I spent last weekend in beautiful Park City, UT for a buddy’s bachelor party and got the flu the day I got home.

So I had a lot of screen time to come up with ideas this week.

This week’s riffs for the creative vandals, outlaws, misfits, and pirates of the internet:

• Create Cooler: Casey Neistat’s key to content

• Build Better: A library of starter stories & case studies

• Earn Easier: Add bullets in the chamber of your copywriting arsenal

• Break The Rules: The greatest marketing run since the 90’s Bulls

• The Hit List: Music to turn up and tune out

The Sultan Of Story

Casey Neistat is my favorite video creator of all time.

His quick-cut, jarring edits keep your attention through every second of screen time - a tough task in the age of small-screen media.

His shots are cinematic in their own way with a New York “street meets grunge” style to them.

My other favorite YouTuber is Peter Mckinnon - who uses his own beautiful style of cinematography and color.

Peter keeps me hooked because of the visual essence of his videos.

Casey keeps me hooked because of one thing he does better than anybody else:

He tells a story every single time.

800 Days In A Row

A few years ago, Casey did something crazy.

He vlogged 800 days in a row.

By then he had already been writing, shooting, and directing for 20 years.

He sold a show to HBO, won some awards, and was running million-dollar budget ad campaigns for Fortune 500 companies.

Throughout all the types of content he ever produced, he stuck to the most important rule every time…

All content needs a story.

The Three-Act Structure

Casey’s storytelling technique isn’t rocket science.

He didn’t even create it himself.

He simply executes it with intention every single time.

1. Beginning: Setup - Who, what, when, where, why, how

2. Middle: Conflict - Oh sh*t, what happened?

3. End: Resolution - Phew, it all worked out

It’s not difficult to comprehend by any means.

It’s a simple, no-sh*t formula to keep viewers locked in to see how it all works out.

This vlog with 3.3M views breaks down how something so mundane can keep you hooked for 9 minutes to see how it’ll end.

Do What You Can’t

Casey’s not just a great storyteller and director though.

He’s a creator who pushes the boundaries by breaking everything.

The rules, products, expectations, and biases.

Here are a few of his all-time bangers:

• Do What You Can’t - an ode to chasing your creativity

• Make It Count - a Nike ad where he stole the budget to go on a trip

• Sisyphus and the Impossible Dream - his 17-year quest to run a marathon in under 3 hours

“So… How Did You Make This Happen?”

Another great storyteller on YouTube is Pat Walls.

He runs a channel called Starter Story where he breaks down how founders started their businesses.

Instead of an overuse of cinematography and b-roll, he takes a different approach.

The Reporter

Pat’s content flywheel works because he found a never-ending reservoir of ideas:

1. Content: Interviewing founders and sharing case studies to grow a $1M+ business

2. Audience: Millions of people who want to learn how to start their own $1M business

Instead of creating content that teaches from his perspective - “This is how you should do X, Y, Z” …

He defaults to teaching from their perspective - “This is how they already did X, Y, Z”…

That switch in storytelling takes the burden of proof off Pat and puts it on the people getting interviewed.

The proof of their expertise is in their success story.

All Pat does is ask great questions and report his findings.

Here are 3 of my favorites from Starter Story:

• I Make $1.3M/Year With One Skill - The Story of Design Joy

• The Underdog: From Dead Broke to $30,000,000 - How KC Holiday sold millions worth of silicone wedding rings

• The Multipreneur: He Makes $10M/Year With 6 Businesses - How Greg Isenberg uses leverage to build 6 things at a time

Bullets In The Chamber

One of the easiest ways to break up long-form copy is to use bullets.

Bullet points:

• Break up the page giving the reader more white space

• Force you to use brevity in your message

• Focus on the important sh*t

Features Tell, Benefits Sell

Of all the ways to write bullets, the FBM method is one of the easiest to use.

Here’s how it works:

• Feature: the cool thing the product offers

• Benefit: the result a customer gets from the feature

• Meaning: the lifestyle transformation the customer gets from the benefit

The Breakdown

Here’s an example from Apple’s original iPod ads:

• Feature: 32 GB device stores all your music

• Benefit: Walk around with 1000 songs in your pocket

• Meaning: Be the coolest person in the friend group that everybody looks to as the DJ of the group

Here’s another example for a car:

• Feature: Top-of-the-line airbags, blindspot detection, & reinforced seatbelts

• Benefit: Drive in an award-winning vehicle for safety and protection

• Meaning: You don’t have to worry when handing the keys to your newly licensed teenager for the first time

This Guy’s Everywhere

Ryan Reynolds is on a marketing run that rivals Michael Jordan in the 90s.

The marketing for Deadpool & Wolverine is on a different level.

These legendary anti-heroes, played by Reynolds and Hugh Jackman, are slashing their way through character collaborations for every kind of product on the market.

Let’s look at seven of them:

XBOX

Captain America may have America’s ass but he doesn’t have a controller where grown men can play while holding his cheeks. Deadpool does though. And so does Wolvie.

Let’s get cheeky →

Heinz

Think Deadpool’s red suit and Wolverine’s yellow gear look suspiciously like ketchup and mustard? Heinz wants you never to unsee it with a subliminal trailer. It’s hilarious.

Ketchup & Mustard →

Jack in the Box

Deadpool, like me, loves Mexican food. His go-to is a plate of chimichangas. Jack in the Box is spicing things up with ads featuring Deadpool and their mascot, Jack Box, for the new Mini Chimi Bang Bangs.

This ad is a bang banger →

Heineken

Heineken Silver’s campaign shows peak bickering between the characters before Deadpool offers the ultimate peace offering: refreshing light beer with cans made from Wolverine’s claws.

I’d drink a Heineken because of this →

DiGiorno

It’s not delivery, it’s DiGiorno Deadpool.

Delivered by Deadpool →

The Bachelorette

A minute-long spot promoting Deadpool & Wolverine during Jenn Tran's "The Bachelorette" premiere? Not that simple. Reynolds used the minute to convince you that it’s the perfect date movie too.

First date material →

Old Spice

Deadpool reeks. Luckily, Old Spice's ad has his roommate, Blind Al, relying on Total Body deodorant to keep things fresh, even if she can’t see him.

Fight stank →

Different creative pursuits call for different music to jam to. Here’s what I jammed to this week on The Vomp Playlist: