nearly all copy you write will benefit from more conflict

start with the elephant in the room

My new favourite agency ad: 1. Do great work 2. Share how you did it 3. Run as ad on founder’s account Straight up steak on a plate. Who'd you want to work with? Someone promising “qUaLitY LeAdS” or a founder giving a step-by-step breakdown of a 100 link campaign in one take.

Ten years ago Dave Trott drew a triangle on a flipchart and said “every ad needs three things”. - Impact: “You've got to get noticed” - Communication: “You've got to tell me what” - Persuasion: “You've got to tell me why” Most ads just do the “communication” part. - “We're a

One more for the road

Most brand April Fools posts suck. But I like this one by Vinterior. It’s not a cringy joke, it’s positioning. They sell pre-owned furniture and love to hate IKEA.

PSA: If you're creating on your first landing page, DO NOT reinvent the wheel. I see a lot of people try this. It rarely works. Take 10 mins out of your day and read this guide: marketingexamples.com/landing-page/g… Then copy the structure and implement on your site. You'll save a lot of

Harry Dry is the best copywriter I know. He's built a 130,000-person newsletter teaching people how to do it, and by the end of this interview, you'll be at least a Green Belt in copywriting. Some of his rules for writing: 1) A great sentence is a good sentence made shorter.

This is why Steve Jobs fit the Mac in an manilla envelope and didn't just say “1.8cm”

Every now and then, one of these episodes goes viral. Sometimes, it's a big-name guest who doesn't do a lot of interviews. Sometimes, it's a hidden gem who more people should know about. Harry falls in the hidden gem category. He's obsessed with the craft and super articulate.

“The best steak houses serve their filet on a plate with nothing else. Shitty franchises cover theirs in sauce and other shit to distract you from the fact you’re eating dog food.” — Casey Neistat

Watch me rewrite an ad twenty times :) There’s no flash of inspiration. It’s more like building a cabinet. Lots of axe work, piece by piece, 'til it's there.

Watch me rewrite an ad twenty times :)

I wrote this ad, and I quite like it

‘There is no AI prompt for conviction’

Costly signalling theory!

thanks, here's a link youtube.com/watch?v=TUMjnm…

7th August, 2025. One hundred days. I'm burning the boats.

“Oslo, what a pretty city?” → “Oslo, is it even a city?”

I wrote this ad, and I quite like it