This tactic is all about illustrating your value by picking a fight with a well-known competitor on a metric that you’re superior at.

Some quick warnings:

• Make sure it’s a fight you can win
• Don’t get sued. Get clever with how you mention them.

Here are the clever ways people do it:

Secret Wink

“You know what I’m talking about.”

Surreal did a great job using the notoriety of incumbent brands to get attention and call out how they’re better.

The not-so-secret slap to the face

There’s also the other strategy where instead of doing a wink, wink, nudge, you instead just come out and say it:

First, yes, that is true. Ask your AI of choice to verify.

Second, this is a classic X vs. Y ad, but it’s done through text instead of the typical visual format.

Start with a fact and build on it

Start with a fact:

• McDonald’s has way more drive-thrus than Burger King
• People put other brands of ketchup in Heinz bottles
• There are a lot of songs about Corvettes

Then build on it:

Use them against themselves

Here, you use a unique aspect of their branding or product to your advantage. For example, this classic Pepsi Max ad:

Note: This Pepsi ad is risky. We’ll cover why below.

Or how Huel takes a shot at Athletic Greens (their most hyped competitor) by removing the label from their distinctive package:

Make fun of the stereotype of your competitor

There’s no better example of an ad campaign where a brand made fun of who uses their competitor than the Mac vs PC campaign:

This ad was extremely successful in making Macs seem like the “cool” choice, a trend that has continued nearly twenty years later.

Just be careful

Remember, when you mention a competitor, you draw attention to them. Therefore, you run the risk of that competitor winning that fight.

So, as I said before, make sure it’s a fight you can win.

But also remember that this strategy works better if you are a challenger startup going after incumbents.

Surreal doesn’t need to worry about giving cornflakes a platform that it doesn’t already have. And they’re so differentiated that they don’t need to worry.

But McDonald’s needs to be incredibly careful mentioning Burger King. Pepsi when it mentions Coke. Or Audi when it mentions BMW or Mercedes.

There’s been a few misses:

Kahlua ran ads that looked way too similar to classic Guinness ads during their prime time of year—St Patrick’s Day—when everyone is thinking about Guinness and seeing Guinness ads.

Or Pepsi reacting to Coke’s sales being 4x more than theirs:

Is this ad creative? Definitely.

But, why draw attention to the fact that your competitor is more popular? That’s social proof working against you.

And if they hadn’t made an ad about it, maybe people wouldn’t have known that Coke sold 4 times more than them.

But, if you’re a startup, think of ways to you can take shots at the big guys.

Most people either focus on themselves:

• Their story
• Their product’s features, benefits, etc

Or they focus purely on delivering their opinion or facts:

• This thing is good
• This thing is bad

But here’s the problem:

Everybody loves conflict

Anything without conflict is typically extremely boring.

Think about the stuff that people binge-watch:

• Dating shows like Love Is Blind and Too Hot to Handle
• Reality TV shows like Selling Sunset
• Dramas like Game of Thrones

Conflict. Conflict. Conflict.

When’s the last time someone binged a textbook with its cold, hard facts and total lack of narrative or conflict?

Conflict is inherently interesting.

As a result, it’s one of the most powerful hooks.

How to make people care to take their vitamin

Educational content is an absolute vitamin.

None of you need to be reading this right now. But you are because you know it’s good for you, and I’ve made it interesting enough to keep you engaged.

Most people fail to do that.

As Harry Dry of Marketing Examples says, many people would say something like:

“Loom’s positioning is good because they do X, Y, and Z”

Whereas Harry does it by using storytelling and conflict:

If you’re paying attention, you noticed something

This is effectively what I’ve done with this very newsletter you’re reading.

I didn’t just say:

“Conflict makes for interesting content. Here’s how to do it.”

Instead, I:

• Started with what most people do wrong
• Moved on to why it’s wrong
• Then gave an example of a better way to do it
• Pointed out that’s what I’m doing and why
• Then finished with pointers on how to do it

In short:

You have to make people care enough to do the “hard” thing that’s good for them.

Often, the hard thing is just spending time to consider your product.

People are busy, and they don’t care.

You need to make them care.

Conflict can help.

Pointers on how to use conflict

As Harry says in this great interview:

“You want pickle juice and orange juice. 
The pickle juice makes the orange juice taste sweeter.
The orange juice makes the pickle juice sourer.”

The contrast of the two extremes makes both more intense.

The problem seems worse.

The solution seems better

Simple ways to introduce conflict:

• X vs Y (including before and after)
• Here’s the problem, here’s why it sucks, here’s the solution
  • This is the classic PAS copywriting framework.
• Here’s how they do it. Here’s how we do it
• Tell a story of someone experiencing a problem

The next time you write copy, ensure there’s an element of conflict.

