12% a year but next year it’ll only be about 5-7%. Credit (lending money) is basically how banks make money.

Hopefully that gives the contrarians out there something to mull over.