Paynter’s 10/10 label copy

We've got a lot of love for Paynter here at DWG.

We both drool over their chore jackets. We love their slow approach to business. We loved their pandemic messaging.

And, most of all, we love that their whole brand is about attention to detail and enjoying the good things.

And what says attention to detail and enjoying the good stuff more than a label in their jackets saying "eat a bowl of Coco Pops"?

Absolutely no notes.

We find ourselves saying this a lot, but there's real power in surprising a customer and making them smile. A hidden bit of copy in your footer. A clever 404 page. A label like this.

And while Paynter make jackets, a lot of their messaging is built on this idea of surprises and joy.

(Their newsletter not only thanks new subscribers by name, but has a Lucky Links section that you pick a number and get taken to an article or video or something they've loved that month. Really lovely stuff.)

So having CocoPops on the label in their jackets is super on-brand for them.

(It's a very similar move to the one we looked at for Hiut, too.)

There's some really clever science-y stuff going on here, too.

Basically, our brains love it when we expect to read something and find another thing instead. Neuroscientists call it a reward prediction error. So when we expect to see "hand wash only" and we see CocoPops instead, our brains flag it as "hey, that's not what I was expecting" then a load of dopamine shoots into our brains and we commit to memory. Plus! Our brains also log those feel good hormones as related to the brand too.

In other words, when brands make us laugh or surprise us, we like them more. (Groundbreaking, I know.)

But even without all that cleverness, we just absolutely love a brand that is so committed to their voice that it's everywhere, from their homepage to their emails to their footer to the labels in their clothes.

(Plus, that one-two punch of surprise and funny on this label practically guarantees people want to share it, generating free word of mouth. Double smart.)

Here's the thing to pinch: does your copy disappear in the cracks? Do the bits of copy that aren't immediately tied to revenue feel as on-brand as your homepage or your about page? Or does your brand disappear? How can you dial that up and make sure every interaction a customer has with you feels on-brand and consistent?