So I was digging through some old marketing ads last night...

(Yeah, I'm fun at parties.)

And I found this Ogilvy & Mather ad from 1971.

"How to Launch New Products."

It's packed with such good advice. Real fundamentals.

Stuff like:

→ Don't launch without a real point of difference

→ Make sure your product name is memorable

→ Test your copy on "gossipers" to see if people will talk about it

→ Put the damn price in your ads

All good, try and still applies today. But my favorite part is this advice is 53 years old and it's still better than most of what I see people doing today. Which got me thinking...

Why is that?

Why are we still struggling with the basics? And I hate to say it...but I think it's because of AI.

Wait wait wait... before you think I'm about to go on some anti-AI rant...you know me...zero chance that is true. I LOVE AI. Hell, I've built my whole business around teaching people how to use it. But there's a problem with how most people are using it right now.

And it's making their marketing worse.

Here's what's happening. Most people are opening Claude/ChatGPT/GrokBot and using a fancy pants skill and AI does what it does.
​
It spits out something that sounds sooo good. Professional n' polished. So they hit send to their team or bosses and tell them they are all ready to execute.
​
But if you ask them to actually explain what is in it and why they wrote it, you get blank stares. And that's best case scenario because at least you got a chance to fix it before you spend time, money and energy on whatever "it" was.

And they're sitting there thinking:

"But it SOUNDED good... what the hell happened?"

Here's what happened:

AI made it so easy to SKIP the thinking part that nobody's doing the thinking part anymore. Back in 1971 before you could write a single word of copy you HAD to answer the hard questions:

→ What makes this product actually DIFFERENT?

→ Why would anyone give a damn?

→ What's the ONE thing that makes this worth talking about?

You couldn't fake it because if your product didn't have a real point of difference your copy would fall flat. And you'd know it. But now?

AI can make anything sound good. It'll take your mediocre product with no real differentiation and wrap it up in beautiful language. It'll give you metaphors, emotional hooks, a strong call to action. All the surface level stuff, all in the wrong direction.

But it's not solving for the real problem. It's not fixing the foundation.

And that's the trap.

People think:

"Cool, AI can write my copy... so I don't need to figure out the hard stuff anymore."

But the hard stuff? That's what actually makes things sell. Not the words...The strategy behind the words.

• The positioning.
• The offer.
• The actual REASON someone should care.

AI just made all that easier to skip. And when you skip it? You end up with copy that sounds beautiful, but converts like 💩. Because there's nothing underneath. So now everyone's launching products, with pretty copy and fancy Claude motion animations, and zero substance underneath.

Then wondering why nobody's buying.

It's like building a house on quicksand.

Sure, the house looks nice. But the foundation is bad.

So it sinks. So here's my challenge to you:

Next time you use AI, don't just dump a lazy prompt and pray. Do the hard work first. Answer the fundamental questions.

→ What makes this genuinely different?

→ Why should anyone care?

→ What's the ONE thing that'll make people talk about it?

Figure that stuff out, THEN use AI to help you execute. THEN use AI to multiply all the things it's supposed to.

Not replace your thinking.

Stay Curious,

P.S. Here is the full list since the actual ad is so hard to read:

1. The results of your advertising will depend less on how it is written than how it is positioned. The positioning must be decided before the advertising is created.
​
2. Unless your advertising is built around a BIG IDEA, it will flop. It takes a BIG IDEA to make the consumer notice your advertising, remember it, and act on it in the marketplace.
​
3. Your product will only be news once. Say it is new, loud and clear. And be sure you say what’s new about it.
​
4. If possible, put the price in your advertising. It answers the first question every consumer is sure to ask.
​
5. Tell your customer how to use the product. Tell her how it will fit into her life. Show the product in use.
​
6. Be sure to hammer home the name of your new product. Don’t be shy about repeating it in your advertising, many times.
​
7. Don’t be afraid to state the obvious. The results of your new product may be obvious to you. You have been thinking about them for years. They may not be so obvious to the consumer.
​
8. Don’t overclaim. Today’s consumer is an intelligent and skeptical woman. If you make exaggerated claims, she will turn you off. See less

Click below to discover your Cognitive Fingerprint.

​​​​