How to use words to stop the scroll

I was scrolling Instagram the other day when I was targeted with this ad from a brand called Understatement Underwear.

A close-up of a person in a sheer floral bra. Text reads: “Sorry! We’re out of steel-wired, super push-up boob prisons.”

I’ve never heard of the brand before, but a quick scan of their website tells me they’re a Swedish “female-founded, female-run force of change” and that they want to “contribute to a world where women can be whoever they want to be – liberated and unrestricted. One butt at a time.”

Okay, some of the wording feels a bit like we’ve heard it all before (‘disrupt’) but I’m liking the ideas. And I’m LOVING the gorgeous pics of women of many ages and sizes in the undies. 

But back to this ad. Why did it do the impossible and stop my endless scroll? 

That wording. Firstly, “Sorry!” I’m wondering what are they sorry for? It’s unexpected. It’s intriguing. 

Then there’s THAT sentence: “We’re out of steel-wired, super push-up boob prisons.” Now, breaking it down to what it really means, it means: “We don’t stock underwired bras.” 

If you’ve been here a while you’ll know I’m always banging on about using our customer’s voice to influence our copy. If our customers call their sofa a sofa, we shouldn’t be going around saying couch. (Check out this example from dating app Thursday to see this technique in all its glory.) This is the exact opposite of that. When have you ever said the words “steel-wired, super push-up boob prisons”? Never. 

So, what are they doing? They’re taking every possible opportunity to make you feel the pain and misery of an uncomfortable bra. A bit like our friends at Seafood & Eat It, they’re using language to make the alternative to their products sound super unenticing. 

So it’s not underwired, it’s “steel-wired”. Not even metal. Steel. 

It’s not a boob holder or a boob cage. It’s a “boob prison”. 

They’ve taken every single element of that copy to its fullest expression, and I’m here for it. 

Why does it work?

• It’s unexpected: from the “Sorry!” to the extreme (even violent?) language, it’s enough to stop the scroll.

• It’s dramatic: they’ve taken every single word to its furthest possible expression.

• It’s funny: there’s humour in the drama.

• It’s got a point of view: we know exactly how they feel about underwired bras and it makes us want to be in their comfy boob gang.

Make it work for you

• Now this technique is super powerful, but that doesn’t mean we can just go spraying it all over our copy. A bit like taking too many antibiotics, it stops working after a while. 

• So save it for when you really need to grab their attention, either because they’re mega distracted (hi, Instagram scrollers) or you’ve got something mega to say. 

• Take your straight-up regular sentence and dial each word up to 11. In this case, the sentence hinges around the idea of comfort. But it will work with any other customer benefit you can think of. Value, taste, quality, style. 

• Find words that are as emotive as possible to make your point and your point of view as sharp as possible. 

This is an excerpt from my monthly newsletter, The Right Place. To get it straight to your inbox, add your name to the list. It’s currently on a brief hiatus, but sign up now to be the first to know when I’m back.