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?

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.

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.

Why didn't any of you (or I) invent this for a 32-team tournament?

Here are a few examples of ads that stand out in unexpected ways. Don't confine yourself to the common... "you need eyeballs on your stuff." FIFA STORY OPEN TABLE Mall Banner