Monday Memo
A Byte of Knowledge
Nobody swallows a wild promise whole.
So we don't serve it whole.
We introduce one bold claim at a time. Back it up. And we wait for the quiet mental nod… OK, I buy that.
Then the next claim lands. More proof. Another nod.
By claim four or five, the reader has said "yes" so many times they're on autopilot.
And the FULL promise...which would sound insane printed together on a single page...glides right past their BS detector.
The impatient copywriter dumps every bold claim into one pile and wonders why readers flinch.
We lay them out like stepping stones across a creek.
Each one solid enough to stand on before the next appears.
The order of your proof matters almost as much as the proof itself.
🚀 Whether you're selling a $50 supplements or a $10,000 coaching program – having these 5 'Copy Blocks' on your landing page could be the difference between crickets and an avalanche of cash flow.
Discover All 5 'Copy Blocks' Now
Something to Ponder
We Asked – AI Answered
Our Question:
"How has Barnes & Noble managed to revitalize itself in the digital era, even as venerable industries like newspapers fade into obsolescence"
AI's Answer: 📚 The Barnes & Noble Resurrection
SITUATION: 2019. Barnes & Noble is valued at roughly the price of the unsold books on its shelves — $683 million. Amazon owns 50%+ of the book market. Borders has been dead since 2011. Every indicator says physical bookstores are over.
Fast forward to today: 60 new stores planned for 2026, an IPO in the works, and malls begging B&N to move in.
👤 THE OPERATOR
James Daunt — former banker, indie bookseller since 1990 (London), rescued UK chain Waterstones from bankruptcy in 2011. Elliott Management acquired B&N and installed him as CEO with one job: save it.
🔧 WHAT HE ACTUALLY CHANGED
1) Killed centralized control
- Old model: Corporate HQ dictated every shelf in every store nationwide
- New model: Local managers curate based on what their community reads
- One store goes deep on military history. Another builds out kids' books. He effectively "un-chained the chain."
2) Destroyed the returns waste machine
- Old B&N flooded stores with inventory, then ate the shipping cost on whatever didn't sell
- By 2024, the return rate dropped to just 7%
- Millions saved. Shelves now stocked with books people actually want.
3) Made bookselling a real career
- Created 10 internal promotion levels with meaningful pay raises
- Nearly all store managers now promoted from within
- Result → staff who know books, care about the product, and stay
4) Turned stores into destinations, not warehouses
- Maze-like layouts. Themed tables. Local events. Café culture.
- Positioning stores as community "third places" built around books, cafés, and social discovery
🏬 At Albuquerque's Coronado Center, B&N outperformed anchors Macy's and JCPenney — driving 7.9% of total mall traffic ICSC from a fraction of the square footage.
💀 WHY NEWSPAPERS DIED BUT BOOKSTORES DIDN'T
Newspapers sold information — a commodity Google and social media deliver faster, free. There's nothing a print newspaper offers that a screen can't replicate cheaper.
Books are different. Daunt understood that the store itself is the product:
- 🔍 Discovery — stumbling onto something you didn't know existed
- 🤝 Community — BookTok turned reading into a social identity for Gen Z
- 🧠 Curation — a human bookseller recommending titles beats an algorithm
- ☕ Experience — 45 minutes browsing with coffee isn't replicable on a phone
Amazon won the convenience war. Daunt stopped fighting it and competed on a dimension Amazon can't digitize.
🎯 THE LESSON FOR YOUR BUSINESS
Three questions every operator should steal from the Daunt playbook:
- Where am I competing on convenience against someone who will always beat me? Stop. Concede that ground.
- What can my business deliver that a screen literally cannot? Go all-in there.
- Am I trusting my frontline people or micromanaging from HQ? Daunt's entire turnaround was built on letting local operators operate.
The businesses dying right now are the ones still trying to out-Amazon Amazon. The ones thriving found the thing technology can't replace — and doubled down.
Thanks for reading the Monday Memo.
Until next time!
The AI Marketers
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