Hi friends,

Picture this. You're walking through Piccadilly Circus, minding your own business, scrolling through your phone like everyone else.

Suddenly, a little kid on a giant billboard looks up and points directly at the sky above you.

You look up. There's a British Airways plane flying overhead.

The billboard lights up: "Look, it’s flight BA475 from Barcelona."

Your jaw drops. How did they...?

Well, buckle up. Today we're diving into one of the smartest pieces of advertising tech ever created + a psychological trigger that makes people buy faster than you can say "limited time offer."

Copywriting Example

British Airways

Most airline ads are boring. Stock footage of happy families. Pristine cabins. Flight attendants with plastic smiles.

British Airways said, "Screw that. Let's make people feel like kids again."

In 2013, they put up digital billboards in London. But these weren't regular billboards. They were connected to flight-tracking technology that detected BA planes flying overhead in real time.

Here's what happened:

A British Airways plane flies over. The billboard "wakes up." A child on screen stands up, points at the actual plane above you, and the screen displays the flight details: "BA475 from Barcelona".

Pure magic.

But here's the genius part: they didn't try to sell you anything in that moment.

The copy was minimal. Just the hashtag #lookup and the flight details.

No "Book now!" No "Limited time offer!" No desperation.

Instead, they sold you a feeling. The wonder of flight. The excitement of travel. The reminder that the world is accessible.

They made you remember what it felt like to be seven years old, pointing at planes and dreaming of adventure.

The result? 1.3 million video views. 45 million social impressions. And a Grand Prix at Cannes.

Takeaway? Sometimes the best sales message isn't a sales message at all. It's a moment that makes people feel something. Because people don't buy products. They buy emotions.

Marketing Secret

Loss Aversion

Quick question: What hurts more? Losing $100 or not gaining $100?

If you're like most humans, losing $100 feels way worse.

Even though the math is identical.

That's loss aversion. Our brains are wired to feel the pain of losing something twice as strongly as the pleasure of gaining the same thing.

Marketers have been exploiting this for decades.

Think about it:

• "Only 3 left in stock!"

• "Sale ends at midnight!"

• "Your cart will expire in 10 minutes!"

They're not selling you what you'll gain. They're terrifying you about what you'll lose.

Amazon is the master of this. Ever notice how they show you "Only 2 left in stock - order soon" right when you're about to buy?

They're not being helpful. They're triggering your loss aversion.

Your brain starts panicking: "What if I lose this deal? What if someone else gets the last one? What if I have to pay full price tomorrow?"

Suddenly, you're not thinking about whether you need the product. You're thinking about how stupid you'll feel if you miss out.

Netflix does this too. "Continue watching or we'll remove this from your list."

Not "Hey, want to watch more?" But "You're about to LOSE your progress."

Boom. You keep watching.

Here's how to use this ethically:

Frame your offers around what people stand to lose, not just what they'll gain.

Instead of: "Get 20% more leads!" Try: "Don't let your competitors steal 20% of your potential customers."

Instead of: "Save $500 on this course!" Try: "This price disappears Friday. Don't pay $500 more next week."

Instead of: "Improve your writing skills!" Try: "Stop losing clients to writers who actually know what they're doing."

The key word? Don't.

Because nobody wants to be the person who had the chance and blew it.

Your homework this week: Rewrite one piece of your marketing copy to emphasize what people will lose instead of what they'll gain. Test it. Watch what happens.

Talk soon,
Alen

P.S. I almost didn't include that British Airways example because I thought it might be too long. Then I realized I'd be losing the chance to share one of the coolest campaigns ever created. See what I did there?