Stephen Walker — Opinionated Ad Man, Writer, Author, Professional AI Hater, Marketer and Trader.

  • Do the things you hate

    So this weekend I have to embark on a journey. The journey is deep. Not as wild as Shackleton’s famous advert for an Endurance expedition: “Men Wanted for Hazardous Journey Low wages, bitter cold, long hours of complete darkness. Safe…

  • You missed out on Polarizuasion

    So my main man Ben Settle just launched a mini course just over a week ago. Inside said mini course he shares some profound insights about polarisation and persuasion. Arguably it’s probably the best $20 I spent in a long…

  • The insanity antidote

    You know what keeps me from losing my shit completely when everything’s going wrong? Gratitude. I know, I know. It sounds like something a wellness influencer would say while selling you a $47 journal with motivational quotes. Although it’s 2026…

  • WCYD

    January is a cursed month for me. I don’t know if it’s the moon, the stars, Mercury in Gatorade, or Cthulhu himself waking up cranky, but every January things go sideways. Shit breaks. People lose their minds. Plans implode. The…

  • We don’t know what we don’t know

    This is gonna be quick. A friend of mine runs a group teaching economics and market movements to a hyper niche audience. Smart guy. Knows his shit. But today he asked me how to make his presentations more interesting. And…

  • The land of literally

    We’re accelerating toward a culture where people take everything on the internet literally and it’s fucking terrifying. I’m not talking about your aunt who believes every Facebook post about how microwaving your phone charges it faster. I’m talking about a…

  • The power of slow

    Everyone’s sprinting. Hustle culture. Move fast and break things. Ship it yesterday. Grind until you collapse. Speed speed speed. That shit is exhausting. And you know what all of this generally gets you? Burnout. Shitty work. Mistakes you have to…

  • Let’s get dumb

    Part of my plan to take over the world this year involves going full caveman with my phone situation. I’m talking dumb phones, baby. The shitty little Nokia bricks that can barely send a text message without setting on fire.…

  • Alabama Prostitute

    There’s this scene in True Romance. Alabama. Bubblegum popping, Elvis worshipping, sweet as American pie Alabama… Sitting her ass down across from a mobster who’s about to turn her face into hamburger meat because she knows where the stolen cocaine…

  • Redditor Fisticuffs

    My homeboy Mike from Peaceful Profits, aka the only non-ai infected ghostwriting and training place left on the web (Probably) dropped this absolute banger of an email and so in good old fashioned homage. I’ll be sharing some of it…

  • Seek quality.

    With all of the AI fuckery being forced into our faces over the last few years. Trust from a consumer point of view is waaaay down. I mean down down. Like lower than the lowest limbo stick down or whatever…

  • Screw the news cycle, build something instead.

    Hell yeah… New year. Same doomscroll impulse sneaking up and trying to drag you under… I get it. You open your phone and it’s immediate chaos again. I mean we’re only 6 days in and things look like they’re starting…

  • Pt 2. Psycho-mythology of the cult

    I think my brain must’ve collapsed cause I couldn’t even math properly yesterday. Although I did get some interesting responses to the previous email and it looks like you enjoy these types of write ups. So without further ado. The…

  • Psycho-mythology of the cult…

    Who said we were gonna ease into 2026? So we’re gonna riff on everyone’s favourite topic, which is cults and their fun little practices and dogmas. In order to identify a cult you need to know that all of them…

  • The father of spam

    Back in 1978. Gary Thuerk inadvertently created email marketing as we know it today. I mean he sent one email to 393 people and did over $13 million in sales, which is wild. If you dig back into the internets…

  • Get that BHAG

    That’s right. Get that Big Hairy Audacious Goal set down on paper so that it can stare you in the face every day while you make it happen. Jim Collins coined the term and stretched it out over the course…

  • We, the people. We, the humans, are going to win.

    Oh boy. 2025 was a wild year. And I’m glad we’ve finally dragged it to the back of the dusty ol’ shed, put it on its knees and given it the Mozambique drill. 3 bangs and its gone. So what…

  • I’m sorry Johnny

    Little Johnny comes home from school excitedly to finish up for Christmas. He walks into the kitchen, pacing slowly. “Mom,” he whispers but you can hear the confusion in his voice. He sees her sitting there expressionless. He inches closer…

  • See you in 2026

    A last minute decision was made to rest properly. It’s nearly Christmas and my chest and cough has come back with a full vengeance. I have a few days to try and get back to normal and it’s the most…

  • Take me back

    The best movies were made without it. The best games were made without it. The best comics were made without it. The best stories were made without it. The best songs were made without it. And now for some reason…

  • How to induce mass hypnosis

    By the time you’re reading this. I might be laying face down in a ditch somewhere in Manchester… That being said. It’s that time of the year where I am in charge of adults and making sure they don’t unleash…

  • Gargle on deez nuts

    I felt like I was dying a few weeks ago. I had what most people would consider the man flu. Yes it is bad, was bad and is still (kinda) bad but I’m 99% over it now. For about a…

  • How to support the writers in your life (hint: it involves murder)

    You want to support the writer in your life? Great. Here’s how… Grab a stake and drive it straight through the heart of the digital vampire currently draining the life out of all of us. I’m talking about Generative AI.…

  • Oh. The world is on fire again.

    The world is on fire even more now and I’m so tired of pretending everything’s fine. It’s like we just can’t catch a break this year. Things go from bad to worse to Worcestershire sauce levels of unpronounceable disaster and…

  • Mastering the attention economy

    Remember when we used to mock those ridiculous Facebook posts? “If you were a bread, what bread would you be?” or “Comment your birthday month and I’ll tell you which Disney princess you are!” We’d roll our eyes at the…

  • How to monetise disrespect

    Now apparently this is true and even if not. It’s hilarious. Sometimes the universe presents you with an opportunity to be absolutely, magnificently petty. And when that moment comes, you have two choices… Take the high road like a boring…

  • The cardinal marketing sin that makes you look like a clown

    Let me tell you about the marketing equivalent of putting pineapple on pizza, except worse, because at least that’s consensual… It’s opting people into your email list without their explicit consent. I don’t care if they bought something from you…

  • This will get you thinking

    “There are two kinds of pain in this world. The pain that hurts, the pain that alters.” One of my favourite quotes from a movie. That movie is The Equalizer 2. TL;DR it’s what John Wick should’ve been. Anyways. This…

  • Be like Josh

    I know the world feels like it’s circling the drain most days. Open social media and it’s rage bait, grifters, and people filming themselves pretending to care about things for clicks. Then there’s the performative empaths doing things like it’s…

  • Why nobody reads your copy

    Thought I’d hit you with a little bit of direct response shenanigans today, mainly cause my brain is mush. Ever notice how sending an email these days feels like shouting at a wall, hell… Even social media posts tend to…