Hello there 👋

How's tricks?

We're trying something a little different with this week's newsletter and we'd love to hear your thoughts!

The two of us spend a lot of time every week reading copy, sending each other screenshots and adding things to our swipe file. (Which sounds fancy, but it's just a Notion doc full of copy that we like or find interesting or that might inspire us down the line.)

And while some of those bits of copy find their way into the newsletter, some of them end up stuck in limbo where they're interesting enough that they deserve to be talked about, but not quite deserving of a full email. (Or they're a variation on something we've written about before.)

But we realised that if we're keeping them as inspo, then we should probably share that with you too. Who knows what will spark your next ad idea or moment of genius?

So here are three of our favourite bits of copy we've seen over the last month or so (and why we're big fans)👇

#1: This bold OOH ad from Big Tea

It's properly rare to see a very early-stage, independent brand come straight out of the gate with copy that's big, brave and in-your-face.

But that's exactly what Big Tea have done.

And we 💛 it.

Their website is peppered with lots of dry, witty jokes that are all tied together by their mission of making better, more planet-friendly tea. (Including making their own bigger, plastic-free tea bags and paying their single-origin tea farmers a fair price.)

But we're particularly big fans of this OOH ad 👇

On the surface, it's bold and it's attention-grabbing. It's funny. It's very aware of who its target audience is (and isn't). It flirts with a taboo topic.​

And we know those are all things that make copy way more effective.

And yet, the real genius of it comes from the fact that it doesn't fall into that Brewdog trap of edgy just for the sake of being edgy.

Because while "ethical 3 gram bag" might be a cheeky nod to some less than legal pastimes, but it's also a very clever way to draw attention to two of their USPs: their ethics and their bigger-than-average tea bags.

​Studies show that ads are more memorable when the humor is directly related to the message. In other words, a good, on-message joke grabs their attention and puts them in a more receptive-to-buy state.

The humour also helps encode your key messages in their brain, too. So when customers think "ethical tea" or "a tea that lines up with my values", Big Tea are going to be top of mind.

Wicked smaht.

🧠 Why does this joke work so well? We've talked about this before when we discussed Who Gives A Crap's copywriting, but if you want to push the boundaries with your copy, the key concept you'll want to keep in mind is Benign Violation Theory. This was an idea developed by psychologists Peter McGraw and Caleb Warren in 2010 to try and answer the question: what makes something funny? Their theory says that for something to be funny, two conditions need to happen at the same time: It has to violate some kind of norm (a social norm, a moral norm, a linguistic norm, etc.) It has to feel safe or “benign” (AKA not threatening or offensive) If you veer too far in one direction, you end up being offensive for the sake of being offensive, like that awful, awful, awful Brewdog product description we've spoke about before. 🤮 But play it too safe and you're not funny. You're amusing, at best. For example, Innocent's copy does adhere to the idea of Benign Violation Theory, but their violations are very safe. And that's absolutely fine, because when Innocent blew up, a drink brand being funny and ironic was a violation of the way most brands speak. And now they just have to stay consistent. But for smaller, scrappier brands like Big Tea, expensive OOH campaigns like this are often a go-big-or-go-home scenario. Which means that Big Tea has to violate a bigger social norm (talking about drug use in a flippant, everyday way) but then make it benign by revealing that they're actually talking about a tea bag. The effect? A massively effective and memorable ad that immediately puts their flag in the ground, gets their message across, grabs attention, speaks directly to their target audience and keeps them top of mind when people are next shopping for tea bags. All in 10 words. We love it.

#2: This very clever 6-word headline by BarkBox

Sometimes we'll see a line of copy that’s so clean and so perfect that it causes us to question whether we know anything at all about copywriting.

And if you believe what Antoine de Saint-Exupéry said about perfection being "not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away", then this Barkbox headline is absolute perfection👇

In just 6 words, they've packed in:

• Their core offering: “monthly dog goodies” AKA a subscription box. Plain, simple and clear.
• Some great voice of customer: “for good doggies” mirrors the exact language owners use when praising their pets. (Guilty as charged.)
• A hooky, memorable phrase: the rhythm and cadence and clever wordplay make this headline super catchy.
• Some subtle emotionality: what dog owner won't read this and think "oh, I have a good doggie that deserves a treat".

And even though this headline doesn't do 95% of the things good copy is supposed to do (Where's the benefit? Where's talking to the customer? Where's the verb?), it's still so good.

And that's why we saved it. As a little reminder to ourselves that it's easy to get overly academic with copywriting. There's formulas this, best practices that, customer psychology so and so...

But ultimately, copy just needs to make it clear what you're selling and make a customer want to buy it.

And if a line of copy does that and gets a smile? Then you're onto a winner, even if it breaks every rule you know.