It’s the only way to make people care.

And if you liked this, you’ll love Harry Dry’s Marketing Examples.

There’s a common mistake that new advertisers make.

They unknowingly assume that all traffic is equal.

They focus too much on CPMs (cost per 1,000 views) and CPCs (cost per click) and not enough on how much they make from their ads.

For example, say you have two ad campaigns:

1. Campaign 1: $10 CPM, $1 CPC.
2. Campaign 2: $30 CPM, $5 CPC.

In other words, Campaign 2 costs 3x more for impressions and 5x more for clicks!

Campaign 1 will surely make you five times as much money, right?

After all, if your conversion rate is 2%, shouldn’t a conversion cost $50 for one and $250 for the other?

Nope.

In many cases, the $5 clicks perform better.

Here’s why:

1. The ad channels know a lot about people. 

They know a lot about the apps you use, the sites you visit, and the ads/posts you read, click on, and share. They know what you find interesting. And they know when you’re on the cusp of a buying decision.

Imagine you’re Meta—a public company trying to maximize shareholder value and  let Zuck buy more of Hawaii and custom Porsches—and you determine that a user:

• Is a high-income earner or represents a business, 
• Is prone to buying products after seeing an ad,
• Is on the cusp of purchasing an expensive product, or
• Has a behavior and interests profile of a typical customer.

Wouldn’t you also charge as much as you possible can for their click?

The more confident they are that a click will lead to a conversion, the more confident they are to charge proportionally more for it.

2. Not all placements are created equal.

Meta has a ton of different places it can show ads.

Some placements are known to be the best:

• FB/IG feed
• Reels
• Stories
• Explore
• Marketplace (when appropriate)

And some are known to be lower quality:

• Audience Network
• Right Column
• Messenger
• Instant Articles

Meta will charge you a lot less for 1,000 views of a Right Column Ad then it will for an Instagram Reel or Story. 

But I bet conversion performance will be a lot worse.

In short, focus on CPAs and ROAS

If the CPMs or CPCs are cheap, there’s probably a good reason why.

Ad channels use an auction system to sell people’s attention to relevant advertisers. If their attention was worth a lot, they’d charge a lot.

Cheap traffic is likely:

• Not paying attention
• Not likely to click
• Not likely to buy
• Not actually interested

That being said, if you’re one of those rare founders who has something truly novel, exciting, and enticing to a broad range of people.

One of those rare products that immediately intrigues basically anyone.

Then you can probably go for bargain-bin traffic.

For the rest of us, the more expensive traffic is often the better option, sadly.

Just make sure you have great creatives, landing pages, and funnels to take advantage of the expensive traffic, or it’ll get very expensive, very quickly. Check out our free Growth Guide as a tactical overview of all things Growth.

Multivitamins have been on the market since 1916.

Greens powders the early 90s.

They are the definition of vitamin pain.

So they require a ton of fancy marketing to get you to buy them.

Athletic Greens is easily one of the top players in the market, with $112M in funding and a unicorn status valuation.

And it just so happens to be extraordinarily expensive compared to all its direct and indirect competitors—$80 per month.

In comparison, I got a greens powder from Costco for $40 with 100 days' worth of servings. This calculates out to be 6.67 times cheaper than AG1. A multivitamin from Centrum would be even cheaper still.

Athletic Greens is expensive—no doubt about it.

Therefore, their entire job as a marketing department is to convince you that their premium-priced product is worth paying for.

Consider this an analysis of how AG1 attempts to justify its price tag.

First, the vast majority of companies pitch multivitamins and greens power with (honestly, I just checked like ten brands):

• 40+ vitamins & minerals that are essential for health & normal bodily function
• Provide a safeguard to your diet.
• Great way to ensure you get enough of the right vitamins and minerals daily.
• Specially formulated for various niche groups (women, men, over 50, kids, etc)
• High-quality ingredients.

Or, to put it shortly:

• SNORE
• SNORE
• SNORE
• Okay, I’m interested. Niche targeting is powerful.
• SNORE

If you read our newsletter earlier this week, you'll notice they all appeal to reason, not interest—read the previous edition to find out why that's a bad idea.

Let's dive into eight clever tactics AG1 uses to justify its price:

High price justification #1: We replace a bunch of stuff

Here’s why this is smart:

• It leverages a famous saying from the movie jaws (”You're going to need a bigger boat”)
• It tells you what Athletic Greens replaces—an entire cupboard full of vitamins.

They aim to make people confident they can replace all the other vitamins they’re slamming back each day with one healthier and tasty drink.

The claim is: "You'll save money, and it works better than what you currently use."

Hence, this prominent part of their homepage:

High-price justification #2: It's totally different. We swear.

