CourseCorrect

How many times have you heard someone say, “I’m not a morning person”?

Maybe you’ve said it yourself.

Either way, it’s one of those statements that gets thrown around like it’s a fact.

Like some people are just wired for mornings and others aren’t.

End of story.

When that’s not really the case.

It’s just a label people attach to themselves.

And once we label ourselves as something...

We work overtime to prove it true.

The identity reinforces the behavior, and the behavior reinforces the identity.

And round and round it goes.

That’s why I love this part of ’s site.

Because they’re not trying to convince you that you need to join the 5am club.

They’re doing something way smarter -

Reframing what it means to be a “morning person” in the first place.

Not “here’s the one perfect routine.”

Or “wake up earlier and you’ll be successful.”

But to find what works for YOU.

Suddenly, it’s not this binary thing anymore.

You’re just someone who hasn’t found their version of mornings yet.

It’s permission-based positioning.

Because most people don’t actually hate mornings.

They hate the guilt and pressure that comes with feeling like they’re doing them
wrong.

So AG1 removes that pressure entirely by showing you real people with real routines.

Rather than seeing celebs/influencers and comparing yourself to some unattainable standard....

You’re seeing someone relatable who’s a few steps ahead of where you are.

Which makes the identity shift feel possible.

So here’s my question for you -

What labels have your audience attached to themselves?

What binary beliefs are they holding onto that might be keeping them from buying?

Because once you get clear on what those labels are...

You’ll know exactly which ones to challenge and dissolve.

Worth spending some time on.

And if you need support figuring this out for your brand, my DMs are open.

“Hit them where it hurts, then help them where it counts.”

I heard this from a marketer years back.

Pretty sure it was in a workshop on how to write attention-grabbing hooks.

And it stuck with me, because it’s “sticky” - it rolls off the tongue.

But just because something’s quotable doesn’t make it universally true.

Here’s what I mean...

A lot of hooks and leads lean HARD into fear.

To agitate a core problem, they paint a worst-case scenario.

And sure, fear can create urgency.

But it can also backfire. Especially in DTC health.

Heavy fear-based messaging can trigger “defensive avoidance.”

Basically... when the threat feels too big, people don’t take action.

They avoid it entirely.

Because if the problem seems insurmountable, why face it at all?

So they don’t.

They put off the doctor’s appointment...

Ignore the symptoms...

And tell themselves they’ll “deal with it later.”

And when I think about Function Health’s market...

I see a huge segment of their audience that’s exhausted by fear tactics.

They’ve been hit with enough doom-and-gloom health messaging to last a lifetime.

They’re numb to it.

So that’s the mindset I brought when I put this billboard together.

Because Function Health doesn’t guilt or scare people into action.

They give them agency.

So by saying “Your future self is counting on what you do today”...

It translates to the fact that you’re in the driver’s seat.

You get to choose what version of you shows up in 10, 20, 30+ years.

Also...

Most people are terrible at imagining their future selves.

There’s research on this called “temporal discounting.”

Where our brains treat Future Us like a stranger.

So when you say “this will help you in 20 years”... they don’t care.

Because 20-years-from-now them feels like someone else’s problem.

But when you show them the moment...

Like the grandmother holding her grandchild.

The specific, visceral, emotional reality of what they’re playing for...

Now it feels real, because their future self isn’t a stranger. It’s them.

[Continued in comments.]

At second glance.

The perfect name for a powerful campaign by Grabarz & Partner ().

Because only at second glance do you realize that Steffen isn’t the tired man in the foreground, but the one smiling in the background.

Then your mind catches up to what just happened.

The instant assumption you made - that depression looks sad, withdrawn, and obvious.

And then it becomes personal.

Because there’s a story here that most of us recognize. One we’ve lived or witnessed.

Everyone, to some degree, has put on a smile to hide their struggle.

We hear it all the time:

“Check on your strong friends.”

“You never know what someone’s going through.”

“Mental health matters.”

But sometimes those words float by without much weight.

Without context that makes you actually *feel* them.

That’s why this works.

It doesn’t tell you depression is invisible. It shows you.

In one image. One glance, then another.

It respects your intelligence while challenging your assumptions.

Rather than lecturing you, it invites you to see differently.

What are your thoughts when you look at this?