Just jam that square peg in, it'll be right
Who cares that the hole's round? It'll fit if you smack it
Don’t get things twisted. I’ve never, ever subscribed to that mantra about the medium being the message.
The message is key, it’s the most important thing, and it trumps the medium.
But that' doesn’t mean the medium’s a big waste of time with a small impact1.
Tailoring your message to the medium is key if you want to be successful.
I learned that first hand last week. I was lying on the couch, coughing and shivering and begging Laura for more flu tablets, and watching endless videos on YouTube about Airfix dioramas. Don’t shame me, I was ill.
But between the soporific sounds of divorced dads airbrushing plastic Jagdpanzers came the adverts. The cavalcade of adverts. The ones you can’t skip for at least five seconds.
And one just sounded so familiar. I only listened to the first five seconds before hitting skip, but I’m sure it rang a bell. So on the third or fourth time, I let it play.
Of course it was familiar.
It was copy I’d written. Delivered by an actress.
Unfortunately, that copy had been written for a landing page. Square peg, meet round hole.
The messaging was still the same, but it didn’t fit the medium.
Because yes, the opening sentence on a landing page has one job - making you read the next sentence.
And yes, the subject line on an email has one job - making you open the email.
And yes, the opening line of a YouTube ad has one job - convincing you to not jab the skip button after five seconds.
But here’s the thing - and it’s a big thing - the opening sentence of a website landing page can go on for as long as it can sustain the reader’s interest, drawing them along as you make the point, stack value to influence their thinking, and prime them to learn about the next huge revelation on line two.
That sentence would work on a landing page, by the way. You can have it.
But as an email subject line, it’d turn into “But here’s the thing - and it’s a big t…”
That’s not getting you to open.
Start reading it while you count to five. Here’s some help.
I got half way through the word can, and mentally I’d already skipped.
What works in one medium doesn’t necessarily work in all of them. Your message can be strong, but it needs to be delivered in a way that works in your chosen medium.
You shouldn’t cram square pegs into round holes.
And you shouldn’t hand off a landing page to an actress and wish her good luck. Not when you can just contact a copywriter who’s written loads of video scripts in his time.
Something mint - this Australian beer advert
We’re short-changed by Australian beer here in Blighty. Fosters is terrible. I’ve not had a drop of alcohol in 2024, and I’ll keep that up until the next leap year if only Fosters was available. The only thing worse than a pint of Fosters is a Fosters advert.
But VB is alright, and so’s that video ad.
And this one, where they tweak that message perfectly for the hallowed advertising medium of branded bar towel.
Hard Earned Thirst has been a Victoria Bitter staple for decades. And unlike all those laddish Carling and WKD ads of the 90s and 00s here in the UK, it’s not full of “wayhey bants bants bants” dogshit2. Just blokes, doing blokey things, and having a beer.
You deserve a beer, mate, says VB’s message. Because what you do is tough work, even if other people don’t appreciate it.
Cracker. Or should that be fair dinkum?
And the original from 1984’s not too bad neither.
What do you call a 4’5” psychic on the run from the police? A small medium at large.
Except for this one, with Shane Warne. But come on, it’s Shane Warne.