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Welcome to the 52nd issue of Write On!

The newsletter that just finished its first trip around the sun.

Whether you’ve been here since week 1 or today’s your first issue — THANK YOU for reading :)

In today’s issue I’ll be covering:

• Ship more winning TikTok, Facebook, and YouTube ads

• 30-second stories that sell (how to tell stories like Apple)

• Top finds this week, including 10 Story Hook Templates

Estimated read time: 2 minutes 9 seconds

Learn the art & science of shipping more winning ads

The problem: your team isn’t shipping enough winning creative to scale ad accounts. 

The solution: get your team to master the art and science of creative strategy with Thumbstop. 

Every Sunday, you’ll learn how to bridge the gap between media buying and creative, helping you ship more winning TikTok, Facebook, and YouTube ads.

You’ll learn:

⚡️ The Art: creativity cheat codes, trending ad formats backed by Motion data, and how to build creative performance teams the right way.

🔬 The Science: analytical skills that make marketers 10X more valuable, tales of scale & experimentation, and advanced creative analysis techniques.

30-second stories that sell:

Apple is one of the best storytelling brands in the world.

They have more creative resources than you and I could ever imagine, but that doesn’t mean we can’t tell stories like them.

Below are 3 simple steps to tell stories like Apple and sell with emotion:

First, let’s watch one of their 30-second commercials that contains 1 camera shot and 3 words of copy:

There are 3 simple reasons why this commercial is so effective:

(1) Plays on a relatable feeling:

Everybody who has an iPhone has dropped their iPhone.

This commercial hooks you in the first 5 seconds when you see the phone start moving to the edge.

Your brain thinks: "I see where this is going."

(2) Keeps you on your toes:

Once the open loop is created, you can't help but watch.

"Is it gonna fall? Sure looks like it. Somebody grab it!!"

Okay, that's an exaggeration. But you get the point.

You're now invested until the conclusion.

(3) Ah-ha moment:

The phone falls. Your first instinct is: "I wonder how badly the screen is broken."

Then they hit you with the only 3 words in the entire ad: "Relax, it's iPhone."

They sell the feeling of security that you get with their most durable iPhone yet.

Bottom Line:

You might not be able to match the cinematic quality of Apple...

But everything else about this ad is repeatable.

And it doesn't even have to be a video.

• Be relatable

• Create a curiosity gap

• Deliver the value prop with authority

Top Finds This Week:

📖 Storytelling: 10 Story Hook Templates: (link)

💪 Writing Exercise: Keep asking "so what?" to get to the CORE benefit (image source: VeryGoodCopy): (link)

🖼 Frameworks: No matter what business you're in... your copy must pass the 4 C's test: (link)

📜 Principles: Hear me out… try starting your sentences with these 5 attention grabbers: (link)

✍️ Write On: In honor of 1 year in the books, I’m throwing it back to the 1st Write On newsletter ever. We’ve come a longggg way. Read the 1st issue here: (link)

That’s all for this week! See you next Wednesday.

Cheers,

Joe

P.S. Meme for your thoughts?

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