Getting started
How to Use This Swipe File
Every entry here is a real ad, broken down using a single repeatable framework. Here's what to know before you dive in.
"Most copywriters collect swipe files. Almost none annotate them. The annotation is the study."
The RMBC Framework
RMBC is the four-step process Stefan Georgi uses to write and evaluate direct-response copy. Every entry in this swipe file is annotated through these four lenses.
Research
Deep customer and market research that informs every word. The best copy isn't written — it's excavated from what the customer is already thinking.
What to look for: How the angle, hook, or claim maps back to a specific fear, desire, or belief the audience holds.
Mechanism
The unique, proprietary explanation for why the product works. A strong mechanism makes a claim feel new even when the outcome is familiar.
What to look for: The named process, ingredient, or method that separates this product from every generic alternative.
Brief
The strategic blueprint: big idea, lead type, proof elements, and offer structure. The brief is written before a single word of copy — it's the plan the copy executes.
What to look for: The structural decisions — which lead type was chosen, how proof is sequenced, where the offer is introduced.
Copy
The actual words on the page, built on the R, M, and B foundation. Copy is the last step — not the first. Weak copy usually means the mechanism or brief wasn't solid.
What to look for: Word choice, rhythm, transitions, and how the copy keeps logical and emotional momentum through the page.
How to Study an Entry
Each entry contains the original copy alongside Stefan's annotations. Here's the intended reading sequence:
Read the copy cold
Go through the original ad without looking at annotations. Notice what grabs you, what feels weak, what questions arise.
Identify the mechanism
Before reading Stefan's notes, try to name the mechanism. What is the proprietary explanation the ad is using?
Read the annotations
Stefan's notes explain the why behind each decision — the research insight, the structural choice, the specific word that does heavy lifting.
Extract one principle
Don't try to steal the whole ad. Find one transferable insight — a structural pattern, a phrasing technique, a mechanism approach — and write it down.
Where to Start
Three paths depending on what you're trying to learn:
Best place to start
Browse featured entries
Curated picks that show the full range of the RMBC framework across different industries and formats.
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Grouped by technique and intent — lead types, mechanism patterns, specific industries.
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