Some notes prior to our class on Monday, Oct. 3

Good morning and happy rainy weekend. We need both—the rain and the weekend.

I'm going through material for our class and wanted to chime in with a couple of things that have come up.

1. About the blogs: A few people have asked if I'm expecting a blog post for this week.

Sorry to not be clear about this. No requirement to post anything prior to our class on Monday, Oct. 3.

We'll talk about blogs and go over this in class. After that—yes, time to get posting!

However, no problem if you've already started posting. The more, the better.

2. This week's writing assignment: A reminder that I do expect you to take a stab at writing Web copy.

I expect these by end of today. If it's not clear what you should come up with, let me post one example that I've already received.

The copy below is from Joe Riley. I think Joe did a pretty good job at getting the basic info needed, and also capturing the spirit of Ben & Jerry's.

I've formatted it below, using the exact writing he submitted, with no corrections.

“Dazs” Ben & Jerry’s
Have What it Takes to Survive?

We regret to inform you, due to an unforeseen conflict, Ben & Jerry’s will have to start actively campaigning against the Pillsbury Corporation and its subsidy, Häagen-Dazs.

On March 30th, 1984 our distributors were given an ultimatum. They were to either carry Häagen-Dazs or Ben & Jerry’s. The distributors were told to stop carrying Ben & Jerry’s by July 9th, or they were going to lose Häagen-Dazs for good.

The Pillsbury Corporation is a $4 billion company, it owns Burger King, Bennigan's, and our friend on the shelf, Häagen-Dazs. We own... well let’s just say, not much.

Our Distributors are vital to us and our growth. As we do not own our own distribution, we depend heavily on them to keep us in your local stores.This ultimatum not only affects us, but it affects our distributors as well. While we want our distributors to do all the they can to keep us in the store, we know that without Häagen-Dazs many of them would not be able to make a living.

What we need now is for you, our loyal customers, to help us fight the Pillsbury Doughboy. This is not only about supporting an ice cream brand, it is about sending a message. We believe in the freedom of choice. We believe in the American dream. But most of all, we believe that what the Pillsbury Corporation is doing is illegal.

So what we ask is that you do what you can to support our fight. You, the customer, the consumer, our friends, have helped us grow this business into something more than we ever have thought possible. We are indebted to the community. Pillsbury’s unfair restriction they are trying to place go against everything we believe in.

Join the fight, toast the Doughboy

So if you're feeling clueless, Joe did a good job at coming up with something that would work well for a Web announcement.

Take special note of how the copy is broken into chunks. And also how long each chunk is.

Any questions, please let me know.

See you all on Monday evening for more writing adventures!