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HARRY DRY: CONFLICT MASTERCLASS
4 lessons on conflict inspired by my favourite copywriter...
Niall Ratcliffe
July 21, 2024
In partnership with
Morning!
It’s 5 PM on Saturday, the skies are grey, my brain is lagging, and last night’s late bedtime is haunting me. But I did go and see Take That perform last night - so well worth the pain.
Anyway, this week I watched a masterclass by my favourite copywriter - Harry Dry.
It was full of marketing gold dust, but one lesson stood out to me - the importance of conflict.
For me, conflict is the most valuable concept in marketing. Yet so many marketers don’t even know how to use it.
So I’m about to give you a conflict marketing masterclass (with key lessons from Harry Dry) ↓
Should take 3 mins to read!
P.S. Listen to the audio version HERE
LISTEN TO THE AUDIO VERSION
BREAKING DOWN THE STRATEGY
When I first became interested in marketing, I stumbled upon this unusual marketing website called “Marketing Examples”.
It was different, it didn’t give you the boring theoretical knowledge that most marketing websites do.
It simply broke down:
Examples of marketing
Why they worked
The lessons you can learn from them
I quickly became obsessed and spent hours scrolling through the articles there.
(A stupid % of my marketing knowledge comes from the site.)
Fast forward 5 years ⏩
I am still a huge fan of Marketing Examples, but I’m even more of a fan of its creator - Harry Dry.
So when he went on David Perell’s podcast to discuss his philosophies - it felt like Christmas had come early.
But 30 minutes in, he pulled up a marketing example that stuck with me…
It was an old VW ad. It wasn’t anything crazy, in fact, it was very simple.
But it has one thing that made it so great - conflict.
In 4 seconds, VW showed everyone who came across the ad just how much more robust Volkswagen cars are. Not through clever copy, or a fancy video - but through conflict.
This set me off down the conflict rabbit hole.
It’s something I push our team to add to their writing all of the time, but I’ve never really thought about the different ways we can use it in wider marketing.
So that’s what I set about finding out.
3 hours later, I found 4 amazing lessons on how to use conflict in marketing.
Here they are ↓
(Steal these to become half as good of a marketer as Harry)
1) The 3 Types Of Conflict
One of the biggest issues with marketers using conflict is that most of us have no idea what “Conflict” even means when it comes to marketing.
And it becomes much easier when you split into the 3 types of conflict: A, B, and C.
This is something Harry talked about on the podcast that I’d never come across before, but it’s something every marketer should know.
Type A: Different Approaches
This is where you contrast 2 different ways of solving the same problem.
For example: You compare two approaches to growing your company (like this ad Harry made below).
Type B: Beliefs
You believe X, I believe Y. That’s what it comes down to.
In marketing, this is often a general approach vs your approach.
Example: Most people buy cheap toilet paper, but this brand believes you deserve better.
Type C: Competitors
This is where you contrast your company vs. a competitor. Which is exactly what VW did in that ad above.
It was VW vs. other care companies.
This lesson alone was priceless for me. I can confirm I’ll be referring back to this many times over the next few years while working on campaigns.
Pick a type of conflict → Apply it to your campaign.
2) Sit On Social Tension
In the first minute of this video (see here), Luke Sullivan says something that has stuck with me ever since I watched it:
Base your ideas on top of places where there are social tension
It’s tough to grasp at first, but when you get it… you realise Luke is on to something.
Luke goes on to explain that social tensions are things like…
Obesity: We all love food → But we hate getting fat.
Cars: We like getting places → But don’t want pollution.
Safety: We want to be kept safe → But don’t give info because we want privacy.
It’s on top of these conflicts that the energy lies to propel campaigns into the stratosphere.
Example: Apple’s privacy ads
Conflict: People are starting to worry about the privacy of the contents of their phones.
So Apple sits their ad right on top of it.
3) Dream & Nightmare Juxtaposition
The bigger you can contrast 2 situations the bigger the conflict is.
And there’s no bigger contrast than juxtaposing someone’s dream life with their worst nightmare.
So when you use it in advertising, it can be the perfect way to get attention and drive action.
Example: Sierra Club's "No Drilling Where We’re Living" campaign. By contrasting the dream of pristine natural landscapes with the nightmare of industrial drilling, they crafted a powerful narrative.
Sierra Club ads like this were credited with saving the Grand Canyon by pushing back against dams.
That never would have happened without the conflict they inject into them.
4) Life Now Vs What Could Be
Howard Gossage once said, “People read what interests them, and sometimes it’s an ad.”
But while people took this to mean creating more interesting or educational ads, what they overlooked was the easiest way to get people interested - their current life.
Example: When you’re on holiday abroad and someone mentions your home town, your ears immediately perk up.
The same goes for ads.
If you create an ad someone can instantly relate to (or feels heavily directed at them) they’ll quickly pay attention.
Example: Commit Action promoted their coaching through these before & after ads.
On the left, is a highly relatable image of your most people’s whiteboard to-do lists, contrasted with what could be on the right.
The left perks your interest, and the right shows you a clear outcome.
🌱 THE GREENHOUSE
Things I’ve saved this week that are worth seeing:
TL;DR
There is one major lesson to take away this week:
→ Inject conflict into your marketing.
It’s something that has been on my mind for a while, but Harry drilled it home just how important it is.
Conflict is at the core of every great story, advert, or marketing campaign.
And it’s time we started thinking about it more.
Hopefully, this taught you a tad bit more about conflict in marketing.
If it did, can you share this breakdown with a friend? I appreciate it : )
Until next Sunday.
— Niall
WAIT… BEFORE YOU GO
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