What Can Jack Sparrow Teach Us About Copywriting?

I admit that I am a huge fan of Captain Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp). Not only of him, but of all the other characters and every aspect of this universe that brings to life this fun, epic, and authentic story!

Pirates of the Caribbean, to me, is a masterpiece!

I am referring only to the first three films, directed by Gore Verbinski:

The films that came after these, in my opinion, are just nonsense.

I am passionate about these stories! I am not ashamed to say that I have watched these films millions of times, and I intend to watch them many more times throughout my time on this planet!

It's impossible not to fall in love with Jack Sparrow. Surely, he has been one of the most iconic characters in Cinema in recent times.

Jack Sparrow, better said, Captain Jack Sparrow, is an expert in surprising and leaving his mark wherever he goes!

He is never forgotten by anyone. Anyone who crosses paths with Jack will have him marked in their memory.

Jack can teach us much more than just drinking rum and walking in a funny way.

Every single one of Jack's actions, every step he takes, and every plan he makes is done with a very clear goal in mind! Jack doesn't waste time!

He knows how to divide his attention in the best way. Sparrow is always aware of what is happening at every moment, so he can make the best decisions to achieve the desired result.

Jack thinks like a good copywriter!

While we copywriters are designing a campaign, email sequence, or social media content, for example, it is necessary to have a clear vision of the goal to be achieved.

Copywriters need to be tuned in!

To create authentic strategies that stand out among the competition, copywriters need to know the market trends and study a lot about the niche they work in.

Every word in a copy text needs to have a purpose! Nothing can be placed there by chance.

Even the most beloved belongings that Jack carries with him throughout these stories can serve as a starting point for various inspirations for us copywriters.

At least, for this crazy writing here it serves as a great inspiration!

I am talking specifically about Jack's compass! Spoiler, it doesn't point north, instead, this compass points to what its bearer desires most!

Watching Jack use his compass to know what he, and others, desire is simply incredible!

When he needs someone else to use his compass, Jack manages to convince his "victim" to desire what he needs that person to desire!

Imagine if our buyer persona had a compass like that?

We may not have access to Jack's compass, but with the right knowledge and skills, a good copywriter can uncover the greatest desires, pains, and fears of their persona.

Jack Sparrow lives copywriting in practice!! Persuasive like no one else, if needed, he convinces even the most skeptical. This pirate knows how to surprise and makes everyone around him buy into his ideas in the most subtle way possible!

Wait, you might be thinking that I am saying that the copywriter's job is to deceive people, writing like an unethical pirate. But that's not it!

My goal here is to show you that we can seek inspiration for our work in many places! Even in the life of Captain Jack Sparrow!

When I started making comparisons between Jack's stories and the world of marketing and copywriting, my mind opened up to a new portal for the world of ideas and inspiration.

I find it incredible that I never get tired of following Jack. Every time I rewatch these stories, I am always surprised because I always notice something new about the narrative and draw new conclusions about why this film attracts me so much.

Jack Sparrow is authentic and innovative, without having to force it. His tactics and his way of conducting his plans are what keep me hooked on this narrative!

In my analysis, the reason why this narrative never loses its charm is due to its authenticity. These films are immune to the test of time.

Jack will always be the same Jack, with his ways and quirks.

From the point of view of a storyteller and a student of character development, Jack Sparrow is not a character who transforms in a classic way, following the traditional hero's journey.

Even though he doesn't undergo transformations, Jack Sparrow reinvents himself!

His ability to reinvent himself at every moment and adapt to new challenges makes his stories always very interesting.

Training this ability is essential in the daily life of a copywriter. We need to learn how to reinvent ourselves. In the digital world, everything changes very quickly. To keep your writing in constant evolution, you don't need to adopt all the changes that come from outside.

But, you need to learn to use your voice in many different ways. Be careful not to lose your authenticity!

Captain Jack Sparrow teaches us a lot about building expectations.

An essential point for writing a good copy is knowing how to leave open loops, like clues in a puzzle. You need to know how to generate curiosity and leave the audience eagerly awaiting the next chapter.

Our dear Jack is the master of build-ups! He knows very well how to leave those question marks scattered around, making everyone who follows him wait with great excitement for his next move.

Sparrow knows how to throw a premiere!

The presentation of the character Captain Jack Sparrow is an exceptional lesson in character development. And it is also a great source of inspiration for copywriters!

Thinking about your campaign, your launch, your warm-up, or your content production. In these cases, when we are specifically talking about sales, your job is to identify what problem your audience has that your product will solve.

It is necessary to highlight what transformation that service or product will cause, always using the psychological triggers that seem most appropriate for each case.

So let's seek inspiration for our sales strategies through Jack Sparrow's debut on screen!

In his first scene, Sparrow is seen with his hair blowing in the wind, while the sun shines on him, and the blue Caribbean sea surrounds him.

The famous Captain is standing on the mast of the ship, feeling like the master of the sea!

A few seconds later he jumps from the mast, and we see that he is in a flooded canoe, nothing extraordinary about that. A perfectly executed expectation break!

In a few minutes of screen time, without any dialogue, we understand a lot about the main aspects of this pirate's personality!

We understand a lot without anyone telling us anything!!

One of the pillars of writing a great copy is knowing how to show while saying little! The job of copywriting is not to produce super long texts, telling all aspects and minute details of the product you are selling.

Copywriting is, above all, a conversation you have with a friend.

A conversation in which you listen, speak, recognize the pain of the person on the other side, and show a possible solution to the presented problem.

The copywriter's job is to lead their reader to act in search of the transformation.

Let's do a reverse engineering of this first scene of Jack to find inspiration.

Sparrow is introduced in glory. Shortly after, we see that his situation was not so spectacular after all, he was in a flooded canoe.