🧠 What makes this headline so catchy? The underlying reason this headline is so catchy and fun to say is the same reason you can remember things like Hickory Dickory Dock or Humpty Dumpty or limericks: doggerel. (How fitting, right?) Doggerel is that sing-songy, bouncy rhythm you find in everything from jingles in adverts to playground chants. Basically, it's a loose, playful, and memorable rhyming pattern or rhythm. And, as we've said before, rhythm is one of the unsung heroes of compelling copywriting.​ But it goes beyond that bouncy, memorable rhythm. There are other techniques going on here too 👇 “Goodies” and “doggies” doesn’t quite rhyme, but they’re close enough for our brains to get that same rhyme-y click of satisfaction that makes us believe the headline more. (This is rhyme-as-reason bias in action.) The repeated “g” sounds tie the line together with alliteration, which our brains love and which makes the headline more memorable. That clever flip of “dog goodies” and “good doggies” creates a neat little symmetry that’s super sticky and easy to remember. It's also a playful twist on chiasmus, a sticky rhetorical technique where concepts are flipped to make them more memorable. (JFK's "ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country" is probably the most famous example.) Rhythm and rhyme are some of the oldest memory tools we have and we 💛 it when brands put them to use as expertly as BarkBox have done. Clever, clever stuff.

#3: This *chef's kiss* sustainability note from Spudos

It's no secret that we're huge fans of brands that use their business to make the world a better place.

But recently, we're seeing more and more brands move from being proud of their environmental claims to starting to dabble in greenhushing, AKA hiding their green creds out of fear of being called out for greenwashing.

But Spudos, even as a smaller, up-and-coming brand, have absolutely nailed their sustainability messaging.

At the bottom of their page talking about all the good they do, we see this 👇

It’s honest without being performative.

It's specific when it talks about real constraints (packaging, hygiene regs, etc...). Studies have found this specificity makes sustainability claims more credible.​

It actively invites ideas from the community.

And best of all, it still feels hopeful. It's not brand bragging, it's a brand saying "we might not be perfect, but we're constantly trying to do better. And we'd love you to be part of that journey."

(Which is super smart, because studies show that climate messages that are framed as being a process and that bake in a sense of community are considerably more effective at encouraging behavioural change than either "we're nailing this" messaging or "we're all doomed" messaging.)

🧠 What's going on under the hood of this statement? Every copywriting article for the last 10 years has talked about the Pratfall Effect. And yeah, that's going on here, for sure. (Quick recap: when a competent brand shows a flaw, likability goes up. Not because failure is attractive, but because their fallibility is relatable and feels real. Think J-Law falling up the stairs at the Oscars. That little crack of humanity lets warmth through and builds trust without denting our impression of them.) But there's more than just the Pratfall Effect going on here. It's also a textbook two-sided message done really, really well. Two-sided messaging is when you present the good and a real limitation in the same breath. It's not faux-humility nor is it a vague “we’re not perfect" line. It's copy that pairs a very specific trade-off alongside the benefit. In effect, you're saying to the customer "we trust you with all the information". It projects confidence and authenticity and trustworthiness... which are all good things for building a long-lasting brand. This ad from Citizens of Soil does a similar thing 👇 Why it’s a smart move for Spudos: Sustainability is full of compromises, but lots of brands tend to either focus on only the positives or not talk about it at all. But by saying “we get lots of things wrong” and naming the constraints (packaging that arrives wrapped in plastic; hygiene regs that force disposables), Spudos does three things at once. 👉 It signals competence and honesty: they know the details and they’re not hiding the awkward bits. That makes us trust their brand more.​ 👉 Second, it pre-empts the skepticism people feel around sustainability claims. Because the obvious objections have already been voiced by the brand, they feel more genuine. 👉 Third, it uses progress/optimistic framing so that sustainability becomes something you're always working on, not something you "achieve". That's super clever again, as it's exactly how studies show we can get people adjusting their behavior towards the climate crisis.​ 👉 Finally, two-sided messages consistently boost credibility with switched-on audiences because they feel more like a conversation with the customer. In practice, this small bit of copy on their sustainability page should lead to higher trust in their brand, less "greenwashing" pushback, a greater willingness to participate, an increased sense of community and customers being more willing to buy from them. Absolutely love it. Kudos to Spudos.

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Got a bit of copy you love that you want us to break down? A brand you'd like to see us do a bit of a deep-dive into?

Hit reply and let us know.

We're always trying to make this email the most useful thing that lands in your inbox, so if there's anything we can write about that's going to make you feel more empowered, more equipped or just more fired up to write awesome copy, we'd love to hear it.

Until next week's tips and tricks, stay awesome.

Peace and love ✌️ Jack and Joe co-founders, co-brothers and co-pywriters at Do Words Good​