If you go to their website, you'll notice they do not call themselves a greenspowder or a multivitamin.

Of course not.

That'd put them in direct competition with cheaper alternatives.

Instead, they're a Foundational Nutrition supplement.

What is that you ask? Well, no one quite knows

But it sounds fancy.

Maybe AG1 is worth over six times more than a regular old greenspowder.

Right?

This is a concept from the field of category design.

Where you come up with some fancy new term for your product to help allow it to operate in a "category of its own."

High-price justification #3: Specific outcomes

As I said initially, their competitors almost all say the same boring things about general health and wellness.

Instead, AG1 focuses on specific outcomes that people care about most (even if the statements are not evaluated by the FDA):

Better yet when they're backed up with scientific research:

High-price justification #4: The highest quality possible

This is an age-old tactic. Particularly for something attached to someone's:

• Health
• Wealth
• Status

How can you make sure that yours appears like it's the best?

For health, make it appear like no one else is remotely close in terms of quality:

High-price justification #5: Trusted influencers

Their number one key to success is their influencer marketing.

The hashtag #athleticgreens has over 86.8 million views on TikTok.

Athletic Greens has recruited nearly all the top tech and health influencers to promote and recommend their product.

Not only do they pay for placements, but they also give them a cut of sales.

If you hang on to Huberman's every word, would you not be convinced that AG1 is worth the money?

High-price justification #6: Good ol' social proof

We're herd animals. We do what others do.

Therefore, they can build tons of trust simply by highlighting the nearly 50,000 verified 5-star reviews that they've done a great job collecting.

If you're putting something in your body every single day, are you going to trust the greens powder on the shelf at Walmart, or the one with 50,000 glowing reviews?

High-price justification #7: Pricing + quality hacks

Our brains are easily tricked.

If something is in a premium package, we value it more.

And if we get a bundle of things for free upfront with your monthly subscription, we feel we got a deal.

That's why their Welcome Kit is genius.

You get a premium, branded glass bottle, and tin to use with your Foundational Nutrition supplement—and to signal to everyone else that you're an AG1 user.

Is AG1 worth the money?

I have no idea. 

I'm not a doctor or nutritionist, nor do I make greens powders.

It could be. But I suspect it's all just clever marketing designed to turn a commodity product into a luxury good worthy of the elevated price tag.

Coincidentally, Bryan Johnson posted this AG1 hit piece as I wrote this newsletter. If you're interested, I suggest you check it out

This is a funny cautionary tale.

In most of the US, you’re likely to see accident lawyers, churches, McDonald’s, and realtors plastered on the countless billboards that fill major cities and highways.

In San Francisco, however, it’s almost all startups selling to other startups.

This is a funny, cautionary tale of one of those campaigns, with a few actionable nuggets—including an example of how they could have done it so much better.

Here’s the billboard in question:

Say you drove past and saw this.

(Although tbh I don’t think it’s particularly noticeable)

What would you likely remember to google when you get to your destination?

For many, it’s likely “ai sdr.”

Which funny enough, is actually the name of one of the advertiser’s competitors.

The advertiser is called Qualified. And Piper, is the product.

AiSDR got an uptick in traffic and closed at least 2 deals from their competitor’s ad.

Here are some actionable takeaways

#1. Considering being clever with naming:

Choosing a name and/or domain that matches the keyword the majority of people will search can pay dividends.

This reminds me of this famous Thai restaurant in New York:

#2. Use Google Ads to target essential keywords

If you are running ads where it’s likely people won’t act on it immediately (billboards, radio, podcasts, TV, or print), make sure you use Google Ads to bid on the keywords they’ll likely use to find it later.

For example, they probably won’t google “Qualified Piper AI SDR.”

Instead, they’re likely to google “ai sdr.”

People are remarkably good at forgetting everything but essential details.

And you don’t want a competitor with better SEO to get it instead.

#3. Make an ad that people can act on immediately

This ad is a FAR better version:

Here's why it's so good:

• It communicates so much in just six words
• People can immediately act (call the number)
• It’s incredibly intriguing to try out
• It leverages a familiar interface (iOS call notification) to shortcut understanding
• The phone number is simple to type in
• People can try the product within seconds of seeing the ad
• It’s absurdly simple and noticeable, with a ton of whitespace.

Here’s a snippet from Lenny’s Newsletter where he compiled a quote about this billboard:

I bet that’s infinitely more benefit than Qualified got from theirs.

Particularly since Qualified’s version increased the visibility of their competitor.

Stay creative folks.

In film, stage, and TV, there’s a concept of the “fourth wall”—the unseen wall that separates the audience and the performers. 

The separation between actor and audience makes for a more believable story.