He arrives at his destination empty-handed, in fact, he arrives full of confidence that his plans will work out, but he doesn't have much more than that.

What your audience needs to see about your product is how it will take them from a canoe about to sink to feeling like Jack Sparrow on his ship, master of the sea, for example.

Let me continue telling you about Jack to get you to think about a few more things.

Sparrow knows very well the importance of developing an intelligent strategy.

In the first film, right after we meet Jack, he finds himself in a situation where he needs to devise a plan to escape from a port town.

For Jack's escape plan to work, he needs to find a way to prepare a certain ship, anchored at the port, to set sail.

The problem is that it is not possible to do this with only two crew members, in this case, him and his adventure ally, Will Turner (Orlando Bloom).

The solution Jack finds is, as always, very smart and creative!

He and Will invade another ship, anchored a bit further from the port, to attract the attention of the guards who are chasing them.

They begin to carry out the standard procedures to set sail with the ship, even knowing that the two alone will not succeed.

As Sparrow expected, the guards, to reach the two fugitives, set sail with the ship anchored near the beach, the one Jack wanted to steal from the beginning. And finally, they set out to meet the pirate and his partner.

When the guards reach their destination, they quickly board the ship Jack and Will were on to capture them. The two, hidden, waited until all the guards came to look for them.

At the right moment, Will and Jack jump to the desired ship, which is now empty and ready to sail, thanks to the guards and their commander.

Jack shouts to the guards' commander as he escapes with the ship:

"Thank you for preparing our departure, Commodore!"

The desperate guards prepare to set sail to catch Turner and Sparrow. But they can't because Jack broke the helm, making it impossible to leave immediately.

One of the guards approaches the commander and says: "he must be the best pirate I have ever seen!"

Here I can see several valid lessons for my life as a writer in this somewhat scary digital world.

Captain Jack Sparrow teaches us the importance of creating a good strategy!

He devised every step of his plan, which allowed him to execute it perfectly and be prepared to deal with unforeseen events.

Jack knew his limitations and the obstacles he would face, but most importantly, he knew exactly how to overcome them. Just like a good copywriter who knows exactly how to break their audience's objections.

He knew how to leave his mark and make everyone stop to follow his steps.

This, for me, is one of the main pillars of a good copy text. Grabbing attention and making the audience stop and pay attention to your words.

Jack knew how to choose the perfect ally. Will was the right person for this task; he was, in fact, the only one who could help Jack at that moment.

A good copywriter knows how to choose the right tools to achieve the set goal. We need to learn to choose our Will Turners in this writing life.

In the second film, Dead Man's Chest, we can learn a lot by seeing how Jack deals with unforeseen events.

All his movements here in the second film, as expected, are orchestrated for his plan to succeed. But of course, he needs to deal with several unforeseen events along the way.

Jack always finds a way not to be shaken when things go wrong. He always has a trick up his sleeve to avoid leaving loose ends.

A good copywriter needs to be prepared for unforeseen events. They need to know how to adjust the route quickly so that their work reaches where it needs to go.

So much so that, spoiler alert, Jack is "killed" at the end of the second film.

But he knows so well how to establish his importance and irreplaceable presence that right after he is taken to another world, all his followers are preparing to rescue him.

Of course, I exaggerated a bit here. It's obvious that he had to come back somehow because he is the main character, but for my purpose here, let's ignore that part.

In the third film, after Jack returned from his supposed death, he went to pay a visit, kind of mandatory, to his friend Lord Cutler Beckett (Tom Hollander). It contains irony, this lord is bad news!

Beckett is the big villain in this story. He and Jack are enemies who occasionally meet to drink rum together. In this case, they met to discuss a possible negotiation.

When Jack and Beckett's meeting comes to an end, that is, when Sparrow sees his chance to leave, we witness another brilliant idea from our pirate.

For Jack to reach the ship that came to take him out of his enemy's habitat, he makes a very well-thought-out makeshift device using a cannon and the main mast ropes of the ship. By firing the cannon, Jack's makeshift device works, and the mast rope pulls him up.

Sparrow manages to escape, and to top it off, he leaves his enemy unable to follow him. Because when he fired the cannon, the ball hit the mast. Beckett was forced to stay put for a long time to fix the mess Jack made on his ship.

After Jack Sparrow's chaos, one of Beckett's ship crew members comes up to him and says, completely impressed with what had just happened: "Does he plan everything, or does he improvise along the way?"

Balancing these plates is also essential in a copywriter's life. You need to know when to take risks, when to change, and when to follow exactly what was strategically planned.

Well, what do I want to conclude with everything I said?

Jack is a captivating character. He knows how to lead a conversation, he knows how to choose the right words. He knows when to listen and when to make a huge appearance.

The biggest lesson I take from following and analyzing Jack's adventures is his fantastic storytelling ability.

Everything I told you here about his tricks and plans is only successful because this pirate knows how to involve everyone in his narrative.

Everything becomes easier when we master the art of storytelling! And to master this art, one of the most effective exercises is analyzing characters and stories, exactly what I did here.

I love hunting for inspiration for my work in different places. We never know where our next big idea will finally be discovered.

I don't know how it is for you on the other side. But this writer here constantly needs to find inspiration.

Copywriting can be very challenging! Do you know why? Because you don't write for yourself.

When you are writing poetry, or a novel, you can just think about what you feel. Copywriting is not like that! What the audience thinks, desires, seeks, is what matters most.

I suggest a fun exercise. Since we have to master the art of crafting this conversation with the other, which is what copywriting consists of, how about developing a copy thinking about convincing Captain Jack Sparrow?

Now that I've told you quite a bit about him, you have the necessary information to create this conversation!

I hope this humble dedication to Captain Jack Sparrow can bring you insights and inspiration, as it did for me. Or at least, serve as entertainment!