Wizard of Ads Monday Morning Memo

Her plan was obviously brilliant, so why wasn’t it working? Susan was as confused as a termite in a yo-yo. I was about to suggest an answer when she said it herself; “Culture eats strategy for lunch.” Every experienced consultant knows that a third-best plan that  will  be executed is better than the first or second-best plans that won’t. The first time I heard the phrase,&nbsp...

1.  Bring positive and negative into close proximity. 2.  Resist the temptation to clad them in insulation. 3.  Witness the flow of electricity as it leaps between the two. Speaking in 1980 of his songwriting experience with Paul McCartney, John Lennon said, “He provided a lightness, an optimism, while I would always go for the sadness, the discords, the bluesy n...

Institutions of higher education offer a degree path, a specific series of classes that will prepare you for the journey you’re about to take. Wizard Academy’s board of directors is preparing a similar map for those happy adventurers who come here for refreshment, instruction and advice. Dr. Oz Jaxxon and space shuttle scientist Mark Fox prepared an initial list of core curricula to pres...

Cedric Yau is one of a handful of geniuses I know. In our most recent conversation, Cedric opened my eyes to a truth I had not previously encountered, but it reinforced everything I know about ad campaigns and it’s about to make Cedric a billion dollars. I’m not exaggerating. You’ve seen long lines of ants carrying food back to their hives, right? So where is the centralized intelli...

Have you ever gone shopping only to come home with something entirely different than what you had planned to buy? Of course you have. We all have. “Physicists like to think that all you have to do is say, ‘these are the conditions, now what happens next?'” – Richard Feynman, (winner of the 1965 Nobel Prize) Advertising people can be like that, too. We like to believe that we ca...

When Jacqueline Bouvier married JFK she became “Mrs. Kennedy.” She was the Princess Di of her generation. Following her husband’s assassination, Jacqueline’s voice was almost never again heard in public. She quickly became the most mysterious and glamorous woman on earth. When she married Aristotle Onassis, the world’s richest man, she became forever thereafter, “Jackie ‘O’.” “Like...

Dean Rotbart says you are three different people. The first of the three is the person you see when you look in the mirror;   the person you believe yourself to be. The second is the person other people see when they look at you;   the person they believe you to be. The third is the real you. “Know something, sugar? Stories only happen to people who can tell them.” – Allan...

The next time someone tells you an advertising success story, especially if that success was online, ask to see the ad – the content – that triggered it. Here’s a Really Big Tip for you. You might want to write this down: “The media doesn’t make the ad work. The ad makes the media work.” I’m spending a lot of time these days fielding questions about online marketing. The most ferven...

Do you have code words and phrases whose meanings are known only to the people closest to you? I laughed a little when I realized the absurdity of some of the communication abbreviations that Pennie and I have developed over the years. Every couple has code phrases, I suppose, and there is doubtless a story behind every one. Are you willing to send us some of your code phrases and t...

You can do it. I don’t know how long it will take or what you will have to go through, but you can most definitely do it. 1.  See your objective clearly in your mind. You must see it before you can seize it. It takes courage to focus on your objective. Reach for the courage that dangles in front of you. Don’t fear that it will prove to be a carrot on a stick and you t...

Of all the things that drive men to sea, the most common disaster, I’ve come to learn, is women. I borrowed that sentence from Charles Johnson, a storyteller who begins his tale,  Middle Passage,  with that line. I chose not to enclose it in quotation marks because I didn’t want to alert you to the fact that misdirection was about to slap your cheek. Quotation marks do tha...

Retailers are asking, “Why do people buy from my competitors without even giving us a chance?” And I reply, “They gave you a chance. They just didn’t physically come to your store.” Customers carry instant access to all the knowledge of the world in their pockets. They no longer have to visit your store to compare prices and research their options. Why would they drive to a store to...

