A fire engine is red, but is that a benefit or a feature? The answer depends on whether you like red vehicles or not. But to someone living in dry-as-a-bone bush Australia, the water cannon on the fire engine is very definitely a benefit.

This exercise requires you to sell a Mr Man one of the cars on your forecourt and help you see that finding the psychological pain point is what good writing is all about. Where there’s no relation between the product and the need, writing becomes hugely difficult.

Participants realise pretty quickly how strategic problems, no matter how slight can cause major problems when you sit down to write. Glossing over strategic non-sequiturs and contradictions is one of the reasons writers do so many re-writes. Communication and strategy are intimately linked.