When I started "Copywriting with AI," I thought I was solving the right problem.
AI prompting for better headlines, faster copy research, clever psychological triggers.
But after a year of diving deep into copywriting as both practitioner and teacher, I had an aha moment.
The bowling alley moment.
I was bowling with friends recently, and there was a seven-year-old named Noah in the lane next to us.
Every time it was his turn, the system automatically put up guardrails.
When Noah had to leave early, I took his turn.
And found myself bowling with those same guardrails.
That's when it hit me: AI prompting for copywriters is like bowling with guardrails.
It keeps you safe, helps you hit a few pins, but prevents the real breakthroughs.
The best copywriters I've studied—Ogilvy, Sugarman, Hopkins—they didn't get their "aha moments" from formulas.
They obsessed over products for weeks, sometimes months.
They'd think about the problem unconsciously until the perfect creative insight emerged from nowhere.
That's the art form I fell in love with.
But it's not what my audience needed.
The audience wake-up call.
Working at VyB Creative Agency opened my eyes.
The executives we serve—VPs of Marketing, CMOs, Creative Directors—they don't need copywriting tactics.
They need strategic intelligence.
Especially with campaigns in the last 8 weeks.
When I analyzed who was actually engaging with "Copywriting with AI," ...
I saw the pattern: young entrepreneurs, startup founders, people just starting in copywriting.
Excellent people solving real problems, but not the decision-makers our agency works with.
Meanwhile, fractional CMOs—managing 5 different clients across 5 different industries—were asking different questions:
- "What strategic patterns work across sectors?
- What can I learn from that financial services campaign that applies to my SaaS client?"
The strategic pattern discovery.
Everything clicked when we filmed 20 YouTube videos breaking down successful campaigns last February.
(By the way, they come out this Sunday! I can't wait for you to see them.)
My team and I started noticing something fascinating: the strategies that worked weren't industry-specific.
There were universal patterns beneath the tactics.
That's when I discovered my real interest and what I feel I'm actually quite good at wasn't just AI prompting.
It was pattern recognition across industries.
The multi-AI breakthrough.
Here's where it gets interesting.
When VyB invested in ChatGPT Pro, Claude Pro, and Gemini Pro, I started cross-checking their analyses of the same campaigns.
Each AI found different insights.
The disagreements revealed blind spots.
The consensus revealed rock-solid patterns.
Suddenly, I wasn't just analyzing campaigns.
I was conducting strategic intelligence research that could help executives make better decisions across industries.
I was quickly becoming their go-to for research.
A kind of "marketing research assistant."
The gap nobody's filling.
As we researched the newsletter landscape, we found something else surprising: there's plenty of tactical content, but almost no strategic intelligence for marketing executives.
No one is taking successful campaigns from the last 8 weeks, extracting the strategic patterns, and showing how those patterns work across different industries.
That's exactly what fractional CMOs and VPs need. Not more tactics. They need a lot of things, not least strategic intelligence they can confidently present to leadership teams.
Marketing strategic patterns (not just tactics) to clients who as "what's working right now???"
What changes for you.
Starting next week, you'll receive strategic intelligence briefings that will make you more valuable to your clients.
Each newsletter will:
- Analyze one highly successful campaign from the last 8 weeks
- Extract the strategic pattern that made it work
- Show how that pattern succeeds across 3 different industries
- Give you confidence indicators: where the pattern works and where it doesn't
Whether you're a copywriter serving clients or a marketing leader making strategic decisions, understanding why campaigns work at this strategic level makes you the consultant who can spot opportunities others miss.
All delivered in 6 minutes or less.
For those who want to go deeper, I'm building an Intelligence Vault with the complete multi-AI research, video commentary, and the all the research behind the 6 min letter.
All for free.
Think of it as having a fractional CMO's research team in your corner.
Why this matters for copywriters and marketing leaders.
Whether you're writing copy for clients or making strategic decisions for your company, understanding campaign patterns at this level transforms how valuable you become.
When you can walk into client meetings knowing what strategic patterns are working across industries right now, you become the consultant who keeps everyone ahead of the curve.
Marketing is changing faster than ever.
The copywriters and marketers who succeed aren't just tactically skilled.
They're strategically informed.
That's what The Strategy Signal delivers: strategic intelligence for marketing leaders who need to see what works across industries, not just in their own backyard.
The guardrails are coming off.
Ready to see what patterns emerge?
Matthew
P.S. I really hope you'll stay for this evolution.
Getting to know why certain ads and marketing campaigns work while others don't will allow any copywriter to become that consultant for their clients.
Keeping you and any marketing leader ahead of the curve.
If this evolution doesn't align with what you need, I completely understand.
The unsubscribe link is below, and there are no hard feelings.
But if strategic intelligence sounds like exactly what's been missing from your toolkit, you're going to love what's coming. Complete Videos on successful Ad breakdowns (over 20 of them and 60 youtube shorts).
So everything a copywriter and a CMO would love.
Finally, email me here if you have thoughts, comments, requests or questions.
Seriously I read each email.