{"id":19954,"date":"2022-04-05T09:13:31","date_gmt":"2022-04-05T09:13:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.gmass.co\/blog\/?p=19954"},"modified":"2026-02-13T19:31:14","modified_gmt":"2026-02-13T19:31:14","slug":"will-smith-apology-cold-email","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.gmass.co\/blog\/will-smith-apology-cold-email\/","title":{"rendered":"The cold email sequence Will Smith sent the Academy to try to keep his spot"},"content":{"rendered":"

So\u2026 Will Smith slapped Chris Rock on stage at the Academy Awards last week<\/strong>. You maybe, just maybe, have heard about it a few times.<\/span><\/p>\n

The people behind the Oscars denounced the slap and immediately began to evaluate whether to take the rare action of expelling Will Smith from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences \u2014 yes, even though later in that same evening, he won his first Oscar.<\/span><\/p>\n

Will Smith couldn\u2019t let that happen \u2014 after all, he still wants to be able to vote on Oscar winners <\/span>and<\/span><\/i> get to watch free screeners of all the nominated movies every year \u2014 so he did the only thing he could do. <\/span>Instagram apology carefully worded by a giant PR team<\/span><\/del> He sent a <\/span>cold outreach email<\/span><\/a> series to every member of the Academy, asking them to keep him in.<\/span><\/p>\n

And Will Smith was so grateful for GMass<\/strong>, and how smooth it makes his cold email process, he forwarded us the entire <\/span>cold email follow-up sequence<\/span><\/a> so we could share it.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Here is the cold email series Will Smith sent to the members of the Academy<\/strong> to fight to keep his spot in the wake of the slap.<\/span><\/p>\n

Email #1 – Sent 3\/27\/22, just minutes after the Oscars<\/h2>\n

The first email: A personalized apology<\/h3>\n

\"Will<\/a><\/p>\n

Subject line:<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Personal apology to {AcademyMemberFirstName} from Will Smith<\/span><\/p>\n

Message:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Dear {AcademyMemberFirstName},<\/span><\/p>\n

I wanted to thank you again for my first Oscar last night. It\u2019s going up on the mantle right now, I can finally throw those Grammys in the trash, know what I\u2019m saying?<\/span><\/p>\n

So everyone\u2019s talking about what happened with Chris Rock and I wanted to personally apologize to you, {AcademyMemberFirstName} for my actions.<\/span><\/p>\n

I know there\u2019s gonna be talk of whether or not I should be kicked out of the Academy.<\/span><\/p>\n

I\u2019ll keep this fast: I want to stay. And as a thank you, if you do vote to keep me in, I\u2019ll commit to making a sequel to {AcademyMemberFavoriteMovieAsLongAsItsNotWildWildWest}.<\/span><\/p>\n

Please reply to let me know if we\u2019re good and then for real. That sequel. Coming your way, summer 2024.<\/span><\/p>\n

Thanks and stay {{spin}}fresh{{variation}}dope{{variation}}jiggy wit it{{end spin}} forever.<\/span><\/p>\n

Will<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

What we like about this cold email<\/h3>\n

There\u2019s a lot of <\/span>good cold email strategy<\/span><\/a> in Will\u2019s email here.<\/span><\/p>\n

Will did a really solid job on <\/strong><\/span>personalization<\/a><\/strong>, using a <\/span>mail merge<\/span><\/a> to include each Academy member\u2019s first name in both the subject line (to grab their attention) and the body of the email.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

He also used personalization to make a compelling, targeted offer<\/strong>: to make a sequel to their favorite of his movies. It\u2019s always good, within a cold email, to make it abundantly clear to a contact what\u2019s in it for them. Will does that.<\/span><\/p>\n

This cold email makes a strong appeal that should get good results from quite a few Academy members, especially ones dying to see <\/span>Independence Day 2: Labor Day<\/span><\/i> or <\/span>Seven Pounds 2: Eight Pounds<\/span><\/i>.<\/span><\/p>\n

We also like the low-friction call-to-action<\/strong> at the end. Will\u2019s not asking a busy person to grab 30 minutes to chat \u2014 he\u2019s just asking for a reply to his email. By starting with a low-friction commitment, he can then work on the relationship and eventually make the larger ask.<\/span><\/p>\n

