Your ATTN Please
Posts
Your ATTN Please || Friday, 20 June

Your ATTN Please || Friday, 20 June

Charlotte Ellis
June 20, 2025

Wait, how did you get into my Notes app?

Ever seen a piece of content that was so relatable, you looked over your shoulder to see if someone was lurking behind your monstera, spying on your life? That’s the feeling you want your audience to have every time they see your content. And how do you pull that off? By tapping into a human truth that’s so real, so relatable, your audience will have no choice but to sigh and say, “omg, that’s so me.”

- Charlotte Ellis, Editor ♡

WHAT’S HAPPENING IN MARKETING TODAY?

Atari destroys ChatGPT in chess, Aussies swear off American products & A24 picks up YT horror series

Atari console from 1977 "absolutely wrecks" ChatGPT at chess.

Wait what. You’re telling me the high-tech AI chatbot, despite all its advances, can still get its ass beat by a console from 50 years ago??? Like when Jimmy Carter was still president??? Insane. One would think the cutting-edge tech of AI would crush the primordial Atari. But this was not the case. In a post on LinkedIn, Citrix software engineer Robert Caruso explained how an Atari 2600 running Atari Chess absolutely destroyed the OpenAI chatbot.

"ChatGPT got absolutely wrecked on the beginner level," Caruso wrote. "This was after a conversation we had regarding the history of AI in Chess which led to it volunteering to play Atari Chess. It wanted to find out how quickly it could beat a game that only thinks 1-2 moves ahead." Apparently, despite been given a baseline board to learn the game, it kept mixing up rooks and bishops, misreading moves, and "repeatedly lost track" of where its pieces were. Awkward.

Millions of Australians are no longer buying American products.

According to Sky News, new research from comparison site Finder revealed that 23% of Aussies are avoiding buying goods due to Trump's tariffs. Another 31% say they plan on avoiding buying American products over the coming months. That means 11.6 million Aussies are either avoiding or plan to avoid purchasing US-made goods. And this could potentially deliver a multi-billion dollar blow to US brands trying to get a foothold in Australian households.

Graham Cooke, Head of Consumer Research Graham Cooke said, “the great Aussie Trump dump signals more than protest – it’s a potential pivot in loyalty that local and alternative brands are poised to capitalise on.”

The internet’s scariest YouTube video is becoming an A24 horror film.

Oh a24, you always know just what I like. Mining the scariest parts of YouTube for more horrifying films? Hell yeah. Specifically the cult-following series "The Backrooms". The studio has officially green-lit a movie based on the glitchy, found-footage horror shorts created by Kane Pixels, who will now be the youngest director to ever work with a24 at just 19 years old.

"The Backrooms" has garnered over 190 million views over the years. The series is based on the idea that people can “no clip” out of reality into the most terrifying, eerie parts of the internet with no logic, no way out. Sign. Me. Tf. Up.

-Sophie Randell, Writer

DEEP DIVE

Why great content starts with real human truths

It’s no secret that there’s a lot of noise out there.

Your inbox is full. Your feed is chaos. AI is pumping out content faster than you can say “GPT.” And your brain? Probably buffering. Mine is, fosho. So if your content isn’t tapping into something true, it’s not going to work. Full stop.

This isn’t about trends, tone of voice, or the latest shiny content format (although those help). This is about emotional resonance. Audience instinct. That little, “ugh, me” moment that makes a person stop scrolling and start paying attention. Because today, the only content that cuts through is content that feels human.

Stop marketing to “personas” and start marketing to actual people.

Too many marketers get stuck in a content loop that’s technically correct, but totally soulless. They’re writing for "24-35-year-old urban professionals who enjoy boutique fitness and craft beer." BECAUSE GIRL, in this economy?? Who TF? I’ll tell you who it’s not: actual people who are spiralling over rent prices, fighting for screen time, and just trying to keep their plants alive (it’s me, I’m people).

This is why great content doesn’t come from demographics. It comes from insight. Real, lived, slightly-messy human truths that you can’t Google but you can observe—if you’re listening.

A skincare brand might say, “We help reduce redness.” A human truth might be, “Your skin shouldn’t betray you when you're already anxious about that date.”
A productivity app might say, “Boost your workflow.” A human truth might be, “You don’t need another tool. You need someone to stop asking ‘circle back?' and two seconds to yourself to take a f*cking breath.

The best brand work must not only understand the customer journey, but the customer’s life and the problems they face.

