Michael Petrou
Open to copywriting, content design & UX writing roles

I am a writer who improves products and makes them easy to buy.

I work at the nexus of language and product: the copy, displays, and campaigns where the right words eliminate hesitation and move people to act. My primary interest lies in clarity, followed by persuasion.

See my work LinkedIn

Selected work

Spec, freelance & concept work · full write-ups on request

A mix of spec campaigns, freelance client work, and concept projects. Each card says exactly what kind of work it is.

Spec work for Meta apps and hardware

Unofficial spec work · not affiliated with or endorsed by Meta

Look Up.

Spec campaign · Ray-Ban Meta
2026 · Long-form ad and Instagram Reel

One Ray-Ban Meta campaign in two formats, built on a single promise: keep your phone in your pocket and your eyes on the world.

Long-form ad

Look Up.

Ray-Ban Meta glasses bring the camera, your music, and Meta AI to eye level, with Muse, Meta's new personal AI agent, coming soon. Keep your phone in your pocket and your eyes on the world in front of you.

The moment your kid celebrates their first birthday or goes off to college. The morning sunlight reflecting off the ocean. Your friend telling you a funny story or sharing old memories. Everything you want to remember happens right in front of you, and most of the time you spend it looking down, neck strained, eyes glued to your smartphone.

Ray-Ban Meta glasses include a camera, open-ear speakers, and Meta AI in Wayfarer frames you'd wear anyway. Say "Hey Meta, take a video" and keep both hands on the handlebars. Hear your emails read aloud, talk on the phone hands-free, and find out anything you want to know about what you see, whether it's a menu in Athens or a beautiful old building in Manhattan.

Wear them like sunglasses and use them like a phone you don't have to hold.

Ray-Ban Meta. Look up.

Instagram Reel · "POV: You Didn't Take Out Your Phone" · 20 seconds, built to work with sound off

TimePictureText / Sound
0:00–0:02POV looking down at the sidewalk. A hand moves toward a jacket pocket, then stops. Camera tilts up.TEXT: POV: you didn't take out your phone
0:02–0:05A woman walks by with a golden retriever wearing a tiny raincoat.TEXT (small): "Hey Meta, take a photo"
SOUND: soft shutter click, quick white frame flash
0:05–0:08A friend across the table loses it laughing.CLICK, flash.
0:08–0:11Manhattan skyline from a rooftop at dusk.CLICK, flash.
0:11–0:15Fast POV montage synced to the beat: concert crowd, a slice of pizza, friends piling into a cab, a sunset over the Hudson.CLICK. CLICK. CLICK. CLICK.
TEXT: You were right there for all of it.
0:15–0:18Cut out of POV for the first time. A friend's shot shows the person on the street, wearing Ray-Ban Meta Wayfarers, both hands free, looking up at the city.
0:18–0:20End card on white.TEXT: Ray-Ban Meta. Look up.

Reel caption

You shouldn't have to choose between living the moment and recording it. Ray-Ban Meta glasses let you do both, hands-free. Look up.

Meta AI in the apps you already use

Spec campaign · Meta AI
2026 · Instagram & WhatsApp ads

Two ads for the same product, each written for the way people actually use that app.

Instagram

Meet the AI that is always at your disposal when you need inspiration.

Do you have an idea in your mind but don't know how to implement it?

You might need answers that can't be easily found on Google.

Maybe you need to improve or generate an image.

Here comes Meta AI, which can turn your dreams into reality.

Just ask it your questions.
Create.
Discover.

Next time you need inspiration, you don't need to leave Instagram.

WhatsApp

The right solution at the right time.

Do you want to win the argument at dinner?
You might be wondering what to wear to that party.
Or you might need help planning a fun weekend trip.

Ask Meta AI.

Use Meta AI wherever you communicate with people, make plans, joke, and make decisions.

Selling onboarding flow

Spec UX writing · Facebook Marketplace
2026 · Onboarding, 5 screens

Five screens that take a first-time seller from "I have stuff" to a live listing, with a little personality and no confusion.

1 · WELCOME

Your garage has more value than you realize.

The treadmill you use for laundry has a willing buyer close by. List it in a minute and get paid.

Get started

Not now

2 · PICTURES

Good pictures sell better than good adjectives.

Take a few pictures in the daytime. Buyers believe their own eyes.

Take pictures

3 · PRICING

Price it like you mean to sell.

We will show you what similar products in your area have sold for, so you don't have to guess.

Show me the suggested price

4 · SAFETY

Meet up the right way.

Choose a public place and confirm payment before you hand over anything. If a potential buyer asks you to send them a payment, it's a scam.

Got it

5 · CONFIRMATION

You're all set. Your couch is now famous.

We will notify you when you receive a message. Quick responses sell faster, so turn on your notifications.

My listings

Sell something else

Spec work created independently for portfolio purposes only. It was not requested, commissioned, approved, or endorsed by Meta Platforms, Inc., EssilorLuxottica, or Luxottica, and it has never run as advertising. Product details are based on public announcements and may not reflect actual product features. Meta, Meta AI, Muse, Instagram, WhatsApp, Facebook, Facebook Marketplace, Ray-Ban, Ray-Ban Meta, and Wayfarer are trademarks of their respective owners and are used here only to identify the products discussed.

Freelance and concept work

Clients kept confidential

Direct-response copy for online fitness coaches

Freelance copywriter
2023 to present · Clients kept confidential

The challenge

Coaches had to convince skeptical strangers to trust them with their health and their money, often from a single ad or sales page.

What I did

I wrote sales pages, emails, and ads in each coach's own voice, built around the doubts their prospects already had: time, cost, and whether it would work for someone like them.

