Powerful and persuasive copywriting, for clients with something to say.
Since 2005, I have specialised in high-quality writing, editing, brand storytelling and content strategy. I’ve worked with a wide range of organisations and individuals, from high-street banks to food banks, but I do my best work when there’s a meaningful story to tell.
I’ve been doing this for a while, so I have a great many voices and viewpoints at my disposal. My experience encompasses brand stories and tone-of-voice guidelines, reports and publications of all kinds, websites and digital marketing, scripts, storyboards and slide decks, magazine features, and even ghostwritten autobiographies.
If it’s interesting, I’m in.
CLIENT: THAMES REACH
Ending street homelessness
I collaborated with London charity Thames Reach over the course of several years, with a brief to establish a strong tone of voice for the organisation, and write hard-hitting, compassionate copy that would cut through public apathy around street homelessness in London.
Click the links below to open PDF work samples in a new tab.
CLIENT: CANCER RESEARCH UK
Bake that, cancer!
In collaboration with design agency William Joseph, I devised and wrote the fundraising pack and other supporting materials for Stand Up To Cancer’s biggest TV fundraising campaign to date. CRUK partnered with The Great British Bake Off to encourage people to raise money by holding Bake Off-themed events in their homes, workplaces and community spaces. The project was something of a tonal tightrope, featuring everything from step-by-step recipes to silly games, underpinned by powerful case studies about cancer survivors and bereaved families.
View a full case study on the William Joseph website (opens in new tab)
CLIENT: SENSE
Together, we can change the world
I edited an annual report and legacy fundraising materials for Sense, a charity that supports deafblind individuals and their families. This kind of project often requires me to manage multiple stakeholders and a complex iterative editing process. I have to be a military-grade project manager as well as a United Nations-level diplomat - and sometimes an agony aunt, too. Picture me simultaneously channeling Oprah, Miss Moneypenny, and Angela Merkel.
CLIENT: GREENWICH BREWING COMPANY
Say it like you mean it.
London’s Greenwich Brewing Company - the home of craft beer trailblazers Meantime - needed to reestablish its craft-y street cred after a ‘big beverage’ buyout. Working with ad agency Above + Beyond, I ran a brand tone of voice workshop with the in-house creative team to ground their comms in an authentic, confident set of values and cultural reference points. Out of this co-creation exercise, we developed new guidelines in both written and video format to inform their brand comms & advertising.
CLIENT: BATTERSEA DOGS & CATS HOME
Bounding up to date
I worked on branding and external comms for Battersea Dogs and Cats Home over the course of five years. Their flagship annual publication was very old-fashioned and in dire need of a consumer-friendly overhaul. In collaboration with design agency William Joseph and the BDCH comms team, I wrote and edited a series of award-winning annual reports like the one shown here. It was really fun to work with such a widely beloved organisation - one with enough clout to get Elton John and his pup in for a photoshoot. (Although apparently the copywriter’s presence was “completely unnecessary” on that occasion. Luckily I’m not bitter.)
Click on the links below to open PDF work samples in a new tab.
CLIENT: SAFERWORLD
Holding government to account
Saferworld is an independent international organisation that works to prevent violent conflict and build safer lives across Africa, Asia and the Middle East. I worked as a consultant on their external communications, including running writing workshops for their policy and advocacy experts, drawing up tone of voice and copy guidelines, and editing a number of reports, white papers, and case studies. I love helping experts and academics tell their stories in ways that connect more viscerally with the audiences they want to influence.
View a report on UK government arms exports (opens in new tab)