Give us the finger. | Kira Klaas

I’ve been thinking a lot about copywriting recently, for a few reasons, but a big one is that my LinkedIn feed is still covered in Ōura’s “Give us the finger” campaign (which launched way back at the end of May). It’s beautifully art directed, yes, but that tagline steals the show. It introduces a more defiant approach to the wellness space. It taps into a cultural, attitudinal shift around aging. It maintains a clear connection to what the product is (a thing that goes on your finger). It’s got spice.

It’s not easy to come across a line that good. When you’re establishing a copywriting style, you’re likely to end up untangling much broader strategic threads. A brand’s voice is inextricably tied up in company positioning; if you’re writing for a web surface, let’s say, there’s the difficult balance of “product” and “brand” messaging to strike; and when you’re rebranding and rethinking your brand’s underlying personality, it’s an exercise in itself to determine which attitudes you want to embody and to what degree.

I’ve said it before, and it’s still a hill I’m willing to die on—copywriting is the most underestimated discipline in brand strategy. I don’t say that to diminish visual identity work whatsoever, but design more often gets the glory. Developing a color palette, typography, imagery—a whole cohesive system—is a huge feat, but if it stays silent, it can’t fully come to life. Too often, in the process of hiring expensive agencies for rebrands and campaign creative and nitpicking design details, copy gets tacked on as an afterthought.

While B2B design has come a long way, the B2B landscape isn’t the most inspiring for voice. We see a lot of blatant copycatting. We see a lot of shortcuts to replace deeper strategic thinking and positioning work, like the dreaded, no good, very bad “all-in-one.” 🔪 Everyone has a best-in-class platform, an innovative solution, and a cheaper, better, easier, or faster way to sell you. It’s corporate Mad Libs that tells audiences little about why they should care.

Most people will agree that the best marketing doesn’t feel like marketing. And you feel like you’re being marketed to when you can’t tell one cold email pitch apart from the other, when you know you’re being sold to, when everything feels transactional. By contrast, the best leaders recognize copywriting’s ultimate role in making an audience feel seen, heard, and recognized. And great copywriting could be selling to you, but it’s so fun, different, or engaging that you don’t even mind!

There are three things the best and most memorable copy does:

1. Good copy taps into what you already believe.
2. Good copy gives your audience agency.
3. Good copy takes advantage of every opportunity.