[1] The angle: Brilliant choice to say “To Peggy - for marrying me in the first place” instead of “Your wife does so much for you.” The angle here is writing it from the perspective from the target audience.

The idea: It’s an excellent example of personalizing towards a target audience. The hook is not even about watches, it’s selling the audience on why their wife is worth buying something special for.

This causes the ad to be irrelevant to some of their total addressable market. But it likely achieves a stronger response from the segment it’s intended for.

Indirect headline: It captures attention but does not directly communicate what the product is. It’s driven my emotion instead of objective benefits.

[2] Be specific: It clearly puts into words relatable experiences.

Outcome: Demonstrates how much value the audience’s wife provides to him, which anchors the product value. You’re now buying this product as a symbol of how much you appreciate your wife instead of objectively based on product features.

I’ll be using this ad as a reference when writing my next emotion-based ad.

✍️ Copy template: “When you’ve experienced [our product], you’ll never [ordinary experience] again”

By contrasting an extraordinary experience with an ordinary one, it highlights the superior value and uniqueness of your product.

It’s also a neat tactic to help you communicate what differentiates your product (it also creates curiosity):

• “When you’ve seen France, you’ll never go back to Paris.”

• “Once you’ve tasted ABC Coffee, you’ll never settle for store-bought coffee again.”

• “When you’ve experienced ABC Resort, you’ll never settle for ordinary all-inclusives again.”

• “When you’ve tasted our made-in-10-minute meals, you’ll never waste your time with delivery again.”

You can also use it to callout the negatives of your competition:

• “Once you’ve tried ABC Cream, you’ll never go back to chemical-laden creams.”

😠 Address your prospect’s biggest objections

The ad above is to encourage homeowners to signup as an Airbnb host.

Target audience: Homeowners.

Desired outcome of ad: Sign up to become an Airbnb host.

How most advertisers solve this problem: “Airbnb your home and make more money.” ← They simply focus on what can be gained.

Problem: A lot of homeowners understand the benefit but don’t take action because it’s difficult or uncomfortable to get started.

How Airbnb solves this problem:

• Acknowledges the objection: “But you’re nervous about your first time.”

• Then downplays that objection and offers a solution to it: “Get help from someone who’s done it lots of times.”

This ad demonstrates Airbnb’s understanding of its middle-of-funnel prospects who have different concerns than top-of-funnel prospects who might not even be aware of the opportunity.

Airbnb explaining product use cases

Why this ad is great: It describes, in plain terms, a key benefit to renting an Airbnb that isn’t possible with hotel rooms - that your kids can go to bed in a different room while you continue your night.

It’s a simple, perhaps obvious thing to acknowledge but I imagine many people haven’t considered it.

The lesson: Clearly communicate what makes you different or better than your competitors, even if it seems obvious.

🧠 Clever ad of the week

🏆 Placement of the week

🗣️ Quote of the week