David Deutsch @ddeutsch

I create ideas & words that cut thru the clutter & generate response / Started at David Ogilvy's ad agency / $1B+ in successes for clients from P&G to startups SpeakingOfWriting.com 2 Must-Read FREE Reports ➡ Joined June 2008

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David Deutsch @ddeutsch

5 days ago

@crystalwizard Sounds like you — and your agents — really know what you're doing.

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David Deutsch @ddeutsch

a week ago

@8020Alex Being a little neuordivergent myself, I've found that "test and adjust" is good advice life as well as copywriting.

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David Deutsch @ddeutsch

2 weeks ago

Here's a story I tell my students and clients who use AI to write copy… I was once creative director for a direct response agency that hosted elaborate dinners for our clients. The president was particularly fussy about one thing: the water glasses. They could only be the finest crystal. When I asked him why he would pay $150 per glass for high-end crystal, he gently tapped one of the empty glasses. It rang like a bell and seemed to want to go on vibrating forever. “That’s why,” he said. Test your copy — especially AI-assisted copy — the same way. Give it a tap by reading it aloud. Does it vibrate with life as if there’s clearly a living, breathing, feeling human behind it? Or does it clunk like cheap glassware?

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David Deutsch @ddeutsch

a week ago

@Sirpbobo1 Thanks. I enjoyed doing it. I mean how often do you get to watch cartoons and call it "work."

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David Deutsch @ddeutsch

2 weeks ago

One of my most successful sales letters was headlined: “Treat Any Disease by Taking Advantage of Its Hidden Weakness.” And I believe the main reason it worked so well was that it took something seemingly impossible and showed that it was plausible. It’s what Walt Disney calls “the plausible impossible” principle. In cartoons it's when Donald Duck gets flattened by a steamroller and springs right back up. In copy, it's when you make your audience go, "That's impossible! Or is it...?" My latest article goes deeper, and even includes a guest appearance by Walt himself. (Link in the first comment.)

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David Deutsch @ddeutsch

a week ago

@crystalwizard Absolutely. The best AI users I know all use multiple models for that very reason.

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David Deutsch @ddeutsch

a week ago

@8020Alex Alex, I'm not sure exactly what you mean but I wouldn't overthink it too much. Just see what makes the cash register ring.

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David Deutsch @ddeutsch

2 weeks ago

@Sirpbobo1 Thanks!

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David Deutsch @ddeutsch

2 weeks ago

Here's that link to the full article: bit.ly/4xiwdq1

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David Deutsch @ddeutsch

2 weeks ago

@dylan_bridger Thanks, Dylan!

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David Deutsch @ddeutsch

2 weeks ago

@AndrewWriteCopy You're welcome, A.G.

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David Deutsch @ddeutsch

2 weeks ago

@crystalwizard My pleasure. Glad to be connected.

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David Deutsch @ddeutsch

2 weeks ago

@crystalwizard Great technique. I know it for proofreading but you're right, it works for so many other things, including prompting.

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David Deutsch @ddeutsch

2 weeks ago

@hrodrichrood Tintinnabulation! One of my favorite onomatopoeia!

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David Deutsch @ddeutsch

2 weeks ago

@8020Alex I would let go of the impossibility or difficulty of doing it, and just patiently practice listening to your feelings about the copy.

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David Deutsch @ddeutsch

2 weeks ago

@OliverMori20306 I don't think there's any truly good writer who would argue that it takes a LOT of mediocre writing to produce the good stuff. Thanks for sharing your struggle — and for keeping on.

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David Deutsch @ddeutsch

3 weeks ago

Every writer wants to be able to write with the clarity and simplicity of Hemingway. But few are willing to put in the real effort that it takes. Here's a start... Take his opening paragraph of A Farewell to Arms. "In the late summer of that year we lived in a house in a village that looked across the river and the plain to the mountains. In the bed of the river there were pebbles and boulders, dry and white in the sun, and the water was clear and swiftly moving and blue in the channels." Read it over a few times. Then look away and try to reproduce it. Notice where you struggle. Now go back and re-read the actual paragraph. See how he solved the problems you struggled with, how he was able to be simple yet physically and emotionally evocative. Try again. Notice how you're starting to appreciate what Hemingway does on a much deeper, more actionable level. This is what learning scientists call "productive failure," and I explore it more deeply in an article I just posted. (Check it out in the first comment.)