“Cream rises to the top” is what we tell talented people who are frightened. It’s a lie, of course, but it makes them feel like they have a chance. Confidence and courage are not the same thing. Confidence is trust in your ability. Courage is to have such security in your identity that you’re willing to risk open failure. “I’m okay with who I am and I know my intentions are honorabl...

I should begin with an apology, I suppose, because the secret of great advertising, the secret to great wealth, the secret of status and stature and your name on the lips of all the beautiful people is actually a wee bit disappointing. Yes, it’s a sadly disappointing big secret. The reason the big secret is such a letdown is that you already know it. Are you ready? The secret of gre...

When Ann Richards was Governor of Texas, she said, “Ginger Rogers did everything Fred Astaire did. She just did it backwards and in high heels.” Governor Richards was slightly militant in her feminism, as was common 20 years ago when she made her piercingly witty statement. But the once-edgy voice of feminism has softened in recent years as Americans have increasingly recognize...

Nine Voices, Nine Movies Each of us speaks and writes without thinking. This is why so much of what we say is predictable. Do you want to be more interesting? Choose an unusual perspective and verb tense. A movie begins in the mind of the listener every time you speak or write. At whom is your camera aimed? First Person perspective: “I, me, my, we, us, our.” The person speaking is the st...

Today we call it Data but we used to call it Statistics. Statistics are boring. That’s why a clever boy in Silicon Valley gave them a new and better name. A scientist is willing to change a belief when presented with data, facts and logic. But very few customers are scientists. This is why you must accommodate their perspectives, reinforce their biases, anticipate their prefere...

People will direct their attention to whatever gives them a sense of identity, purpose and adventure. You must always remember this when crafting advertising. The fans of a sports team are the members of a club. Their team gives them identity, purpose and adventure. Political parties, too, give their members identity, purpose and adventure. Religious organizations, book clubs and Tw...

It’s Friday morning, September 7, 1951. John Steinbeck emerges from deep in his writing of  East of Eden  to scribble a note to his friend, Pat Covici: “This week has been a hard one. I have put the forces of evil against a potential good. Yesterday I wrote the outward thing of what happened. Today I have to show what came of it. This is quite different from the modern hard-boiled s...

I look in the mirror and see the person I believe myself to be. You look at me and see the person you believe me to be. We don’t see the same person. Businesses, too, see themselves differently than their customers do. A flatterer disguised as a branding consultant will help you create an idealized self-portrait and tell you it’s your brand. I say “idealized” because we busines...

A cafe owner, famous for his soup, was told by his accountant that he could boost his profit significantly if he would add just 5 percent more water to the recipe. The accountant was right. The water was added and no one noticed. Months later, the cafe added 5 percent more water and still no one noticed. Later, more water was added. And then a little more, but never more than 5 percent becaus...

Contrary to what my headline might suggest, this is actually an upbeat message. Guilt is about what you have done. Shame is about who you are. Failure in business has no connection to either of these. Failures are footlights along the dark pathway to success. One of the defining characteristics of Wizard Academy alumni is that we are people of action. Failure does not frig...

“Once, there were 3 kittens named Murry, Furry and Wurry…” I’ll admit to fabricating Murry and Furry, but you and I both know that Wurry is often pampered and protected like a cherished pet. We talk about our Wurry and cuddle it. We share our Wurry with others, hoping they will choose to love our Wurry as we do. If you try to help a person eliminate their Wurry, they will rise ferociousl...

We could call this memo,  “The Poodle and The Vamp, Part Two,”  but we won’t. No one likes the sequel quite so much as they liked  the original. Talent isn’t rare. Our world overflows with worthy talent that continues day-to-day unrecognized. I’ll wager that you possess such talent. There is something you’re capable of doing, I’ll bet, that could make you famous aroun...

Type “business plan” into Google and you’ll see an impressive array of articles from  BusinessWeek, The Wall Street Journal, Inc., Forbes, Entrepreneur  and SBA.gov. Everyone has a business plan. Almost no one has an advertising plan. And we are coming to a critical fork in the road. I want you to choose your fork consciously rather than unconsciously. And choose...