“Breaking the fourth wall” is the intentional act of either:

1. Speaking directly to the audience: The performer makes eye contact with the audience and talks to them as co-conspirators in the action. If you’ve seen House of Cards, Frank’s monologues to the camera are a perfect example.
2. Breaking character: The performer talks about the performance—making reference to it being a movie, show, etc.

Breaking the fourth wall is a way to connect with the audience and build trust.

This is also a tactic used in a bunch of ads. 

Let’s talk about both styles:

Speaking to the audience

Traditional video ads create a scene where people are experiencing a problem and the product is presented as the solution to that problem. 

It’s a performance.

Other video ads are just showing the product in action and talking about its features.

Static ads try to do both with punchy copy or intriguing images.

Dollar Shave’s Club famous ad has the actor stare at the camera the entire time:

Old Spice’s famous ad takes it up a level by talking directly to the women watching and references their male partners:

Bonus points for the complicated production to make it absurd.

Lastly, this is basically every UGC ad out there

A creator or user speaks directly to the camera and talks about their experience. 

Breaking character

Here instead of just speaking directly to the audience, you call out the fact that you’re trying to sell something to them.

L’Oréal’s ad is one of my favorites

This ad is genius because the hook is intriguing when contrasted with the traditional feminine image of lipstick.

Surreal and Oatly do this a lot and weave in humor

RxBar does it to lean into their “No B.S. ingredients” mantra

The core idea behind it is that even their ads are “no B.S.”

Lastly, this amazing ad from Lewis Capaldi

I love this ad because it:

• Hooks you first with an insane visual
• Rehooks you with the credibility hook style 
• He leverages that credibility & social proof while also making fun of himself so it doesn’t come off as bragging
• It’s subtly breaking the fourth wall by saying “you” and “I” and is acknowledging that he’s created an ad begging for your attention.

It’s unignorable. It’s funny. And it’s quirky enough to go viral on social.

Go try it yourself

The next time you’re creating content or ads, try breaking the fourth wall:

1. When creating videos, try speaking directly to the audience.
2. When creating static or video content, try explicitly or subtly calling out the fact that it’s an ad.

Have fun with it!

Creativity is by far the number one way to impact the success of your marketing. 

Particularly for a boring product. For example, dietary fiber powder:

Unless you have a unicorn product that is so unique, compelling, and well timed that you can basically do anything (or even nothing) to sell it…

You’re going to have to get creative.

This tactic mostly relies on physical advertisements (billboards, signs, buses, cars, etc), but I find the creativity incredibly inspiring.

Let’s break down some examples.

Materials and elements

Tyrolit could just show a beautiful knife cutting some shoes or tin cans and say their slogan “Flawless forever.” 

That’s what almost all knife companies do.

Or they could show rather than tell like they do in this creative billboard that lets the materials and the elements make the point for them:

Incorporating people into the ad

The Economist could just say, “Our content sparks ideas.”

But instead, this ad incorporates people into the ad to make the point for them.

And the giant light bulb turning on and off also helps attract people’s attention.

Using materials to show the problem

Most breakfast cereals, like most companies, focus on the “features” or the “lifestyle.” Examples:

• Features: Magic Spoon has Xg protein and Yg of sugar per serving.
• Lifestyle: Vector is for athletes.

This ad from Surreal, however, focuses on the largest objection people have about “healthy cereals,” and they do it in a delightful and creative way that shows the problem.

Transforming the everyday

Again, most companies focus on the obvious uses of their product.

For LEGO, that would be distracting your kid for a few hours with building the Millenium Falcon.

This ad, however, leans into the idea that LEGO fuels your child's imagination.

What better way to illustrate that, than to use LEGO to completely reimagine the mundane everyday scene of a bus stop and an overpass:

Show the problem vividly

Think of the last time you saw an ad for a glasses company. 

It’s probably a bunch of attractive people’s faces wearing attractive pairs of glasses doing attractive people things, and the ad really doesn’t say anything at all.

Instead, Specsavers delightfully highlights the problem of not wearing glasses with the right prescription:

• It’s funny. 
• It’s noticeable. 
• And it takes a second to realize it’s not a mistake.

I’ll say it again:

Creativity is by far the number one way to impact the success of your marketing.

The next time you create a new campaign, email, post, or ad, take some extra time to think outside the (two-dimensional) box.

1. How can you show rather than tell?
2. How can you make it fun?
3. What are my competitors not doing?

People are profoundly illogical.

Our actions are predominately driven by emotion.

Then, we tell ourselves logical stories to rationalize our irrational behavior.

Savvy marketers and founders recognize this and leverage it.

Here’s an example from Poor Charlie’s Almanack:

In short, to convince, don’t appeal to reason.

Instead, appeal to their selfish interests. 

