Sooo, I just finished that new "Avatar:The Last Airbender" series by Netflix.

And there's a scene about midway through the show which caught my attention (don't worry, this is NOT a plot spoiler... as if I'd spoil a ten year old story).

You see, one of the characters in the story is girl named Katara, and her special skill is something called "water bending".

Think of it as the power to control water and use it as a weapon.

There are three other types of bending:

Air bending...

Fire bending...

And earth bending...

They're EXACTLY what you think they are.

Now get this:

Early in her training, Katara got attacked by a group of earth benders who were flinging disc shaped rocks at her. This was such an effective attack, she wanted to see how she could do the same thing, but using water.

She managed to replicate the attack by flinging ice discs at her enemies.

When experienced water bending warriors saw her use this new move...

They were floored!

Why?

Because in all their experience...

Not once did ANY of them consider fighting this way.

The water benders had spent their lives isolated from the other benders, and as such they could not cross polinate their techniques.

What Katara did, taking the knowledge from one discipline and applying to another to create something new.

Why is this so important?

Because that's literally what copywriting is.

I'm serious.

Copywriting isn't a single skill.

It's a bizarre salad of skills which, for some reason beyond me...

Mesh up together to create words which sell.

The separate, unrelated skills in copy include:

Storytelling

Persuasion

Psychological manipulation

Sales

And summoning the spirit of Billy Maise.

... each of these is a different discipline.

Each of these has to be studies and implemented independently of the other.

And the funny part, is each of these actually feed into each other.

This is why many of the copywriting greats tell you that you're not going to Gid Gud at writing copy just studying copy. You're gonna Git Gud by studying other things, and letting your brain join the dots on its own.

This, is legit one of the fastest ways to improve as a copywriter.

... okay, enough of that.

Till the next wave of madness...

Vae Victis

Jay

Wanna reply to this email?

Tap here: jaymakoni@outlook.com

PS:

I kid you not when I say one discipline feeds another.

My ability to framework everything I do comes directly from how I had to learn a defined process when drawing.

My recent skill in writing and shooting videos came from my experience writing emails.

One skill feeds another.

So have a life outside of writing copy, and you'll be surprised how it comes back to being a better copywriter in the end.

PPS:Never thought I'd say this...

But Netflix actually nailed this adapation (obviously it's NOT perfect, and they did make it line up with "some" modern sensibilities).

Either way, if you enjoyed the animated version, you'll love this one.