Colin Mahan Worx

Copywriter. Copy righter. Coffee rider.

Hello. I'm Colin Mahan. Charlatan. Parlour Trickster. Dandy. Fop. Wordist.
Here you see the repository for a goodly portion of my chicanery. I humbly thank you for perusing it.

Zynga Running with Friends

Conceptualized running with bulls/Pamplona theme.

Developed narrative, copy and taglines for early round prototypes. Oh boy were they some funny lines. Lots of horn references.
Zynga Avatars

Conceptualized and created content for player avatars available on Zynga.com.

Went from ideation phase and name exercises to crafting names and UI messaging for every aspect of the product. Post-launch created web ads and messaging for feature releases.
GagaVille

Zynga partnered with Lady Gaga for the release of her 2011 record, Born This Way. This entailed creating messaging for web ads, UI, and the special Gaga-themed RewardVille store.
The Full Signal comedy writing

Wrote thrice-weekly humor pieces relating to the tech industry for the venerable tech and gadget site Know Your Cell aka The Full Signal.

One series of articles I developed was Wayback Wednesday, which parodied classic tech products from decades past. Click the link to read a pretty funny installment.
RewardVille trailer

This short marketing commercial heralded the launch of Zynga’s game reward store, RewardVille.

For the script I used Comedy Rule #3417: Self-deprecation is always funny (unless you really seem like a deeply insecure person so it doesn’t feel like an act but in fact a psychological issue, in which case it just makes people uncomfortable).

I thought it would be funny to poke a little fun at the whole “everything is a -Ville” concept and the fact that we name everything z-something. Fortunately, a few people got the joke.
Zynga.com

Involved in every aspect of the site’s creation, launch, and re-launch. Working across multiple teams for 2 years, I helped ensure consistency of brand voice, tone, and style.

Concepting, naming, onscreen messaging, value props, emails, ads, channel marketing, tutorials, blog posts, marketing videos, launch campaigns, etc. Soup to nuts.
COED Magazine comedy writing

Developed comedy content for this Maxim-style online magazine.

After the initial few weeks of salacious garbage (some of which was admittedly pretty funny, in that naughty ‘Hangover’ vein), I was able to focus more on my specialties: pop culture, tech parody, and diamond-thieving. And that’s when my pageview count fell from over-20k+ to sub-1k.

Tip: When writing for the lowest common denominator, write headlines including the words ‘sexy’, ‘slutty’, and ‘hottest’.
Mezzmer Eyes

For this retro-modern eyeglass site, I wanted to develop a voice that set it apart from its well-known competitors. It wouldn’t do just to knock-off Warby Parker.

Site copy, product names, and descriptions were crafted to be esoteric yet evocative. My hope was that it would be a subtly different experience than any other and speak to the shopper’s desire for uniqueness.
Mobile Gaming with Michael Caine

The venerable tech and gadget website Know Your Cell was rebranding as The Full Signal, and the editors wanted to incorporate edgy, humorous tech-centric content.

In addition to writing humor pieces about the industry, I created the web series Mobile Gaming with Michael Caine. Several people enjoyed it.

Click the link and you, too, may enjoy it. Or not.
Zynga

As Senior Brand Copywriter for social game company Zynga, I develop content and messaging for games and initiatives across the Zynga Game Network. From soup to nuts, I help shepherd products to their final destinations: successful launches.

Click through the photo to get more info.

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