Last night, tennis player Novak Djokovic won the US Open, one of the four major tournaments of the year.
It’s Djokovic’s third win at a major this year and the 24th in his career. This ties him with Margaret Court for most majors won (men or women), and moves him two ahead of his rival Rafael Nadal (22 majors) and four ahead of former rival Roger Federer (20 majors).
I didn’t watch Djokovic win last night. But I read a New York Times article about it this morning. The article said this:
“The nearly 24,000 spectators welcomed him with a massive roar, then showered him with the biggest one when Medvedev dumped a shot into the net to give Djokovic the title…”
That’s new. The last time I wrote about Djokovic was January 2022, when he was detained and then deported from Australia, among general controversy and much hate and contempt world-wide.
I had an entire email back then on why Djokovic was hated so much over the years. He was called a malingerer early in his career… a new-age kook in the mid 2010s… and a dangerous anti-vaxxer over the past few years.
And yet, like the New York Times says, now he’s loved. He’s routinely called a “mental giant” and “undisputed GOAT.”
But I come here not to praise Djoko, nor to bury him.
I simply thought the reaction of the US Open crowd was a great illustration of something interesting that I read in a 100-year old book last night, about the psychology of masses, as opposed to the psychology of individuals:
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The group mind does not think in the strict sense of the word. In place of thoughts it has impulses, habits, and emotions. [When the group mind does have to think for itself,] it does so by means of cliches, pat words or images, which stand for a whole group of ideas or experiences.
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That 100-year-old book is Propaganda, by Edward Bernays.
You might have heard of Bernays as the father of public relations.
The entire point of his book, as far as I can see, is that PR is important… that you can’t leave it to chance… and that there are strategies and tactics that allow you to take PR (or propaganda, if you choose) into your own hands.
One such tactic is tacking on a cliche, a simplified and simplistic tag, onto yourself, or even better, onto the alternatives your audience might have to you.
But on to business.
If you haven’t yet checked out my Copy Riddles course, consider doing so.
Copy Riddles is nothing like the many “water off a duck’s back” copywriting courses out there, which tell you stuff that goes in one ear and out the other.
Instead, Copy Riddles gets you writing actual copy, practicing, getting feedback, getting better, day after day, through a gamified process that’s actually fun and enjoyable.
For more info on how this process works: