Hello and Merry Christmas to all!

Sneaking this episode out just before the Big Day - and it’s an absolute doozy.

We get a question from the A-list writer and all-round clever guy Bob Bly, who wants to know why the heck copywriters are rebranding as something vague and possibly meaningless.

There’s also some very, very good hate mail, late night ramblings and a question chosen by Gemima that, for some reason, I found really annoying.

My apologies to whoever actually asked it…

Thanks to all who listened to us in 2025 and for all who intend to keep listening in 2026.

I hope you get some epic presents. In fact - tell us your best present in the comments and we might do a top 10 gift wrap up (unwrapped?) in early 2026.

Cheers and good cheers,

Hayden & Martin

Hello, people of the Brave New Word.

We’re back with a big, beautiful, sad and fascinating question from an anonymous listener who is petrified of AI - and also afraid of being left behind by not embracing it.

This is really the meat and potatoes of these AI of the Storm episodes. Because the reality is, AI is here, and it has changed and will continue to change the world around us. Throw your shoes in the machine all you like: that machine will spit out poorly-made knockoff shoes for free, and a lot of people will gladly wear those shoes and say they’re absolutely brilliant and anyone who still pays for shoes is a moron.

But the reality is that it’s not a binary thing. There’s not Before AI and After AI. The world is still, actually, mostly the same. People are mostly the same. Words are mostly the same. People still have stuff to buy and sell. People are starting to realise those knockoff AI shoes are even flimsier than this metaphor.

One of the best things you can do (in any situation, really) is to know your enemy. That’s why, in this episode, we recommend at least learning a bit about AI. Sticking your head in the sand has some merits, but ultimately, ignorance never serves anyone particularly well.

We also dish out a fair bit of waffly other advice, and to be honest, I’ve forgotten a lot of it since we recorded the episode. I guess that means you’ll just have to listen to it.

As always, please keep sending us your questions, comments and more.

Oh - and please spread the word about Brave New Word. Send this email to your friends. Have BNW listening parties in your coworking space. Bonus points for the most creative/obnoxious promo. I might get Martin to send you a bottle of wine or something.

Until next time!

-H

Content warning: there’s a fair bit of swearing in this one. Some of it from Charlie!

In this episode, Martin gets his passion project torn to shreds by Charlie “Danny Dyer” GPT. It might be my favourite moment in this podcast, ever.

But the critique doesn’t stop there. We munch on some humble pie and answer the question:

What’s your worst trait as a copywriter?

I won’t give away the answers (it’s a podcast, listen to the thing!) but it turns out we’re rather similar in our faults.

It can be pretty uncomfortable to put yourself on the other side of the desk and criticise not just your work, but your entire way of working. But being able to identify and own your bad habits as a writer is important: it’s the only way you’ll ever keep a handle on them.

We also talk a little about my book (it’s a work in progress) and we put our Agony Aunt hats on and help someone face up to a real challenge: how to manage an unwanted and very annoying-sounding house guest.

Until next episode,

H

This episode starts with a cracker of a question: when should one take the plunge into freelancing?

We talk not just about the obvious stuff (money, leads, clients), but some of the things most of us discover after we’ve taken the plunge (time off, mode of work, loneliness).

Navigating the peaks and troughs is one of the hardest things about being a freelancer - and managing the transition to that from a steady/insanely busy job can be tougher than you might expect.

Fortunately, Martin and I are incredibly wise and offer several thimblefuls of our sage advice.

We also answer what is probably our first question from a non-copywriter. Yes, turns out we have ‘mass appeal’. The question is about beer and curry, and I’m sure you’ll have your own thoughts on this one.

As ever, keep those questions coming in - we love to ‘ave ‘em.

Ka kite ano,

Hayden

My favourite feature returns: hate mail corner! Only this time, it’s also an AI of the Storm question.

Judge Dredd (I believe the real guy, not some impostor) calls us Podcast Idiots, cretins and — even worse — Australians.

But His Honour finishes it off by asking a great question:

Anybody can see that copywriters need to resist the rise of AI intelligence [sic]. How are they going to do it, and what form is it going to take?

I won’t give away our answer here. But let’s just say this episode is hardly wartime propaganda, because as much as we’d all like to give the AI overlords a swift kick in the dick, there’s probably a better way to hold the higher ground.

As mentioned in the episode, everybody should check out Felicity Wild’s Writers Against the Algorithm.

That’s all for now - keep those questions and that hate mail coming.

Especially you, Judge Dredd. Love you.

H

It’s about to get silly.

In this episode, we begin with a serious question: what’s the biggest mistake copywriters make?

(Yes, astute viewers will notice I mentioned that in last week’s summary, but I got it wrong. Sorry.)

Then, things get weird in really British way. We answer a question that combines strange children’s TV and public transport. I'll say no more.

Oh, and sorry about the audio - will hopefully have it sorted before we record next time.

Regardless, please enjoy, send us your questions, and share this podcast to your heart’s content!

H

It’s been a while.

Sorry for the interruption, but sometimes life gets in the way.

The good news is we’re back, answering more of your questions and giving you the life advice you need/deserve.

We talk about novel writing, a book in the works, and a perfect night in…so, the standard stuff.

We also have a bit of a technical meltdown, so my apologies for the audio being a bit crappy in places.

Oh, and in case you think “ugh, they’ll disappear again for months”, we actually recorded TWO EPISODES in a single sitting - so the next one will be out very soon indeed.

In the meantime, enjoy and please do stay in touch. Send us your questions, comments, feedback, complaints, requests, secrets, money, praise, etc.

Until next time,

H

Listening back to this episode for the edit, I realised that we really didn’t come up with a great answer for this question. We get a bit wishy washy, I say ‘umm’ a lot, and we get a little into the weeds.

But that’s because it’s about ethics, and ethics is a bit murky and umm-inducing. As if we copywriters didn’t have enough to worry about, we now have some ethical minefields. Don’t use AI, and you might fall behind your competitors. Use AI and be hoisted by your own petard, or tarred and feathered, or some other kind of medieval punishment.

Ultimately, the only thing you can do is trust your ‘ick’.

We also give a shout out to a very important listener, and offer up some TOTALLY FREE LINKEDIN CONTENT.

That might be overselling it, but I’ll let you be the judge (you’ll have to listen to the episode to make that call).Please keep sending us your AI-related questions, or even just…any question at all, really. Copywriting, life advice, complaints (it’s been a while since we had any hate mail).

Enjoy.

H