Let’s dive into tangible examples:

1. High-end electric car (ex: Tesla)

• Reason: 
  • Environmental benefits. 
  • Savings on gasoline.
  • Low maintenance costs compared to traditional gasoline vehicles.
• Interest:
  • Prestige from owning the newest Tesla.
  • Break-neck acceleration.
  • Quirky and novel features (whoopie cusions).
  • Futuristic Full-Self Driving that your friends will be wowed by.

2. Fitness mobile app

• Reason: 
  • Cost-effectiveness compared to a gym membership.
  • Convenience of working out at home.
  • Variety of workouts that can cater to different fitness goals.
• Interest: 
  • Desirable outcomes, such as getting into shape quickly for a wedding. 
  • Ability to workout at home and not feel like you’re being judged or creeped on.
  • Personalized training plans that make the user feel special and catered to.

3. Luxury skincare products

• Reason: 
  • The scientific research behind the products.
  • High-quality ingredients.
  • Benefits of using a scientifically formulated skincare regimen.
• Interest: 
  • Sell the dream of flawless skin.
  • The allure of using products loved by celebrities.
  • The exclusivity of having a luxurious skincare routine that not everyone can afford.

4. Educational children’s toys

• Reason: 
  • Explain how the toys enhance learning and development.
  • Discuss the safety of materials used.
  • Made from durable, high-quality materials.
• Interest: 
  • Promote how these toys can make their child smarter.
  • The free time parents will have because the child will be distracted.
  • How the toys will help their children succeed in the future.

5. Organic food products

• Reason: 
  • Detail the health benefits of organic eating.
  • Absence of harmful pesticides.
  • Positive environmental impact of organic farming.
• Interest: 
  • Emphasize the taste superiority of organic products
  • The lifestyle connotation of health and wellness that comes with organic eating, 
  • The social status associated with making environmentally-conscious decisions.

We all know that we shouldn’t eat sweets and fried foods.

They’re bad for our health after all.

Yet almost every single one of us does.

So clearly the logical argument is not compelling. 

The next time you’re writing copy, stop to notice whether you’re appealing to reason, or their selfish interests.

This tactic is about the juxtaposition of the absurd and the normal.

As Dan Nelken calls them:

1. Twisted visual. Straight line.
2. Twisted line. Straight visual.

When creating ads or promos, maximize the absurdity of either one or the other.

Making both the visual and text absurd makes the ad overwhelming and less powerful. It also ruins your ability to control how they experience the ad.

Let’s illustrate this with examples of both:

Twisted visual. Straight line.

Hook with an absurd visual. One that takes your core idea and takes it to 1,000.

Then, state the core idea plainly with unassuming text.

For example:

The unique leaf catches your eye. You focus on it to discern what it is. You then scan for the text to explain it. You then have the “aha” moment.

Or this eye-catching ad from Sirius:

The basketball-playing punk nun catches your eye. The headline contextualizes it. The footnotes explain it.

Or this hilarious ad for Nicotinell

The old woman lighting a cigarette with a candle is shocking. Your eye then goes to the 42. You’re momentarily confused. You scan the ad, looking for an explanation. The text snaps it all into clarity and makes you laugh.

This tactic is powerful:

1. The visual grabs their attention and piques their curiosity.
2. They scan the rest of the ad for an explanation.
3. The text then contextualizes the image, causing them to close the curiosity loop.
4. Ideally, it makes them feel something, like a laugh.

Now, let’s explore the inverse.

Twisted line. Straight visual.

These ads let the absurdity of the words do the work.

For example, this viral ad from fiverr:

This ad was perfectly timed in 2023, when everyone feared AI replacing jobs.

The gigantic text makes you think it's a warning about the horrors of AI... but the juxtaposition with the smile on her face confuses you.

You then read the smaller text, and it makes you chuckle.

Then there’s this hilarious and beautiful storytelling ad from Mount Sinai Hospital:

This is one of my favorite ads. It again makes you think it’s going one way, and leaves you with a laugh. The simple image of a child on a beach enhances the emotion of the mini-story.

Then there’s this classic ad from Porsche:

I love that this ad starts with a fact that makes you say, “Okay, so what?” and then leaves you with a funny twist. You then notice that the car has a tire lifted.

Remember: It’s key for these ads to have fairly simple images because you want the words to be the star of the show. The image contextualizes them.

Okay, so what?

The next time you’re creating an ad, a social post, or even a section of a landing page, try both:

1. Twisted visual. Straight line.
2. Twisted line. Straight visual.

Set a timer and create a few variations for #1. Then do it again for #2.

Play with the design, fonts, and placements to control how the person experiences the ad.

