Weekly Round Up #102
Your once-a-week digest filled with copy tips/tricks/hacks, must-read articles, and some pretty cool copy examples.
Welcome to the 102nd edition of the Weekly Round-Up — your once-a-week digest filled with copy tips/tricks/hacks, must-read articles, pretty cool copy examples, and much more!
In this week’s issue:
Copy Tip: The Art of Subtraction
Boosting Creativity and Reducing Mental Clutter: A Guide for Creatives (via Copywriter Collective)
Why Your Brand Needs an Enemy (via Laura Ries)
Beat Fatigue with Scarcity (via Buyology)
The 3 Principles for Protecting Creative Energy (The Copy Minimalist)
Why Playing It Safe Makes You Invisible (Podcast Pick)
Copy Examples for Your Swipe File (August, AG1, Coca-Cola)
Recent Job Openings
Copy Tip of the Week
Your brain can only see what's different.
When everything shouts, nothing gets heard. When every line is bold, nothing stands out. When you have three CTAs, you get zero action.
Most brands panic and make everything "important." But the visual chaos triggers cognitive overload and your reader doesn't even see your message. They see noise and leave.
David Ogilvy actually knew better (and this was before Facebook ads).
His Rolls-Royce ad: One powerful headline. Clean body copy. Generous white space.
His Hathaway shirt: One striking image. One line of copy. Everything else whispered.
"The quiet parts make the loud parts louder," he said. And he built an empire on it.
Your visual cortex evolved to spot contrast because contrast meant survival.
No contrast, no real cognition.
Great designers understand this—they're cognitive architects.
They know you need 2x size difference for true hierarchy.
That white space is emphasis.
That reducing elements increases impact.
When you’re writing, choose one thing to emphasize per section.
One bold claim.
One primary message.
One clear action.
Let everything else recede.
Because restraint is power.
Subtraction is focus.
Silence makes the sound matter.
Brilliant copy without contrast is just more noise.
Your message depends on it.
Must-Read Articles
Boosting Creativity and Reducing Mental Clutter: A Guide for Creatives (via Copywriter Collective)
Why I recommend it 👉 If you write (or create anything) in any capacity, this is a great article filled with practical, research-backed ways to liberate your creative freak flag. As someone who doesn’t do mind mapping, I found it insightful! Gonna try it.
Why Your Brand Needs an Enemy (via Laura Ries)
Why I recommend it 👉 First of all, I always enjoy Laura’s takes. Second of all, this is a really good think-piece for brands you may touch marketing for. When you’re in a crowded market category, enemies aren’t always bad – they’re opportunities to show the interested buyer why you’re the right choice for them.
Beat Fatigue with Scarcity (via Buyology)
Why I recommend it 👉 Personally, I’m not a big fan of false scarcity or urgency. The tactic in this article walks that fine line between manufactured urgency vs. manufactured anticipation. For brands that want to build their list or generate some buzz ahead of BFCM, adjusting the availability of your inventory is a bold (but seemingly effective) move. Click here to see it.
You also need to read this:
BRAIN DRIVEN BRANDS
5 Things Marketers Need to Stop Believing (feat. Joanna Wallace)
🎧 Listen on iTunes | Listen on Spotify
Why I recommend it 👉 You’ll likely start listening to this and think to yourself, “Matt, this is all over the place! Why would you recommend it?” Well, that’s exactly why. It actually illustrates one of the episode’s points so well: sometimes perfection is the enemy. There’s a reason creative strategists try making ads that don’t look so polished – they tend to perform better. There are a couple of other good tidbits in here too. Perfect for a drive to the office, daycare, the gym, etc.
🔓 Want access to my entire swipe file database?
Subscribe here to unlock the magic link.Pretty Fly Copy
AG1 (AGZ)
Format: Email
Why I like it 👉 The subject line? Intriguing. The contents? What a vibe. Reminded me of those late night TV commercials you were embarrassed to see as a kid. You can tell their creative team had fun with this one!
AUGUST
Format: Email
Why I like it 👉 A fantastic story-based email. When your product is a solution to deeply emotional experiences, it’s a great opportunity to use a narrative to show your customers how. Also, it’s a fantastic way to communicate empathy.
COCA-COLA
Format: Ad
Why I like it 👉 This isn’t technically an ad, but it is a fantastic marketing strategy. But I like how Coca-Cola stepped into an environment, identified a problem, and discovered a way they could make leverage their product as an ice-breaker.
Career Opportunities
These remote opportunities are updated every week with copywriting and marketing roles ambitious job-seekers should definitely apply for.
Senior Conversion Copywriter at Kraken
📍Remote ℹ️ Crypto/FinTech 💸 $96,000 - $153,000/yr (USD)
UX Copywriter at CapTech
📍Remote (Part-time) ℹ️ B2B 💸 Not Listed
Marketing Copywriter (Contract) at Clever Inc.
📍Remote ℹ️ Education 💸 Not Listed
Copywriter (Direct Response) at Undisclosed
📍Remote ℹ️ DTC 💸 Not Listed
Copywriter at Amplify
📍Remote ℹ️ B2C 💸 Not Listed
That’s it for this week! If you have questions or comments — drop a note below.
✌️
Matt
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