Would you risk it?

This is our first post.

Congratulations - that means you're one of our first readers.

So far as I can tell, we are the first company to be called 170,000 Words.

Why the name?

Well, we're writers and there are roughly 170,000 words in the English language.

Neat huh? We like it. You'll get used to it.

According to Google it takes 66 days before new behaviour (i.e. briefing this new company with a weird name to write clever stuff for you) becomes automatic.

If you're in any doubt, bear in mind we all say Google now without a second thought.

On the subject of firsts, I was thinking about my first ad job.

I was taken on as a trainee copywriter at Ogilvy & Mather in a time now spoken of in hushed tones as the glory days of advertising.

I had no idea what I'd got myself into. I fancied the job, mainly, because someone told me it was the next best thing to rock and roll.

It turned out that I was part of an experiment - another first.

Don Arlett, the then executive creative director, took on four writers and four art directors, who he was sure knew nothing about advertising.

He wanted to let us loose in the creative department to see what would happen.

He fully expected to fire most, if not all of us, within six months.

It wasn't the next best thing to rock and roll. It was better.

I met poets, musicians, artists, novelists, playwrights, screenwriters - all of whom were supporting themselves (pretty well) by writing ads.

Salman Rushdie had left the creative department not long before I joined.

Fay Weldon had done time there too.

We learned our craft by osmosis. We soaked up their talent and made it our own.

We knew how lucky we were and we loved it.

As it turned out, none of us were fired.

We thrived. And so did Ogilvy.

They took a risk. They backed us.

One of our in-take won the Guinness account.

Another transformed Lucozade from a drink you had when you got the flu, to the massively popular energy brand that it is today.

The value we added to their bottom line was counted in tens of million.

Martin Sorrell was so impressed he bought the company.

Perhaps I can encourage you to take a small risk today and be one of the first clients to give us a writing brief?

You never know...