For more ad inspo, check out our ever-growing Ad Vault. And for more creative advice on writing great headlines, check out A Self-Help Guide for Copywriting by Dan Nelken.

Ironically, I won't waste time jumping into an example.

Guinness needs to be poured slower than every other beer (here’s why). Instead of figuring out a way to pour it faster, they’ve leaned into this slogan:

My personal favorite is how Stella Artois leans into a powerful psychological bias:

The more something costs, the more people value it.

This is why I love their slogan, “Reassuringly expensive,” and the clever ads that go along with it:

We all know Buckley’s famous line: “It tastes awful, but it works.”

This is clever because people are more likely to believe its claims of potency. After all, it tastes so weird and medicinal. (I’ve written previously about how Red Bull uses both the price and taste to its advantage.)

And lastly, Avis was famous for reframing their “number 2” position as a positive with “We try harder.”

They know people default to the market leader, so they decided to address that head-on and turn it into a benefit.

Here’s a swipe file of a bunch of their ads leaning into that concept.

To do this, you need to decide what you’re not

• Stella decided they’re not a budget beer for the everyman.
• Buckley’s decided to keep their product tasting terrible.
• Nintendo decided to make the Switch portable (and slower), instead of competing directly with Xbox and Playstation on performance.
• Tesla decided only to make electric vehicles. No hybrids. No gas cars. No fuel cell vehicles.

The framework here is:

1. Decide/figure out what you aren’t.
2. Use that to figure out what you are (it’s easier to invert).
3. What are the downsides of that?
4. How do you flip that on its head?

We all suck at something.

You might as well make it work for you.

It’s human nature.

Very few people (and companies) are willing to:

• Admit their flaws
• Turn people away
• Upset people

It’s part of why being extremely candid with your flaws can be so powerful.

Because others aren’t.

Be willing to insult yourself

It’s incredibly bold to insult your product on a quality many consider important.

Like this classic VW ad calling their cars ugly:

Or this one calling their cars slow:

I love the old VW because they were brave enough to draw a line in the sand:

“We focus on reliability and practicality. We’ll let all the other brands fight over the fastest, the prettiest, and the most advanced.”

Side note: Today, nearly all car companies sell all kinds of cars. Lamborghini sells an SUV. Volkswagen sells luxury models. Hyundai sells trucks. I suspect this is why their advertisements are all so boring and similar now.

Being candid with your flaws works for a few reasons:

1. It builds trust. If you’re willing to be candid about your product’s flaws, people trust you’re telling them the truth about its strengths.
2. It tells you who it’s for. We all want a product that’s tailored to our specific needs. Yet most companies try to be all things to all people.
3. A flaw is also a strength. There are always trade offs. When you make something better at one thing, it gets worse at others. If your car is pretty, it’s probably expensive. If your car is fast, it probably uses a lot of gas. If you car has room for 7, it probably will be filled with kids.

This Atoms’ ad tackles these trade offs head on:

Be willing to alienate people

This old SAAB ad takes #2 (telling you who it’s for) to the next level:

Instead of insulting the product, they insulted people who buy their competitor’s product—which candidly, is a small pool of people that can afford to buy a sports car.

The beauty of this ad copy is that it implicitly admits that the SAAB is nobody’s dream car.

That’s a brave thing to admit.

SAAB didn’t even trying to compete with the Ferraris and Corvettes of the world. 

Instead, they put their car in its own category: A practical and affordable car that’s also sporty.

Be willing to turn people away

Do what nearly all other brands are not willing to do:

• Admit your flaws.
• Turn people away
• Upset people who aren’t your target customer

It'll attract the right people to you.

By the way, I’ve been curating and analyzing some of the world’s best ads on my LinkedIn. I’m now starting to use that to fill up our Ad Vault.

The goal is to make it a comprehensive, searchable, filterable resource for the best ads in the world—with quick explanations of the tactics they’re using.

It’s a work in progress, so keep checking back as we fill it up.

Every copywriter will tell you to be as clear as possible.

Today, I’m telling you to be the opposite.

Being cryptic can be powerful.

For example:

The beauty and hilarity of this ad/public service announcement is in its lack of clarity.

It’s not saying: “Don’t drink and drive or else you’ll be arrested, go to the hospital, or maybe even die.”

If it did, it would have elicited an eyeroll.

Instead, the unusual sight of the 4 cars and 4 people hooks and intrigues you.

You read the line. 

You look at them again. 

A light bulb goes off. 

You get it. 

Dopamine surges through your brain. 

You chuckle.

All because they didn’t tell you everything you needed to know. Instead, they presented all the information, left some key things unsaid, and let you bridge the gap.

