Lee Mannion

Copywriter

United Kingdom

I’ve been writing for a living since 2014. I was a journalist for several years, then a comms manager, before I made the jump into copywriting.

I’m good at figuring out the right words to interest an audience and then keep them engaged. In the last couple of years I've been the in house copywriter for two high profile fintechs: pension company Penfold and Allica Bank (which topped the Sunday Times Hundred list of Britain's fastest growing private companies). I established the tone of voice for both businesses.

I’ve written everything that you can think of for companies; website copy, video scripts, customer emails, performance ads, billboards, brand slogans, reports, blogs, newsletters and much more.

The biggest buzz I get is writing brand slogans. Nothing feels quite as good as landing on a handful of words that everyone in a company thinks captures exactly what they’re about and will stick in the minds of their customers.

I also really like working with other creatives such as designers and animators, creating something interesting collaboratively. Please get in touch with me using the LinkedIn link below.

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Portfolio
Allica Bank
04/01/2024
Brand slogan and website copy

Allica Bank offers a digital first banking experience for business owners, backed up with the kind of relationship they used to enjoy from the bank manager in the high street.

Penfold pensions
06/01/2023
'The Fold' promo newspaper

A lot of swag is given away at trade shows. Typically it's tote bags or water bottles. But we got to thinking ... they're long days on your feet for attendees. When they sit down for a coffee, they'll sift through all the material, so maybe we could give them something more interesting to read than a flyer to read. Hence 'The Fold', an eight page newspaper that was kind of about pensions, but also about a lot of life stuff too.

Expert Impact
01/01/2023
Impact report

Social enterprises publish impact reports to describe the social impact they've had with their businesses. This includes both outcomes and outputs.

Expert Impact
2020
Website content

Google likes it if you consistently update the content on your website, which is why companies like an 'Insight' section. I wrote numerous educational content and news articles for Expert Impact during my time there.

Allica Bank
07/01/2024
Billboard copy

One example of an 'out of home' (OOH) billboard ad I wrote for Allica during my time there. A USP of the bank is local relationship managers with local knowledge, for local businesses. If you're thinking of The League of Gentlemen now, I know why.

Penfold pensions
06/05/2023
Penfold website copy

Penfold updating their website was a great opportunity to implement their new tone of voice (which I also wrote). Go to getpenfold.com to read it all.

Expert Impact
2020
Website copy

I was Head of Communications for the social enterprise Expert Impact, where I wrote all the copy for a redesigned website, as well as blogs, newsletters, and their impact report.

Pioneers Post
11/19/2020
Journalism

I was the Content Editor at Pioneers Post, writing all sorts of stories weekly. We also had a printed version for subscribers. I miss magazines.

World Economic Forum
01/01/2018
Journalism

I was the social enterprise correspondent at Reuters for a while, and, as their stories go out on the wires to be picked and published by subscribers, my journalism ended up in lots of different places globally. The World Economic Forum still has a lot of it.

Caring Times
09/01/2024
Thought leadership

A marketing opportunity under the veil of an op-ed for Caring Times, written for Allica Bank.

Thomson Reuters Foundation
12/19/2017
Journalism - homelessness

Homelessness is how I got started writing. I couldn't work out how £10m houses and a man begging for change could co-exist in the same 100 yards on my walk to work so I started volunteering for St Mungos, found out about social enterprises and then eventually starting writing for one. This is one of my favourite stories. Meg from Fat Macy's now runs her own bricks and mortar restaurant neat Liverpool Street in London.

Pioneers Post
06/21/2017
Chatterbox: how refugees are getting people talking

The founder of a social enterprise that employs refugees as language tutors was inspired by the experiences of her own mother. To celebrate Refugee Week, we talk to Chatterbox boss Mursal Hedayat.

Square Mile
12/09/2010
Bobby Dazzler

A profile of Barclays CEO Bob Diamond for City lifestyle magazine Square Mile.

Huffington Post
11/07/2011
Journalism –140 Characters

Back before Twitter became somewhat toxic, it used to be a fun place to hang out, particularly for a lot of creatives whose work was changing - they spent less time together and more time communicating electronically. The photographer Chris Floyd had an idea, I wrote about it and the Huff Post (remember them?) published it.

Telegraph
11/10/2014
Why I'm taking 'peak beard' seriously - Telegraph

Sure, the beard resurgence may have started as a trend for cool hipsters. But now your brother, your boss and the kid from Harry Potter all have one. It's been said before, and I have to agree: we have reached "peak beard". The theory on their falling stock was confirmed in a laboratory test by Australian boffins.