Issue 19

Good morning.

I’m writing this email to you from a lake house in Indiana after a day of sunburns, summer shandy’s, and excessive snacking. So, my creative state is not exactly primed to punch out a lengthy intro.

Instead, let’s get straight to the writing so I can go to bed.

Good night.

HEADLINE — AIRBNB

Most ads today miss the big idea.

There’s no research. No insight. No direction. Just clever words strung together.

To borrow from Office Manager Michael Scott, “Sometimes I’ll start a sentence and I don’t know where it’s going. I just hope to find it somewhere along the way. Like an improv conversation. An improversation.”

Airbnb knows travelers want to feel home in an unfamiliar city.

According to their data, 86 percent of its users pick the platform because they want to live more like a local.

That insight, of living like a local rather than visiting like a rando, inspired the brand's best marketing campaign to date: "Live There."

The ad spot is pretty perfect too.

SENTENCE — THE NEW YORK TIMES

A simple observation can be funny as hell. And those are the types of lines we remember.

PARAGRAPH — BANDIT RUNNING

As a new Bandit customer, I’ve appreciated how much they invest in their local running community. This year, Bandit again targeted a broken sponsorship model for track and field athletes with the Unsponsored Project, providing unbranded kits to unsponsored athletes at the 2024 Track & Field Trials.

“In the absence of sponsor money, track and field athletes often find themselves running roads in the morning and getting on the side hustle treadmill in the afternoons, working part-time (or even full-time) jobs in run specialty stores, coffee shops, babysitting– you name it. We’re talking about sub-elite and elite runners, the ones showing up to race for a spot on the Olympic team. If a job exists, a runner has surely worked it.

And yet, on race day, they still have to show up in footwear and apparel adorned with brand logos, essentially acting as a running billboard that gives free advertising space to brands who don’t give a shit whether the athlete loses but will gladly take the camera time when that same athlete wins.”

Copywriters often quote Ogilvy’s “Tell the truth, but make the truth fascinating” idea.

I’d argue it’s far more powerful to tell the truth, but make the truth tangible.

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