It was also quite savvy of Will to use <\/span>GMass\u2019s built-in A\/B testing<\/span><\/a> to figure out which sign-off worked best: \u201cstay fresh\u201d… \u201cstay dope\u201d… or \u201cstay jiggy wit it\u201d. After all, you never know which small nuance might make a big difference<\/strong> in motivating cold outreach contacts to take action.<\/span><\/p>\n

And finally, good call by Will using GMass to <\/span>break Gmail\u2019s daily sending limits<\/span><\/a> \u2014 he sent this to nearly 10,000 Academy members, well over Gmail\u2019s limit<\/strong> of 500 for a standard account or 2,000 for a Google Workspace account.<\/span><\/p>\n

All in all, this is a strong first email in a cold outreach sequence<\/strong> that probably netted a lot of responses for Will that evening.<\/span><\/p>\n

Email #2 – Sent 3\/28\/22, mid afternoon, less than one day after the initial email<\/h2>\n

The second email: An attention-grabbing solution to a problem<\/h3>\n

\"Will<\/a><\/p>\n

Subject line:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Oscar ratings go through the roof! <\/span><\/p>\n

Message:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Yo {AcademyMemberFirstName}!<\/span><\/p>\n

So yeah, alright, I know the ratings didn\u2019t actually go through the roof last night. (Not the lowest-ever, though, so that\u2019s nice.)<\/span><\/p>\n

But \u2014 think of the ratings we could get next year! I know Oscars ratings have been cratering. <\/span><\/p>\n

Let\u2019s get a billion people watching in 2023.<\/strong>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Have all the most vicious insult comedians host: Ricky Gervais, Jeff Ross, everyone from those Comedy Central Roasts, that Triumph dog puppet, Don Rickles (*if you can re-animate him).<\/span><\/p>\n

Who knows which one I\u2019ll knock the eff out? But it\u2019s gonna be one of \u2018em.<\/span><\/p>\n

And while people are waiting for me to lay someone out for a joke about my ears or Willow\u2019s rap career or something, we\u2019ll be blowing up Nielsen boxes.<\/span><\/p>\n

Sound good? Just let me know you\u2019re voting to keep me in the Academy and I\u2019ll come back next year ready to throw down.<\/span><\/p>\n

-Will <\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

What we like about this cold email<\/h3>\n

This is outstanding cold email copywriting<\/a> because it\u2019s focused <\/span>entirely<\/span><\/i> on the unique solution Will Smith can bring to the Academy\u2019s biggest problem: The fact that they pull the same ratings as shows like Guy Fieri\u2019s <\/span>Grocery Games<\/span><\/i>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Anytime you can identify a prospect\u2019s biggest problem and offer a clear, actionable, unique solution, you\u2019re going to see results.<\/strong> In most cold email situations, this would be an ideal first email (Will\u2019s case was a bit unique, though).<\/span><\/p>\n

Will lays out his compelling case in a concise and direct way and again makes it very easy for the Academy member to take action. His subject line is also enticing<\/a> for the Academy members, speaking to their top current concern (ratings).<\/span><\/p>\n

Two cold emails in less than 24 hours is more than the recommended frequency<\/strong>; however, because Will is dealing with a very time-sensitive issue, we can give him a pass.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Email #3 – Sent 3\/30\/22, two days after the prior email<\/h2>\n

The third email: A quick reply with a little humor<\/h3>\n

\"Will<\/a><\/p>\n

Subject line:<\/strong><\/p>\n

none (a reply to the previous email, in the same thread)<\/p>\n

Message:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Hey {AcademyMemberFirstName}, just wanted to make sure you saw this.<\/span><\/p>\n

You know if you\u2019d just given me Best Actor for <\/span>Ali<\/span><\/i> I wouldn\u2019t have had to prove my right hook was legit.<\/span><\/p>\n

Just playing!\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

I\u2019d love to talk with you, explain myself, and discuss any of your concerns. Please let me know a good time for you.<\/span><\/p>\n

-Will<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

What we like about this cold email<\/h3>\n

Will keeps it very brief here. He uses a self-deprecating joke \u2014 strategic humor can be very powerful in cold email<\/strong> \u2014 but then seamlessly switches gears into his request.<\/span><\/p>\n

