Illogical and brave always beats mediocre but safe ideas.
This is a free chapter from my 4-hour crash course Dangerous Ideas To Write Like a Copywriter. Normally, I charge $59.99 for a crash course that shows you how to write copy that actually sells. But for Creative Samba readers, you can grab the full book today for $15.99.
It’s a roadmap that could save you months of trial-and-error, or hundreds (maybe thousands) on agencies and courses that lead… nowhere.
Your call: struggle like everyone else, or skip straight to the part that actually works.
The Angostura Bitters label is too god damn big for the bottle. But it turns out it was born out of a (happy) mistake.
Angostura was an invention of a German physician called Johann Siegert.
In 1820, Siegert moved to Angostura, Venezuela.
He did it to help Simón Bolívar in his war to liberate Venezuela from Spanish rule.
During this period Siegert treated Bolivar’s soldiers and sailors.
But many of these men suffered from seasickness, stomach ailments and malaria.
So Siegert combined gentian with Venezuelan herbs and spices.
The result was a formula for a bitter herb liquor that relieved seasickness and stomach ailments. And helped Bolivar's troops fight malaria.
In 1870 Siegert died.
So when his three sons Carlos, Alfredo and Luis, took over the business they reframed Angostura Bitters as an cocktail additive, not as a medicinal product.
One day, to promote the business the Siegert brothers decide to enter a competition.
So one of the brothers designs a new bottle. And the other one designs a new label.
But the brothers forgot to discuss one very important thing: bottle and label sizes and dimensions.
So by the time bottles were done and labels were printed it was too late to fix the mistake.
This meant the Siegert brothers had to be a lil creative.
So they fit the small bottle with the oversized label. Then submit Angostura to the competition.
The Siegert brothers *obviously* didn't win the competition.
But *surprise, surprise* one of the judges told them something they'd never forget.
The judge said, "No one in this business would be stupid enough to make such a mistake. So keep it as it is. This is what we call signature labelling."
The Siegert brothers followed his advice.
And it turns out the judge was spot on the money. Because the Angostura Bitters label hasn't changed.
And today you can find Angostura on nearly every bar in the World.
The lesson here is simple. The human brain is wired to notice things that stand out. Psychologists call this the Von Restorff Effect.
Which is why illogical and brave always beats mediocre but safe ideas.
Naturally, this principle also applies to copywriting.
Dangerous example:
If everyone in your industry sounds too corporate-y, do the complete opposite. Inject a lil more personality into your website copy.
The Rochambeau Club does this brilliantly.
This is the most gutsy, original, distinct product launch I’ve seen in a gazillion years.
A fictional tennis club to sell a rosé wine brand called *wait for it*... Racquet Rosé.
⇝ “The tennis here is of a good standard (indeed, we are proud to have sent three ball boys to Roland Garros, and Andre Agassi once smoked in the plunge pool). But Rochambeau members find as much to enjoy off the court as on it.”
⇝ “Note: Due to high demand and Antoine’s ongoing elbow issue, there is currently a significant backlog of membership applications.”
BONUS freebie chapter: COMPARE THEN CONTRAST.
Death metal bands have a weird thing for spiky logos.
It looks like the spikier and the most-difficult-to-decipher the logo, the better.
There are thousands of death metal bands out there with spiky and exceptionally unreadable logos.
For example, see this poster from 2005 for Bay Area Death Fest 2 and you'll understand what I mean.
Among all the chaotic madness of spiky logos that are virtually undistinguishable there's one that stands out.
Party Cannon.
And the Party Cannon logo stands out because, ironically, it's the only subversive logo.
It's subversive because it defies all your typical death metal clichés.
Instead of spiky it's fun.
Instead of black it's colorful.
Instead of Satan-inspired it's kinda childish and has Toys "R" Us vibes.
Which makes sense. After all Party Cannon is a Scottish band that describes themselves as "cute boys who like weird music". And they call their genre "death metal / party slam.”
You see, the human brain is wired to compare when valuing things. Consciously or unconsciously.
Humans aren't programmed to value things in isolation.
We need an anchor to compare and judge if a product, a service or even a band is good or bad.
Or expensive or cheap.
Or worth listening to or not worth listening to.
Which is why a copywriter’s job is to reframe or reaffirm thoughts about your brand in people’s mind.
And the most impactful way of doing this is to create value by carefully comparing and then contrasting the value of your product or brand with an
alternative (an anchor).
Because if you don’t show consumers an anchor, their brains will look for one anyway. Party Cannon gets this.
Dangerous techniques:
1/ Compare and contrast with a bad alternative.
This Sentry dog collar print ad from 1967 is a good example.
1.Use specific product facts you can communicate numerically ⇝ “Last summer, 2,000,000 dogs wore Sentry Collars.”
2.Compare your product with a bad alternative ⇝ “Instead of fleas.”
2/ Compare and contrast attitudes, feelings and perspectives.
Voters in my home country (Portugal) went to the polls on 10 March 2024. Iniciativa Liberal (IL) is the liberal party of Portugal.
Contrary to most Portuguese political parties who have been around for over 50, 40 or 30 years, IL was founded in 2017.
In a country where most Political parties are left- wing parties, IL is the only right-wing Portuguese political party openly advocating for free markets and for more economic, political, and social liberty policies.
IL has been consistently growing since 2017. Before these elections IL was the 4th strongest political force and aiming to win market share and become the 3rd strongest political force.
The 5th strongest political force was Bloco de Esquerda (BE). BE is a far left populist and socialist party. And they’ve been around since 1999.
Both parties were competing for young votes. So in this 2024 election BE started running billboards around the country that said, “Fazer o que nunca foi feito”, which translated means “To do what has never been done before” in topics like Housing, Healthcare and Wage inequality.
Which was why during the campaign IL started placing counter attack billboards right next to BE’s billboards using contrast.
The billboards read, “Fazer o que já foi feito em países liberais (e funciona)” which translated means “To do what has already been done (And works) in economically-free countries” in topics like Housing, Healthcare and Wage inequality.
3/ Compare and frame your brand as a “good enough” option rather than perfect.
For example, Marshall speakers aren’t exactly the World’s best speakers in terms of sound quality. But they’re good enough to get a dozen people dancing in a small living room.
So marshall.com’s hero headline instead of saying “Build your own wall of sound” could say: Good Enough To Get A Dozen People Dancing. Even better for pissing the neigbors off”.
1. The #1 Benefit Of Using Your Product⇝“Good Enough To Get A Dozen People Dancing”
2. Introduce A Second (And Unexpected) Reason To Buy Your Product ⇝ “Even Better For Pissing The Neighbors Off.”
Dangerous Ideas To Write Like a Copywriter is a new copywriting crash course disguised as an ebook.
The best part? It's so fun, practical and easy-to-read that you can complete it in less than 4 hours.
Inside you’ll find:
11 dangerous principles for writing copy so sharp, it should come with a warning label. Yes, with examples—you’ll need them.
11 dangerous writing techniques. They’ll make your copy irresistible, your deadlines shorter, and your competition nervous.
17 headline techniques. 29 formulas. All designed to write headlines impossible to ignore.
Normally it’s $59.99. But for Creative Samba readers it’s $15.99 for the next 48 hours. That’s less than the price of a nice bottle of Le Père Jules French Cider from Normandy.🥂
Your pal,
🚀 Founder Teardwn | Fractional Copy Chief for DTC and eCommerce startups
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