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

The brief:

Sensis is Australia’s leading information resource behind Yellow™, White Pages®, Citysearch® and Whereis®. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of Telstra and has annual revenue of $1 billion. It needed a corporate website that spoke to customers, potential employees, investors and others in a way that was accessible, professional and caring. Andrew Pegler Media plain English edited 30,000 supplied words and wrote copy for all landing pages.

Copy sample:

Sensis China

Sensis manages a number of investments in China on behalf of Telstra. Combined, these investments provide a leading position in the Chinese online advertising segments including real estate, auto, IT and consumer electronics, and Mobile Value Added Service (MVAS) and mobile advertising segments.

Revenue is generated primarily through online display advertising, product listing fees on the respective websites, charges of the consumer’s mobile content downloads, revenue share arrangements with China telecom operators and distribution partners, and charges of the mobile advertisers.

Sensis strategy has been to find major players in high growth, high potential, online markets; companies with a strong strategic fit with Sensis that would benefit from our core directories and advertising capabilities. We partner with China’s market leaders and support the local management at all levels. The Chinese partners manage the operations on a day-to-day basis in China.

The brief:

When the global financial crisis hit the Victorian Government had to take decisive action to keep the economy moving forward and secure jobs. At the centre of this was the Working Victoria initiative.  Andrew Pegler was commissioned to plain English edit the Working Victoria Fact Sheets covering Building Victoria, Delivering Capacity and Enhancing Competitiveness and Developing and Growing Businesses.

Copy sample:

Fiscal strengths

Thanks to sound financial management over the past decade Victoria’s economy is strong, flexible and able to respond quickly to today’s challenges. Framed against a weaker global and local economic environment, the 2009–10 Budget reflects the slower growth of government finances. Despite this, the Budget retains a strong balance sheet that allows us to invest more than $11.5 billion in infrastructure investment in 2009-10 and underpins our triple-A credit rating, low borrowing costs and economic stability. Together these measures maintain the business and consumer confidence needed to drive investment and jobs growth. At the same time, the Victorian Government is maintaining our service delivery in key areas such as education, health and community safety.

The brief:

The Department of Premier and Cabinet is Victoria’s leading government department. Its annual report sets out the Government’s achievements for the year and its ambitions for the next one.  For 07-08 and 08-09 Andrew Pegler has conducted a plain English edit and proofread on approximately 40,000 internally prepared words.

Copy sample:

The role of infrastructure in our economic growth and development

The Resources and Infrastructure Branch helped the Premier reduce transport congestion and speed up public transport improvements and major projects. It also helped develop and implement the Premier’s Congestion Roundtable which brought together industry and community to talk about practical solutions. The result is the Premier’s $112.7 million traffic congestion plan called Keeping Melbourne Moving.