Hey - It's Carson.

We. Are. Back.

Given the feedback from last week, I’ve decided to change this newsletter for the better to provide more value.

Here’s how things will operate moving forward.

Every week, I will now share 3 ads I find and break down the psychology behind them. Nothing too crazy there.

However, I’ve decided to add a more value-packed section: the idea lab.

In this section, I will give you a weekly insight into how I think up, create, and execute more, bigger, & better ideas, and how you can too.

I am STOKED.

This is something I am obsessed with, so hopefully you find some great value from it. It’s going to include the formulas and things I think about that help me create more creative ideas.

Oh, and fun facts, those ain’t going anywhere ;).

Let’s get into our NEW newsletter format.

Fun fact:

the idea lab:

The art of specificity.

If you follow my content regularly, you will know I am a preacher of specificity.

But why is it so important?

Well, specific language does two things:

1. Immerses people in their emotions

2. Makes the abstract concrete and visualizable

Now, the first one is fairly straightforward. If you use specifics, people can relate closely to what you’re saying, creating higher peaks of emotion.

Ex: “Shorts for athletes” is fairly abstract.

What kind of athletes? What do they look like? What do they do or play?

We can do better. Instead, we can change it to “Shorts for the everyday athlete.”

Small change, but it evokes a higher peak of emotion by calling out an identity. “Everyday” athletes are people who play for fun, they play rec-league, they play for the love of the game, and just to stay active.

See the value here?

Okay, number 2 (Makes the abstract concrete and visualizable), this one is HUGELY important.

There’s a quote from Lisa Kron that says, “If I can’t see it, it’s not there.”

It perfectly captures the point I’m trying to make here. People remember things they can visualize. Abstract words are balloon smoke.

If I told you to remember the following six words, which can you remember?

1. Crystal diamond

2. Go past

3. Wrinkly grandma

4. Smooth transition

5. Muscular moose

6. Better way

Hopefully, you answered 1, 3, & 5. Why? Because you can visualize them, they are real. You can drop a crystal diamond on your foot, and it hurts. You can’t drop a better way on your foot. It doesn’t exist.

See what I’m getting at here?

Specific language matters. And, to make your language more specific, all you need to do is take a word and see how specific you can make it by going down the line.

Ex: Say we’re advertising a coffee for “Better energy.”

Better = abstract, so how can we make it specific?

How is it actually better?

Better → No 3 pm crash

No 3 pm crash you can visualize, you’ve probably been there.

Hopefully, you see what I mean now.

On to this week’s ads.

Ads of the Week

Cadence, Rx Bar, Perplexity

Cadence

🧠 Principle: Loss Aversion

🖋️ Definition: People are influenced more by potential losses than equal gains.

💡 Why it works: Most runners don’t fear being slow, they fear losing the performance they already earned (coming from a runner).

“No More Heavy Legs At Mile 7” is a highly specific, widely shared pain point that we all can relate to.

By naming the exact moment the problem hits, the ad triggers a relatable memory where people relive the struggle of the sluggishness, frustration, and self-doubt.

Then, “Hidden dehydration drains power long before you feel thirsty” reframes the problem as something happening without noticing, which adds the reasoning as to why people feel like sh*t at mile 7.

The concept is problem-solution, and it perfectly captures the specific moment where people need help, then offers the solution (hydration).

Rx Bar

🧠 Principle: Cognitive Ease

🖋️ Definition: People prefer information that is easy to understand and process.

💡 Why it works: By openly mocking traditional ingredient lists with:

“Coconut. Chocolate. And some other words.”

Rx Bar is showing their transparency builds trust because we have a bias for simplicity, and because they're as transparent as their ingredient list.

When a brand purposely avoids polished marketing language, consumers believe it more.

Your brain loves low-effort processing. Short words. Big type. Dead simple sentence. It takes milliseconds to read, so you don’t scroll past it.

Humor reduces resistance. A brand like Rx Bar that is self-aware feels more human, more likable, and more trustworthy because they cut out all the bullshit, literally and figuratively.

Perplexity

🧠 Principle: The Self-Expansion Theory

🖋️ Definition: Humans are wired to seek tools, relationships, and experiences that make us feel like our abilities have expanded beyond our natural limits.

💡 Why it works: Humans are obsessed with becoming “more”: more capable, more knowledgeable, more powerful.

This ad visualizes that expansion, even though the headline is non-specific. Now, before I continue, please note that a congruent and attention-grabbing visual lets you get away with a simple, non-specific/concrete headline.

The moment you see the universe pouring out of someone’s mind, you get the point because Perplexity is an AI model, and it is insanely smart, so you can be too (if you use Perplexity).

The space imagery suggests infinite knowledge, not just “better search results.”

The headline “Know it all” captures the core promise in three words: Perplexity expands your abilities.

The blending of the universe into the person’s head makes the benefit emotional, and like you can have the answers to the universe.

It is brilliant, and it positions them as a superpower upgrade for your brain.

Here's an ad I made for Breitling

That’s all for this week.

Let me know how you like the new format and if you found value in this week’s newsletter.

Feel free to forward this to your friends. It only takes 5 seconds. Writing this takes me about 5 hours every week.

Till next week.

Stay Mad,

-Carson 🧪

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