As we said before, his email frequency is high; probably higher than most cold email sequences. However, he\u2019s doing a great job staying top-of-mind<\/strong>. It\u2019s crucial to find that balance between emailing too frequently or not frequently enough.<\/span><\/p>\n

We also like how he used a <\/span>threaded reply<\/span><\/a> here, rather than a new subject line. Even though this was a mass email, when the email comes to the recipient as a threaded reply, that better simulates how Will would email if he were doing this one-by-one<\/strong>. And that little detail can make a big difference in response rates.<\/span><\/p>\n

Email #4 – Sent 3\/31\/22, one day after the prior email<\/h2>\n

The fourth email: A new sales tactic<\/h3>\n

\"Will<\/a><\/p>\n

Subject line:<\/strong><\/p>\n

none (a reply to the previous email, in the same thread)<\/p>\n

Message:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Hello again, {AcademyMemberFirstName}.<\/span><\/p>\n

Remember: Will in the Academy is good for ratings.<\/span><\/p>\n

And come on. The other people you\u2019ve kicked out of the Academy are guys like Harvey Weinstein, Roman Polanski, and Bill Cosby. I\u2019m nowhere close to that bad! Those guys are like \u201cget a time machine to stop them from being born\u201d bad. I\u2019m like \u201cat most 5-10 hours of community service\u201d bad.<\/span><\/p>\n

Please let me know what you\u2019re thinking and if there\u2019s anything I can do to earn your vote to stay.<\/span><\/p>\n

-Will<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

What we like about this cold email<\/h3>\n

Will uses a different approach here, framing his request in a new light through a comparison<\/strong>. He\u2019s contrasting himself with those horrible people as a different reason why he should stay in the Academy.<\/span><\/p>\n

This is similar to, say, reframing the pricing of a SaaS product in a cold email as \u201cfor the price of a cup of coffee a day\u201d instead of \u201c$1,500\/year.\u201d It\u2019s giving a new perspective to a target through grounding<\/strong>.<\/span><\/p>\n

By adding this cold email tactic<\/a> to his previous approaches (offering direct value to the recipient, a unique solution to a problem), Will could take some contacts who are on the fence and push them through to the final stage of the sales funnel<\/strong>, closing the deal.<\/span><\/p>\n

Email #5 – Sent 4\/1\/22, one day after the prior email<\/h2>\n

The fifth email: The resignation<\/h3>\n

\"Will<\/a><\/p>\n

Subject line:<\/strong><\/p>\n

I\u2019m resigning from the Academy today<\/span><\/p>\n

Message:<\/strong><\/p>\n

{AcademyMemberFirstName},<\/span><\/p>\n

Wanted to let you know I\u2019m planning to resign from the Academy this afternoon.<\/span><\/p>\n

Please let me know ASAP if I should hold off and what you\u2019d need from me to put your support behind me.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Thank you,<\/span><\/p>\n

-Will<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

What we like about this cold email<\/h3>\n

After four emails without a response from the majority of Academy members, Will knew he needed to step up the urgency<\/strong>. <\/span>Urgency<\/span><\/a> is one of the most persuasive ways to get someone to act \u2014 but creating a genuine, action-driving sense of urgency is difficult. Will sets a clear deadline<\/strong> here and makes a strong, direct appeal for a response<\/strong>.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Email #6 – Sent 4\/3\/22, two days after the prior email<\/h2>\n

The sixth email: The last and final shot<\/h3>\n

\"Will<\/a><\/p>\n

Subject line:<\/strong><\/p>\n

The end of Will Smith and {AcademyMemberFirstName}??<\/span><\/p>\n

Message:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Alright, {AcademyMemberFirstName}, I did it. I resigned from the Academy.<\/span><\/p>\n

But I did it on April 1st for a reason. If you support me, and just a few more members of the Academy do too, I\u2019ll play the \u201cApril Fools!\u201d card.<\/span><\/p>\n

So this is it. I\u2019m shooting one last shot.<\/span><\/p>\n

Here\u2019s my \u201cbest and final\u201d offer for you to throw your support behind me with the Academy:<\/span><\/p>\n