Weekly Round Up #108
Your once-a-week digest filled with copy tips/tricks/hacks, must-read articles, and some pretty cool copy examples.
🧹 Quick Housekeeping Note
This will be the final Weekly Round Up of 2025! I’m shifting my focus for the remainder of the year to finishing a book project. I’ll still be sending out some emails, so be sure you’re subscribed to get the updates!
Welcome to the 108th 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: Good copy doesn’t just sound right. It LOOKS right.
Differentiating Brands with Generosity, Surprise, and Delight (via Brand Strategy Insider)
Permission Marketing 101: Strategies for Success (via Shopify)
The One-Word Edit (via Matt Snyder)
You Have No Idea How Screwed OpenAI Actually Is (via Will Lockett)
Podcast Pick: Brian Collins on Fighting Second Dragons (via The Creative Boom Podcast)
Copy Examples for Your Swipe File (Ecobee, TD, Poo-Pourri, Hug Sleep)
Recent Job Openings
Copy Tip of the Week
Good copy doesn’t just sound right.
It LOOKS right.
Our brains are wired to notice contrast before content.
Which means the visual hierarchy of your copy (i.e. how the words are arranged, spaced, etc.) matters just as much as the words themselves.
Here’s how contrast guides attention:
Size creates importance (Big = “start here”)
Weight signals emphasis (Bold = “this matters”)
Spacing gives room to breathe (White space = “pause here”)
Structure leads the eye (Short lines and breaks = “keep going”)
Even the best-written message can get lost if it’s flattened into a wall of same-size, same-weighted text.
So next time you’re reviewing copy, don’t just read it. SCAN IT.
Does your eye know where to start?
What to skip?
What to remember?
If you control the contrast, you control your reader’s path.
Must-Read Articles
Differentiating Brands with Generosity, Surprise, and Delight (via Brand Strategy Insider)
Why I recommend it 👉 It’s a great thought piece for how you can position your brand/product to the right person at the right time. I’ll share this nugget:
“If instead of thinking only about where someone is on a customer/purchase journey we think about where we can surprise them positively the most, or turn a negative to a positive, we find compelling tattoo moments.”
Permission Marketing 101: Strategies for Success (via Shopify)
Why I recommend it 👉 There’s a difference between traditional marketing and permission-based marketing. One interrupts your attention, while the other draws you to it. There’s some sound advice in here, including from none other than Jacob Sappington (Director of Email, Homestead Studio) himself.
You Have No Idea How Screwed OpenAI Actually Is (via Will Lockett)
Why I recommend it 👉 I struggled to share this in today’s round up because of my employer’s commitment to adopting AI into our workflows. Yet, at the same time, I want to welcome opposing voices to the table. This article was making its rounds on LinkedIn this week, so I thought I’d share it here.
I’ll repeat what I often say to others trying to bake AI into their process:
Use AI tools as a thinking partner, not a “replacement for thinking.” If you can’t do whatever task you’re about to do without the assistance of AI, then you shouldn’t be using AI to help you in the first place. Learn to put the reps in first.
That said, diversify the use of your AI platforms and don’t lean too heavily on one. It could be one of those things that’s here today and gone tomorrow.
You Might Also Like:
THE CREATIVE BOOM PODCAST
Brian Collins on Fighting Second Dragons, the Power of Orange Ties and the Future of Creativity
🎧 Listen on iTunes | Listen on Spotify
Why I recommend it 👉 This was a casual conversation with Brian Collins, whose agency COLLINS is responsible for notable work with brands like Spotify, Dropbox, and Mailchimp. But it was great to get a glimpse into another creative’s wild mind. I also appreciated his take on AI use. More importantly, I love how he embraces who he is with little regard to what others think.
🔓 Want access to my entire swipe file database?
Subscribe here to unlock the magic link.Pretty Fly Copy
ECOBEE
Format: Email
Why I like it 👉 Seasonally appropriate. Liked the “Scary Good Deal” subject line and headline that said “Get protection from bumps in the night.” Well done, Ecobee.
TD
Format: Billboard
Spotted by: Angus Tucker
Why they like it 👉 I’d like to think Addison Barger, Daulton Varsho and Alejandro Kirk were inspired by these TD boards on their way to the game last night. Every distance is the exact distance in feet from home plate. Some quick work by hashtag#LeoTO and our awesome clients at TD.
POO-POURRI
Format: Video Ad
Spotted by: Jason Feifer
Why they like it 👉 Now THIS is how you grab attention — and drive millions of dollars of sales… the attention was (uhhhh) explosive…
HUG SLEEP
Format: Email
Why they like it 👉 It was the most subtle of Halloween nods. The subject line set the context (Halloween) and the headline (“From Roaring to Sleeping”) added the texture. Proof that it doesn’t take a lot to get your point across.
Career Opportunities
These remote opportunities are updated every week with copywriting and marketing roles ambitious job-seekers should definitely apply for.
Copy Manager - Product Content (Temporary) at OLLY PBC
📍Remote ℹ️ eCommerce 💸 $75/hr (USD)
Copywriter at BIOptimizers
📍Remote ℹ️ DTC/eCommerce 💸 $75,000 - $80,000/yr (USD)
Senior Copywriter, Growth (Contract) at ProKatchers LLC
📍Remote ℹ️ DTC 💸 Unlisted
Senior Copywriter - Marketing Creative at DICK’S Sporting Goods
📍Remote ℹ️ eCommerce 💸 $67,000 - $109,000/yr (USD)
Direct Response Copywriter at Theriot Solutions
📍Remote ℹ️ Agency 💸 Unlisted
That’s it for this week! If you have questions or comments — drop a note below.
✌️
Matt
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