“As big as a whale!”

T Rex trying to do a cartwheel

I heard a report on the radio this week that scientists have measured the bite-force of a Tyrannosaurus Rex. Apparently, it’s the same as ‘a medium-sized elephant sitting on you‘.

If you are solely describing your business in terms of numbers, it’s hard for people to visualise what you mean.

One technique we copywriters use, is to turn numbers into pictures.

• When I was at Freemans, I wanted to describe the weight of the daily post bag, so I phoned London Zoo and found it was equivalent to an adult male rhino. You get the idea, it’s heavy!
• I wrote about the Peterborough distribution centre as ‘larger than 12 Wembley football pitches – so large than some staff actually cycle from one area to another’. You get the idea, it’s big!
• When talking about money, it’s often measured in Mars Bars.

Next time you have to write about numbers, think what pictures you could use as well / instead.

P.S. That reminds me of the fabulous T Rex Trying blog < Click it, you’ll like it!