Culture moves at the speed of memes. Human truths last much longer.

It’s tempting to chase trends. And look, hopping on the right moment can work (shoutout to every brand that managed to be funny during the Roman Empire TikTok era). But trends are surface-level. Human truths? Those are forever.

Let’s take a classic:

Last week I wrote about how Mario Kart isn’t just a game. It’s a cultural ritual that taps into something deeper: the joy of friendly competition, the agony of a blue shell, the nostalgia of simpler times. That’s why it’s lasted decades… and why brands that tap into shared emotional memory (instead of the newest viral audio) actually build audience loyalty.

Or another:

Canva doesn’t merely sell design templates. It taps into the emotional reality of being a non-designer expected to “make it look professional.” It understands the panic of last-minute pitch decks, the shame spiral of Comic Sans, the pure relief of dragging and dropping your way to competence. That’s why people love it. It’s a little leg up.

You can A/B test your heart out, but if your content lacks an emotional core, you’ll still be staring at flat metrics.

Humans are wired for connection. We share what makes us laugh, cry, or feel a little more understood, not what makes us say, “Wow, what a well-positioned omnichannel campaign.”

So! consider this your permission slip to get weirdly specific. Get painfully honest. Get emotionally accurate. And then wrap it up in creative that doesn’t just say something smart—it feels it.

But how do you actually find human truths without going on a soul-searching retreat?

You don’t need a PhD in anthropology to find the emotional pulse of your audience. Just do these four things:

Lurk where your audience hangs out. Reddit threads. TikTok comments. Substack replies. Anywhere people are candid and unfiltered.
Ask better questions. Not “What does our product do?” but “What’s going on in their life when they want this?” or “What emotion drives this behaviour?”
Zoom in, not out. Specificity is your friend. “Burnout” is broad. “Crying in the office loo while trying to cancel a dentist appointment” is a vibe.
Keep a swipe file of truths. Screenshot tweets. Jot down overheard convos. Save TikToks that punch you in the gut. These are literal gold mines.

The best-performing content often comes from the most vulnerable insights.

Because people don’t want brands that talk at them. They want ones that get them in their messy, raw entirety. Now, before you post, ask yourself, does this sound like something a person - a real person LIVING in today’s world - would feel? If not, go back. Get real. Then do it again.

Human first. Always. The clicks will follow. Trust.

-Sophie Randell, Writer

TREND PLUG

If you see me in America

Set to the soundtrack "Nope your too late i already died" by creators wifiskeleton and i wanna be a jack-o-lantern, this trend features the lines:

“If you see me in America, I might say hi / But if you meet me out in Europe, I’m a talkative guy.”

This one's all about contrast—one version of you that’s chill, quiet, maybe a little emotionally unavailable… and another that’s unfiltered, fully animated, and living your best life. Most creators are using this trend to show off a personality switch based on location—think home country vs anywhere else. But it’s also catching on as a fun way to highlight glow-ups based on company, mood, or even topic of conversation.

How you can jump on this trend:

Use the audio over a clip or image of you in reserved mode—your “America” moment. Then cut to a second clip where you're louder, looser, and totally unfiltered—your “Europe” energy. Adapt the OST to reflect your own version of the switch-up, making sure the timing of the images and text line up with the lyrics.

For brand accounts, this one’s a fun way to show duality between your people, your products, or your events. There are always two sides to the story… and let’s be honest, we all love seeing both!

A few ideas to get you started

Professional you on a client call vs. unfiltered you in the group chat five seconds after it ends
The poised founder at the panel discussion vs. post-event, shoes off, eating fries in the hotel lobby
You training the newbies in “company best-practice” vs. your marketing team spiralling over a rogue idea that just might go viral

- Helena Masters, Copywriter

TODAY ON THE YAP PODCAST

ASK THE EDITOR

I've got a few Reels that have done really well. Can I repost them? -Alex

Hey Alex,

You can and should reuse content that performs well. Trial Reels is the perfect place to test different variations of the same piece of content. For example, you can try changing just the OST or the background audio and see if you can make a successful piece of content even better.

You can also just repost the same content periodically. The algorithm won't penalise you for posting a piece of content more than once, and each time you do, you have the opportunity to reach new audiences. People don't tend to remember content they saw several weeks ago, so even if it does reach the same people, I wouldn't worry. So if you have content that's been successful, definitely keep sharing it.