Glossary > Creative Killers > Generic Language

Creative Killers

Generic Language

Vague marketing speak anyone could write.


Your ad sounds like it was written by a committee. Every sentence could belong to any product, any brand, any competitor. The viewer's brain has zero reason to remember what you just said.


Why This Works

The brain discards information it can't attach to a specific context. Generic language fails to create memory traces because there's nothing distinctive to encode. When nothing is specific, nothing is believable — and nothing is remembered.


In Your Ads

Read your ad copy out loud. If you could swap your product name for a competitor's and the copy still works, you've got generic language. The fix: replace every abstract claim with a concrete, product-specific detail that only YOU could say.


When This Breaks

Your ad says "amazing results" or "transform your life." Those are filler phrases that could be auto-generated in three seconds. If the copy sounds like a template, it is a template.


Example

"Transform your business with our revolutionary solution." → "Cut your monthly reporting from 6 hours to 6 minutes. The template pulls from your Shopify dashboard automatically."


Related Terms

Early PayoffLow StakesMechanism DriftBenefit First FramingProduct Before Permission

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