#143

THE BRANDS BEATING YOU ARE NOT SPENDING MORE. THEY ARE JUST DOING THIS.

THE BRANDS BEATING YOU ARE NOT SPENDING MORE. THEY ARE JUST DOING THIS. artwork

Brand Retro · Ep. 143

THE BRANDS BEATING YOU ARE NOT SPENDING MORE. THEY ARE JUST DOING THIS.

19:05

Generic marketing is getting filtered out by bot traffic, by audiences who’ve seen every hook, and now by AI inside the inbox. Mike Brevik draws on 30 years of building brands like Nike, Jordan, Under Armour, and Harley-Davidson to share six practical moves for breaking through with personalization, using real examples from Dove, Snickers, Duolingo, and Sephora.

Key takeaways

  • Research Mike cites found that more than six of every 100 Google Shopping clicks are invalid, which means a $5 million ad budget can quietly lose $250,000 a year before a real person sees it.
  • If a message could have been written for any business in your category, it isn’t ready. Generic targeting produces generic results.
  • Your customers’ exact words are the most powerful copy you’ll ever write. Ask them what almost stopped them from buying.
  • Email is the only channel where you own the audience. Personalized emails see a 26% higher open rate than generic ones.
  • The strongest personalization isn’t a first name in a subject line. It’s showing up where your audience already lives and making your best customers feel like they’re on the inside.