Some examples of this done well

This is one of my favorite ads from The Economist:

This ad cleverly nods to the horrors of smartphones/watches:

This ad leverages the familiar image of the Hulk’s hand to shortcut understanding:

And lastly, this ad makes you put two and two together to explain the weird scene:

Don’t always be crystal clear

As Charlie Munger said in his 1996 Stanford commencement speech about a lesson his father taught him:

Instead of just pounding it in, he told it to me in a way that required a slight mental reach. I had to make the reach myself in order to get the idea that I should behave like Grant McFayden. And because I had to reach for it, he figured I’d hold it better. And, indeed, I’ve held it all the way through until today, through all of these decades.

These types of ads are intriguing, memorable, and funny. 

Which is hard to say about 99+% of ads.

But hopefully, now, I'll be able to say it about yours 😉

Let’s play a game.

I’ll share 3 ads, and you tell me why I think they're clever.

Okay, here they are (click for high-res):

Figure it out?

That’s right. They each reuse an absurdly common interface: Texts, Calendar, and right-click tooltip.

These ads are clever and effective for a few reasons:

1. Familiarity Bias: We gravitate to familiar things.
2. Peculiarity: They’re completely unignorable. They stand out, demand closer inspection, and are shareworthy:
   1. You don't expect to see a message thread on a sign. You’d walk up to it.
   2. You don’t expect to see a calendar at a bus stop. You’d stop to read it.
   3. You don’t expect to see a tooltip on a photo of a woman’s face. You’d assume it was a mistake, pause to take a closer look, or take a picture of their mistake, and then you’d notice it’s intentional.
3. Memorable: Most people don’t need the product when they see an advertisement. It’s critical that your ads are so memorable that they think of you when they do need it.
4. They’re funny: Each leaves you with a smile.

Why does that all matter?

Consumer neuroscience research has found that highly successful ads score well on three key dimensions:

1. Attention (familiarity + peculiarity),
2. Conversion to long-term memory (peculiarity + humor),
3. Emotional engagement (humor)

These ads hit the mark for all 3.

Here are a few more examples of ads that leverage this tactic

These ads all mimic apps that every Apple user knows:

And these two mimic Instagram DMs and stories:

Here’s McDonald’s using their classic format of replicating their BigMac with color symbols, but doing it in a calendar interface that tells a story:

There are infinite ways you can do this.

The key is to find interfaces or environments that your ideal customer is intimately familiar with then to use them in a completely unexpected context:

• For accountants: Quickbooks, Xero, or Excel.
• For salespeople: Salesforce, HubSpot, Gmail, Spam, or Zoom.
• For gamers: Twitch, Discord, Steam, or Fortnite.
• For lawyers: a golf course.

Or you can leverage the classics that everyone knows: texts, calendars, calls, Windows, email, excel, and PowerPoint.

PS: I couldn't resist an opportunity for a Rick Roll.

It’s a hot day. Your kids bounce off the walls, and you scroll Instagram to de-stress.

You’re hit with an ad for a Springfree trampoline. The ad shows kids double bouncing each other into the air and off the enclosed walls.

Your eyes gloss over, and you start to scroll past.

And then the ad says:

“They’ll be distracted for hours while you lounge peacefully inside.”

You perk up. Now you’re interested.

Finally a way to get some peace and quiet.

When someone buys a trampoline, what they're really buying is peace.

Find the benefit of the benefit

When you write copy to sell your product, sometimes it’s helpful to look at the “benefit of a benefit.”

Note: this is more obvious when the buyer is different than the user, but that's not a requirement. Use this exercise to uncover clever ways to pitch your product.

Step 1:

Write a list of your product’s benefits AND its downsides.

You’ll see why in a second.

Step 2:

Analyze each and ask, “what’s a unexpected / obvious / helpful / interesting / funny / convenient / comforting / amazing / wild / beautiful / exciting / weird… benefit of this benefit/downside?”

In other words, what’s a second-order benefit of that benefit/downside?

It can either be directly for the user (kids on a trampoline) or for the real buyer/user (relaxed parent).

A bunch of examples:

Trampoline → fun for multiple kids → parents get some time off

Sports car → no back seats (drawback) → no room for kids (there's a theme here)

Dog bed → dog will have a place to sleep → he won’t sleep in your bed

Electric car → no visiting gas stations → not caring when gas prices go up

Durex → no unexpected pregnancies → no kids stuff (Durex = cheaper than baby)

Jeep → amazing off road vehicle → can park anywhere

McDonald’s → open 24/7 → only food available on a late party night → good at interpreting drunk people (note this is a benefit of a benefit of a benefit).

You get the point.

Do this simple exercise the next time you write copy for your site, an ad, an email, or a piece of content. List all the benefits and downsides of your product. Then find the second (or third) order benefit of each.

A lot will be rubbish. But you might strike gold.

