Creative Director and Head of Copy @wellmark_health. Non-practising doctor. Author of Delusions of Brandeur. Contributor to Eat Your Greens.
Australia
Joined October 2012
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IT’S HERE, JUST (not) IN TIME FOR CHRISTMAS!
You can now order my book, beautifully designed by the team at @Gasp_4.
UK: amazon.co.uk/Delusions-Brand…
US: amazon.com/Delusions-Brandeu…
Aus: amazon.com.au/Delusions-Bran…
And searchable on other Amazon international sites (I think).
My take on the crazy baseball vs cricket discourse is this.
At the top level, both demand skills that most of us can barely even comprehend.
But there are big differences. Unless some talented freak happened to grow up playing both, nobody is making it in the other sport.
“So many 90s bands were better than Nirvana.”
Proceeds to list Clowngang 450, Wiggle Waggle and the Godheads, Neutralised, Mr Soko Seeks Solace, Armfarmer.
Ryan Wallman retweeted
Marketers love a long word. This tendency is gently mocked in the marketing glossary from the brilliant How Brands Blow by Ryan Wallman (@Dr_Draper) and @Giles_Edwards.
It's a witty take-down but behind it there's a serious point. Marketers often believe that the way to impress others is through unnecessarily verbose language. But it tends to backfire.
There's a wonderful 2006 study by Daniel Oppenheimer from Princeton that proves the point.
He gave people one of two versions of a dissertation abstract.
Version 1 was full of technical jargon and complex wording.
In Version 2, the complex terminology was swapped for simpler alternatives.
Participants who read the simplified version rated the author as 13% more intelligent than those who read the more complex one (4.8 vs 4.26).
Oppenheimer titled his paper, in a rare flash of academic humour, "Consequences of Erudite Vernacular Utilized Irrespective of Necessity: Problems with Using Long Words Needlessly".
So next time you feel the urge to write something superfluous like "customer-centric marketing" or use other complex wording in your comms - remember that verbosity backfires (or, that the utilisation of elevated linguistic complexity diminishes communicative effectiveness).
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If you're interested in learning about more behavioural science insights, sign up to my newsletter, AstroHacks. Each fortnight I look at one bias and explain how you can apply it to business or marketing challenges.
You can sign up here: astroten.us19.list-manage.co…
Ryan Wallman retweeted
Most “fallacies” don’t exist outside textbooks. Ad hominem, post hoc, argument from authority? In real life they’re often perfectly reasonable. Why I became a fallacy apostate, and why it's time to retire the fallacy laundry list. 🧵
Ryan Wallman retweeted
"Flat White or F*ck Off", quipped @rorysutherland in his own inimitable style re coffee shops at certain places, on a podcast w/ @JamieLaing_UK some months ago.
Turns out Charlie Hurst, Lucia Sudlow and Tom Noble- listeners of the pod, creative junkies, basically just a brilliant bunch of doers really- decided to .. well .. do something about it irl, at Tottenham Court Road in London this past week. With Rory’s blessing ofc.
Lovely sequence of events this. And so very generous of Rory to let them run with this idea.
[video clip via the Great Company with Jamie Laing podcast]
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How it started (on a pod) / How it’s going (out in the wild)
Throwback to the time that @wordmancopy and I were discussing the nuances of copywriting somewhere between Bristol and London.
Ryan Wallman retweeted
Take a look at this new interview with @wellmark_health's Ryan Wallman (@Dr_Draper), where you'll discover...
➡️ What motivated his book, How Brands Blow
➡️ What he thinks of the use of AI in content
+ much more ⤵️
writefulcopy.com/blog/interv…
#copywritinglegend
We’re truly humbled to announce…
Nah, not really – we’re chuffed! Our global campaign for Amgen has made it through to the finals of the 2025 @creativefloor awards.
Anyone who has worked in pharma will know that highly regulated creative work like this is not an easy task.
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What’s a band that you really don’t care for but they had one absolute banger that made you question yourself?
I’ll start.
youtube.com/watch?v=Oextk-If…
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Ryan Wallman retweeted
Michael Caine had a big house in LA, he once had David Hockney and his mum come to stay.
He noticed Hockney's mum on the balcony looking out over LA and asked her what she thought of it.
She said "I can't make it out, all this lovely sunshine and no one's got their washing out"
You’re 13 years old.
Your exposure to music has involved such luminaries as Bananarama and A-ha.
And then you hear this.
youtu.be/o1tj2zJ2Wvg?si=lH3o…
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Ryan Wallman retweeted
Have any of you struggled with how Corporate Americans speak?
I still don’t know what language it is.
So many words, so little substance.
People in the ad industry…
Imagine having 20 years of admirable service under your belt and a 19-year-old with no government experience decides your position is "wasteful." And now you, at age 50 with two kids who are still in high school, are out of a job despite being a top performer and doing everything right.
I gotta think even Trump supporters are feeling some kind of way about this.
AI is almost certain to eliminate entire industries, make a lot of people destitute, and cause enormous environmental harm. There’s also a non-negligible chance that it will lead to the end of humanity.
Other than that, it’s great.