What it taught me

Readers give you a few seconds and plenty of skepticism. Every line has to earn its place, and I bring that standard to everything I write.

Launch copy for online course creators

Freelance copywriter
2023 to present · Clients kept confidential

The challenge

Course creators needed buyers to understand exactly what they would learn and why it was worth paying for, before the launch window closed.

What I did

I wrote launch emails and sales page copy that turned long lists of modules into clear outcomes a buyer could picture for themselves.

What it taught me

A clear, specific promise does more work than an impressive one. When a buyer can picture the result, deciding gets easy.

Rebuilding a returns flow around one question

Concept project · UX writing
2025

The problem

Returns flows often bury the one thing a customer wants to know: whether they will get their money back, and when.

What I did

I rewrote a sample returns flow around that question, moved the refund timeline to the top of every screen, and cut the screens that only restated policy.

The thinking

When the most important answer comes first, people can finish on their own and skip the support call.

How I write with AI, and where I don't

Context engineering · agent orchestration · responsible AI

Context. I founded Anchorpath Systems in 2026 to build AI receptionist and marketing systems for local businesses. Building it meant designing a workflow where AI speeds up the parts that benefit from volume and a person owns the parts that need taste.

  1. Brief

    I write a one-page brief by hand: audience, single message, proof points, and what the work must never say.

    Human

  2. Context pack

    The brief, brand voice rules, a banned-phrase list, and a sourced fact sheet go into one context file so every model call starts from the same truth.

    AI setup

  3. Territories

    A generator agent produces 40 to 60 rough strategic territories. Volume is the point here, and I expect most of them to be bad.

    AI

  4. Selection

    I cut to three territories and write the lines myself. Headlines and taglines stay human-written.

    Human

  5. Critique

    A second agent attacks the work against the brief: clichés, unclear claims, voice drift, lines that could belong to a competitor.

    AI

  6. Fact and risk check

    Every product claim is traced to a primary source. A review pass checks casting notes and language for bias and stereotypes.

    AI + Human

  7. Final edit

    I read everything aloud and make the final calls on rhythm, voice, and what ships.

    Human

When I keep AI out

Final headlines and taglines. Models are good at the average line, and the job is to find the one that isn't.

When I caught it

I caught AI faking sources, hallucinating facts, and making false statements, so I removed them.

When I overruled it

The work wasn't good enough for me, so I revised it to a higher standard.

Responsible AI practice. I don't put client data or personal information into public models. Every factual claim needs a source a person has opened. Casting and imagery notes get a bias review. When AI contributes to a piece, I can say exactly where.

Craft, up close

Small decisions, made on purpose. A few rewrites where a clearer line did more work than a clever one.

Ad headline · Ray-Ban Meta spec

Before

Experience the future of smart eyewear today.

After

Everyone on this train is looking down. Ray-Ban Meta. Look up.

Sales page headline · fitness coaching

Before

Transform your body with our revolutionary program.

After

Workouts that fit before work, with a coach who checks in when you skip one.

Error state · checkout

Before

Error: transaction could not be completed.

After

Your card was declined. Try another card, or check the number and try again.

Empty state · saved items

Before

You have no saved items.

After

Nothing saved yet. Tap the bookmark on anything you want to come back to.

Where good products lose people

A great product can still lose a buyer when the words get in the way. These are the moments I fix.

The page lists features and stops there

Visitors read what the product does, never learn what they get out of it, and leave to think it over. Most of them never come back.

Checkout goes quiet at the worst moment

An unclear price, a vague error, or one confusing step makes people hesitate right before they say yes.

Every screen sounds like a different company

Without one clear voice, a product feels stitched together, and people trust it a little less on every page.

What I write

Every piece has one job: help the right person understand the product quickly and feel good about acting on it.

Campaigns and ads

Social ads, Reel scripts, and launch campaigns that earn attention in the first second and point it straight at the product.

Product copy

Onboarding, checkout, error messages, and empty states that help people finish what they came to do.

Sales pages and email

Long-form copy that answers a reader's doubts before those doubts turn into reasons to leave.

About

Words that do a job.

I'm Michael, a copywriter in New York who believes the clearest sentence is usually the most persuasive one.

I started in direct-response copywriting, writing sales pages, emails, and ads for online fitness coaches and course creators. That world runs on one rule: if the reader gets confused, they leave. It taught me to respect a reader's time and their skepticism.

Today I bring that same discipline to products and campaigns. I do my best work alongside designers, product managers, and engineers, agreeing early on what a screen or an ad needs to say. I write with plain language and accessibility in mind, so the words work for everyone who reads them.

How I work

People first, always

Every draft starts with the person reading it and the one thing they need to do next.

Clarity before cleverness

A clever line that confuses someone has failed at its job. I'll take plain and understood every time.

Words are a team sport

The best copy comes from working with design, research, and product from the very first sketch.

Questions people ask

What kind of roles are you looking for?

Copywriting, content design, and UX writing roles where words shape how people use and buy a product. I'm based in New York.

Why is so much of the Meta work spec?

Spec work lets me show how I'd approach the exact products and formats I want to write for. Every spec piece is clearly labeled.

Why are your freelance clients unnamed?

I keep my freelance clients confidential, so I describe the work without naming them.

Why don't you list results or metrics?

I only share results I can verify, and my freelance clients kept their performance data private. I'd rather show you how I think than quote a figure I can't back up.

Can you write in a brand's existing voice?

Yes. Most of my freelance work meant writing in someone else's voice, so I start by studying how a brand already talks and match it before pushing it anywhere new.

Let's make something clearer together.

If you have a role, a product, or a campaign that needs sharper words, send me a note and I'll get back to you quickly.

Email me LinkedIn