Shoutout to Dan Nelken’s great book, A Self-Help Guide for Copywriters, for this insight. I highly recommend its process for generating a bunch of great copy ideas.

Harry Dry is my favorite copywriter. 

He obsesses over brevity and clarity. 

And leverages visuals to enhance both.

Here are Harry’s three fundamental rules to good copy:

1. Can you visualize it?
2. Can you falsify it?
3. Can nodody else say this?

As Harry says: 

“If you have three no’s, you’ve probably written a lot of rubbish. If you have three yes’s, you’re on to something”

Let’s dive into each. 

But first, here’s an ad that does all three:

Rule #1: Can you visualize it? 

If you can’t visualize it, you won’t remember it.

The more concrete and specific the visual, the better.

For example, most companies write copy like this:

• Worn by everybody
• Get fit again
• 32GB storage capacity 

You can’t visualize the first. The second is ambiguous. The third is too broad.

Here are better examples of each:

• Worn by supermodels in London and dads in Ohio
• Couch to 5K
• 1,000 songs in your pocket

Rule #2: Can you falsify it?

Can your words be proven to be true or false? 

This weeds out meaningless copy like this:

• Revolutionize an industry
• Quality you can trust
• Next-generation technology
• World-class service

To do this, point at concrete facts and examples. Don’t just describe. 

Let’s illustrate with an example: 

You’re setting up a date for your best guy friend. Most people say things like:

• Smart
• Funny
• Good values
• Tall and attractive

Those are all subjective descriptions that don’t tell you anything about him. But instead if you say:

• Reads every day
• Has made me pee myself laughing
• Volunteers with seniors
• 6’2” and looks like Ryan Gosling

Now they have a real idea of who this person is, what they’d be like to be around, and whether they might be someone they’d be interested in.

And Heinz can prove that people put competitor’s ketchups in Heinz bottles:

Rule #3: Can nobody else say it?

Draw a line in the sand and say something unique to you

That makes someone buy your product instead of your competitors.

For example, Volvo points out that their odometers have more numbers than everyone else:

Note: Volvo used “speedometer” because at the time “odometer” was an uncommon word. They define it in the body copy.

Chevrolet points out that Corvettes are the fuel for countless songs:

Next time you’re writing copy, pass it through this test

1. Can you visualize it?
2. Can you falsify it?
3. Can nodody else say this?

Keep re-writing until you get three yes’s.

I highly recommend watching the entire interview with Harry Dry on How I Write. 

And if you want to get more of Harry’s copywriting tips directly from the man himself, subscribe to his newsletter, Marketing Examples. It’s one of my faves.

It’s a hot day. Your kids bounce off the walls, and you scroll Instagram to de-stress.

You’re hit with an ad for a Springfree trampoline. The ad shows kids double bouncing each other into the air and off the enclosed walls.

Your eyes gloss over, and you start to scroll past.

And then the ad says:

“They’ll be distracted for hours while you lounge peacefully inside.”

You perk up. Now you’re interested.

Finally a way to get some peace and quiet.

When someone buys a trampoline, what they're really buying is peace.

Find the benefit of the benefit

When you write copy to sell your product, sometimes it’s helpful to look at the “benefit of a benefit.”

Note: this is more obvious when the buyer is different than the user, but that's not a requirement. Use this exercise to uncover clever ways to pitch your product.

Step 1:

Write a list of your product’s benefits AND its downsides.

You’ll see why in a second.

Step 2:

Analyze each and ask, “what’s a unexpected / obvious / helpful / interesting / funny / convenient / comforting / amazing / wild / beautiful / exciting / weird… benefit of this benefit/downside?”

In other words, what’s a second-order benefit of that benefit/downside?

It can either be directly for the user (kids on a trampoline) or for the real buyer/user (relaxed parent).

A bunch of examples:

Trampoline → fun for multiple kids → parents get some time off

Sports car → no back seats (drawback) → no room for kids (there's a theme here)

Dog bed → dog will have a place to sleep → he won’t sleep in your bed

Electric car → no visiting gas stations → not caring when gas prices go up

Durex → no unexpected pregnancies → no kids stuff (Durex = cheaper than baby)

Jeep → amazing off road vehicle → can park anywhere

McDonald’s → open 24/7 → only food available on a late party night → good at interpreting drunk people (note this is a benefit of a benefit of a benefit).

You get the point.

Do this simple exercise the next time you write copy for your site, an ad, an email, or a piece of content. List all the benefits and downsides of your product. Then find the second (or third) order benefit of each.

A lot will be rubbish. But you might strike gold.

Shoutout to Dan Nelken’s great book, A Self-Help Guide for Copywriters, for this insight. I highly recommend its process for generating a bunch of great copy ideas.