WWN31 : Copy Nothing?

Dear reader,

I’m not a car guy. Not at all.

To me, cars are 100% functional tools.

They get me from point A to point B and I would like that done as cheaply and safely as can be. Hang attractiveness, style, any of that. Just get it done.

I’ve been in all sorts of cars, from my actor relative’s Mercedes Benz to my minister’s fifteen year old Toyota Yaris. They’re all the same and I don’t care.

But some sixteen years or so ago I was at a residential retreat and one of the leaders gave me and a couple of guys a lift.

The car was a classic Jaguar.

And as I settled back into the leather seat and the driver hit the accelerator…

…for the first…

…and last…

…time in my life, I was a car guy.

Ever since then I’ve low key wanted a Jaguar. Now. Those who are on the socials have seen where this is going, because right now the hot topic du jour is the latest brand “advert” for Jaguar.

For those who have not yet seen it, well. You are in for a treat. Albeit a treat laced with strychnine, for this is painful to behold.

Wow.

Well.

Um.

Sigh.

Now, people are frothing at the mouth all over social media about this utter nonsense. Not least because it feels so weirdly dated. Like, as one X-Twitter user put it, it was from a parallel universe where Kamala Harris won the election and we went back to the heyday of woke.

But this is a writing newsletter.

So we’re not going there.

Instead I want you to see the one huge thing they got horribly wrong from a writing perspective.

They tried to be original.

Big mistake!

Now, I’m not against originality. Heck, I rant against the Content Creatooooors and their copywork hackery all the time. They are dull and derivative dumbskulls. This is not good.

But you know what is also not good?

Trying to be so original that you lose the plot.

Go back up, and if you can bear it, watch that ad again.

Tell me, dear reader. What is missing?

(Other than taste, good sense, a positive vision of the brand, etc. I guess there’s a lot missing.)

What key element is absent?

Some of you are realising right about now.

Yes. That’s it.

The car…

Somewhat elementary, for a car brand, to at least have a car in the advert. I mean, that is your brand. That’s your product. That’s your selling point.

Nobody buys Jaguars for ruffles and a dude in a skirt.

They buy it for this:

Or this:

Are there more creative angles you could take this in than those two examples? Absolutely. Could you create something viral and compelling that adds to your brand instead of detracting from it? Yes.

But you do that by constrained creativity.

Not chaotic craptivity.

So what is the Craftsman approach to creativity? How would a craftsman take the Jaguar rebrand? What would be our starting point?

Well, the idiots in charge took the slogan “Copy Nothing” and that gives us our answer.

We do the opposite!

We copy everything.

I’m in the middle of creating and delivering Voice Box for beta buyers. I don’t mind tooting my own trumpet and saying that it’s the best program I’ve ever created and well worth the planned $500+ price tag.

(You can’t buy it right now, but get on the Carran’s Cabin daily list and there might be a chance to jump in at a reduced price next week for a Black Friday promo. No promises.)

But that sly sales pitch aside, it makes me think of the Jaguar debacle because this is the core strategy contained in that course.

We copy.

We see stuff we like and we copy it. Then we see what fits and we keep it. We see what fails and we can it.

Of course there’s a lot more to how you do that effectively in a way that amplifies your voice and hedges against the inevitable AI takeover. But that’s for those as buy the course. We’re just talking principles here.

(By the way Voice Box buyers, you will hopefully get the next module starting Monday. There’s some good stuff coming but it wasn’t quite up to scratch for sending yesterday. More details soon.)

But “copy nothing” is a dumbass move. It’s a Content Creatooooor platitude.

Copy everything.

David Perell talks about copying the greats and listening for the internal voice that says “that’s not me”, the friction is where you find your own style. Now, I have a more focused way to do that in Voice Box, but he’s right.

The craftsman approach is to find the heart of your message, the one thing that matters, and then to hammer that home in a hundred creative ways. In every way you can see that works out there.

Not to ignore it in order to “copy nothing”.

Copy nothing? No, dear reader. Do not copy nothing.

Copy everything.

Keep what works.

More on all this anon.

But meanwhile, copy my prose and my pipe, see if it suits, and decide for yourself,

Yours,

James Carran, Craftsman Writer

fin

And fin also for the fine folks in Craftsman’s Corner who keep the lights on around here.

Forgive me, for I have slept only 3.5 hours (Including a 1hr nap) and my brain is not up to scratch. I shall make it up to you next week or before then.

Meanwhile, anyone who wants to be part of that making up can access all bonus material in future plus selected back issues by clicking the button below:

P.s. I’m not 100% sure but if I run a Black Friday sale there may be a substantial extra discount for Craftsman’s Corner subscribers. Full disclosure I’m far too tired to plan a week ahead so I don’t know, but that’s where my leaning is.