My current position is as Head Copywriter and Head of Engagement at Glorious Games Group, the company responsible for the online dress-up game Stardoll, one of Stockholm’s first tech / gaming success stories, created in 2006. Our players are a diverse blend of younger kids who enjoy dressing up dolls, fashionable and hip 20-somethings who grew up playing and still come for the fashion, grandmas who created accounts to bond with grandchildren and stayed when their grandchildren moved on, and LGBTQIA players of all ages across the globe who feel the game is a safe haven. Taking on the voice of the brand, with a rich history and vibrant audience, has been a fabulous challenge and delicate balance of being fun and upbeat, respectful yet relevant, and endearing to and representative of the players. Below are a few samples of copy I have crafted along with pertinent information about the specific text and what the message needed to convey.
You can also check out the specific pages for copy on:
Social Media Posts
Email Blast Newsletters
The game has weekly contests that range from quizzes to writing to photo contests. Often we try to pick themes that will inspire creativity and are relevant. This CATS contest was a light-hearted one that came out when the film’s first trailer was released. Full of cat-related puns, it’s short and sweet, focusing on the film’s all-star line up which is something that our players are interested in.
Occasionally, our in-game characters write blog posts about current events. Last year, we had a beloved member pass away after battling cancer and another popular one was in the fight of her life against it as well. We decided to create items that members could purchase to honor their friends with proceeds benefiting a local cancer charity. This copy was important and needed to balance the ‘voice’ of the specific character writing it (Lisa is normally upbeat, affectionate, kind, and realistic) with the gravity of the message.
We recently did a cross-promotion with a new app called Bluurb, which is basically like a digital version of Mad Libs. The copy for this needed to show our members what they could expect the app to be, explain the contest promoting the brand, and be interesting enough to encourage our membership to download and play the app, while still feeling like it belonged on Stardoll and wasn’t merely an advertisement. This text had to be approved by the app’s marketing team as well.
Upon doing some market research to update our understanding of our membership, we realized a good amount of our players identified as members of the LGBTQIA community. In order to honor that, I created Stardoll Pride, a multi-week event with contests, blog posts, giveaways, parties, and in-game items. It garnered a lot of support from a majority of our membership, but we knew that not everyone would be on board with the campaign, either due to personal beliefs or a lack of knowledge, so I created a specific FAQ for the campaign page that would address any questions or concerns members might have. I feel it strikes a good balance of providing information and being firmly supportive of the cause.
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