Thread is looking for a global football product copywriter

We’re looking for a good freelance writer to help us turn dry benefits and features into powerful little football product stories that connect with players and fans of teams around the world. Projects run between 6-8 weeks, and our ideal candidates can devote 10 hours a week during the course of a project. See timing deep-dive below.

ABOUT THE COMPANY

Thread is a small yet mighty writing studio based in Hood River, Oregon, with folks in Portland and other cities. We specialize in verbal identity, narrative branding, content marketing and copywriting. Over the past 10+ years, we’ve helped a bunch of brands tell their stories, including adidas, Burton, Carhartt, Danner, KEEN, Reebok, Rossignol, Smith, Tofurky, Twitter and lots more.

ABOUT THE ROLE

As a contract writer for Thread, you’ll be part of a large team of editors, proofers, researchers, product managers and fellow writers who are there to support each other, answer questions, refill the pretzel bowl, provide useful feedback and correct each other’s copy for salt.

If you love European football and have a good grasp of youth football culture, we’d love to talk to you. We’re looking for someone who can write fluently to players and fans who speak, eat, dream and live football. Getting the tone right means having a natural ease with global football terms and an ear for British English phrases and figures of speech. Our consumers are young urban football players, so the writing also needs to be short, simple and punchy.

Our team does all the organizing, scheduling, editing, proofing and project management – and some of the research and detective work. We’ll look to you to also do your own original research to incorporate solid sport, cultural and social references. We work in a web-based writing tool (that is one thousand times easier than working in Excel spreadsheets), so that’s where you’ll be tapping in all your writerly gems. The B2C content we deliver is about 300 characters, and we generally expect these to progress at 3 product descriptions per hour. You’ll also be asked to incorporate feedback and revisions to any in-progress and delivered work as needed. Experience with ecommerce copywriting is a bonus but not required.

The writing is fun, regular and predictable — perfect for writers who love the freedom and flexibility of freelance life, but could use a little more financial stability and control over their schedule. Thread is located in Portland and Hood River, Oregon, but our freelancers can and do work from anywhere.

WHAT TO INCLUDE IN SUBMISSION

Write a short introduction about yourself
Include a paragraph highlighting your writing experience, relevant credentials and publication credits
Attach links to your strongest work or portfolio, and online profile.

QUALIFICATIONS

Creating honest, effective, brand-right product copy for British football players and fans.
Digging deep into far-flung football topics (like what laminated mesh feels like or how Man U gets the ball to the net) to get to the heart of what it is you’re trying to describe.
Spending 15+ hours/week writing about football footwear, apparel and equipment.
Developing a visceral loathing of promotional marketing-speak and sport clichés.
Being a football fan, athlete or former athlete is a big plus. Being well-versed in British youth culture and football slang is an even bigger plus.
Work with Microsoft suite tools and Google Drive, and learn a variety of new software and tools, like Thread’s own web-based, interactive writing tool, Talkoot.
Be a detail-oriented, creative and efficient copywriter who will rely largely on data and information in Talkoot and large PPT presentations.
Follow-up on a lack of information from the client, but also be confident to proceed with a less-than-ideal amount of information (this is where we expect you to do your own research).
Join weekly meetings, deliver weekly check-ins with feedback incorporation and meet weekly delivery deadlines, and turn around occasional 24-hour copy update requests.
Know when to hit the pause button for clarity and quality.
Learn and use an interactive time management tool and an instant messaging platform.
Communicate changes in your schedule asap.

COMPENSATION