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Mike Farley

7d •

Water Cooler

Turn a competitor's strength into your advantage.

Avis wasn’t #1. Hertz was. While many brands would’ve pretended that wasn’t the case, Avis did the opposite. Their iconic “We Try Harder” campaign used their second-place status as proof they had to work harder to get your business. It worked. Avis went from operating at a loss to turning $1.2 million in profit, becoming profitable for the first time in 10+ years. THIS IS KEY: That’s why being #1 isn’t the most important thing — finding your customers' deeper pain point is. #1 sounds good (it "must" mean that you're doing things right)... but if most everyone's experience with car rental companies is that they don't seem to try very hard to earn your trust or go the extra mile for you to have a good experience, then who cares who's #1? You just want someone who cares a bit about "service with a smile." NOTE: An agency by the name Doyle Dane Bernbach (DDB) helped AVIS turn the corner on its business with this slogan and ad campaign back in 1962. Funny thing is, today, Enterprise is #1, Avis/Budget Group is still #2 and Hertz is #3. Funny, DDB is now the Omnicom Group, the largest ad agency in the world. Wonder who's #2?

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Mike Farley

9d •

Water Cooler

It ain't AI, it's storytelling

Jeep recently completed and ran a beautiful spot primarily using AI (no video shoot)... take a peek at what's possible.... and notice what they chose to minimize (hint: think Toy Story). The agency Highdive (perhaps the hottest creative shop in the country) put this together. Think I'll follow a bit more of their work. WATCH THE AD Tell me what you think.

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15d •

"Do you know how hard I work to make money?" That's the refrane. And it's bullshit. Groaning and lamenting about how hard they work to earn their small stack of loot. "Today, it's really tough to bring home the bacon." _ _ _ What's your reply to that? Well, MONEY isn't hard to make... in fact, it's quite easy! You've been doing it for a very long time... it's just that... You're terrible at creating real value for people. _ _ _ Money wasn't always on paper... in fact, today, it's basically 1's and 0's. Way back when, It used to be sea shells, and rocks, and shiny pebbles, and eventually they started trading goats, and sheep, and even lads and ladies, to get whatever they wanted to buy in a hurry. But the commonality? "Money was designed to be.... an exchange of value!" That's it. Genius, really. _ _ _ Meaning? Making money is easy... if you know how to create value. If it's hard for you, that just means you're not adept at creating value for others. Don't get down. This is habit (and a mindset) that you can break. We're all indoctrinated by the traditional education system to believe the myth that the only way to create value for society is to work hard for your boss, first to work, last to leave, and accept your 2-week vacation (or for you freelancers) your weekend as your life.a THE SHIFT... comes when you figure out HOW to create loads of value for lots of people, preferably people who create lots of value too so they have lots of cash to spend with you... THEN ... it really doesn't matter whether you do it onsite or from home... ... online or offline... ... or how much or how little time or effort it takes you... ... you can simply 'print your own money' on demand! The faster and easier you can deliver VALUE, the more green pieces of paper you get to print. _ _ _ SO ASK YOURSELF? What do I pay for? What do others want? How can I put myself in between them and what they want? Can it be done faster? More easily? With better results? TRY THIS:

Mike Farley

Jun 8 •

Water Cooler

Copy that makes you PUKE. 🤮

Eeeewwwwww. A word of warning: Don't read this copywriting lesson if you're eating. Or just finished eating. But if you aren't, let me tell you a story... ... about a brilliant professor who discovered that every word you say or type has a different flavor: This professor was waiting at the front of the class for everyone to arrive. After they did... ... he pulled a bag of cookies out of his bag... ... brought them towards the desks where all the students were seated, and gestured for everyone to take a cookie. Everyone reached in the bag. Grabbed a cookie. Some of them two. And they started munching away. "How do the cookies taste?" the professor asked. And some replied that they weren't bad, others said that the cookies tasted good, yet others said that the flavor was a bit off but it was still passable, and on and on it went. Until finally: When everyone had given their opinion... ... the professor held the bag up... ... turned it around so people could see the label... ... and on the front of the bag it said: "Dog Biscuits" - - - - The students were shocked. Some of them went green in the face. Others started retching like crazy. And a lot of them held their hands to their mouths, and started rushing out of the classroom and towards the washroom. After which, the professor said with a laugh: "Congratulations! You now know that the mouth does not just eat food. It eats words as well!" Now: I have no clue whether that professor was just pulling stuff out of his butt and trolling them. Or whether he really fed them dog food. But... ... fact of the matter is... ... the words you use in your content, copy, or whatever else you use them for, really have 'flavors'. Flavors that can either make people barf, or make people binge. But the sickest thing? Most people are constantly using words that make you puke. Especially, AI-generated words, because AI can't tell the difference between a hot pizza fresh out of the oven and a dog biscuit straight out of the pet store.

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