Wizard of Ads Monday Morning Memo

“Normalization” begins with an idealized norm of conduct – for example, the way a soldier should ideally stand, march, and present arms, with each of these actions defined in minute detail. Individuals are then rewarded for conforming to this ideal or punished for deviating from it. Normalization allows a leader to exert maximum social control with the minimum expenditure of force. This...

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The Eye of the Storm is what we call the classroom in the tower at Wizard Academy. This name is doubly appropriate; not only is The Eye of the Storm a momentary escape from the buffeting winds of business, it was funded by Tim Storm, a wildly successful entrepreneur. It was the third day of a 3-day class. A hand went up in the second row. “Yes?” “What’s the next big thing?” The answer&nb...

The official wedding count for Chapel Dulcinea in 2013 was 824 weddings. When I talk about the number of weddings performed each year at Chapel Dulcinea I usually say, “more than a thousand,” but it’s not because I’m lying. I’m just telling the truth prematurely. We’ll soon be at 1,000+ per year. I’m certain of it. If you make a declaration but you don’t believe it to be true, then...

I admire John the Beloved and Abraham Lincoln. These were quietly determined and reliable men, full of love and compassion, unwilling to leave anyone behind. But if I am honest, I must admit that I’m actually more similar to Simon Peter and Teddy Roosevelt; blustering and thundering, quick toward combat, often causing more pain than I realize. There are few Lincolns in America but the sp...

Why the World Needs Don Quixote  Sarah says if you rely solely upon reason, your actions will be based upon what you believe to be possible. You’ll not likely attempt the impossible. She goes on to say, “Quixotism is the passionate pursuit of an ideal which may not be attainable. It is the belief that an individual can alter reality and redefine what is possible.” George brings...

You have within you an idea, a possibility, a thought that has never quite gone away. You tell yourself it’s a childish fantasy. Perhaps it is. And that’s precisely why you should rescue it from the shivering shadows. Let your child live in the light. You’re strong enough now to watch over it and protect it from the beasts that would devour it. Let your child live in the light. This...

This ocean adventure called life is most easily navigated when we have a guiding light. The winds and waves of circumstance push at all of us. 1.  We can passively go with the flow. 2.  We can choose the badge of the victim. 3.  We can loose ourselves in pleasure. 4.  We can harness the wind and waves. The Drifter,? Spun by wind and wave, Helpless, says, ‘Whatever…’ The Dr...

For Friends Only Fifty-one times a year I write things I believe you’ll find to be useful. Once a year I turn the mirror toward myself. This is that time. I hope you don’t mind. I’ve enjoyed 8 distinct advantages in life for which I can take no credit. I am thankful for 6 of these advantages, but weirdly embarrassed by two of them. I was born in America as a white boy during a time...

Evocative Words Work Wonders Give a mundane product an evocative name and you will dramatically increase its appeal. Humans are uniquely gifted to attach complex meanings to sounds. Some of these sounds are musical; pitch, key, tempo, rhythm, interval and contour. But much more specific in their meanings are phonemes, the building blocks of words. Cat and Kite begin with the same sound.&...

for What Ails Your Customer? A spoonful of Entertainment helps the medicine go down, medicine go  dowwwwn, medicine go down. The public will give you their time if you offer them entertainment. They will give you their money if you offer them hope. But don’t ever call it hope. Don’t accuse your customer of being hopeless. Just let them know exactly how you can make tomorrow dif...

You must attempt the ridiculous to accomplish the miraculous. David sees a giant and says, “I will defeat him.” Everyone else sees a giant, as well. David walks toward the giant with his sling and BANG, David is king. That’s a favorite story everywhere. Here’s another. Don Quixote sees a giant and says, “I will defeat him.” His companion sees only a windmill. Quixote charges the giant with his lan...

The following press release will soon be received by the media in Midland, Texas. Diamonds to be Cut in Midland (MIDLAND, TEXAS – October 29, 2013) [Name of Diamond Cutter] is coming to Midland to cut diamonds on Saturday, November 16th and the public is invited. “It’s one of the Christmas gifts we’re giving the city,” says Cathy Fleck of Occasions Fine Jewelry. “Diamond crystals aren’t very impre...

One of the books I’ll write someday is a collection of true stories gathered from extremely successful people. My business as an advertising consultant and seminar speaker has put me face-to-face with many of the brightest stars in the entrepreneurial sky. And rarely do I miss the opportunity to ask them, “Can you recall that fateful moment when you chose the fork in the road that l...

The Silent Rifle as a 3rd Gravitating Body “Dangling like this from his leg, his upside-down perspective made him giddy. If this were to be his last moment he would die happy, but it would not. Instead, he’d soon be singing karaoke with a group of Korean tourists. But first, the roller coaster.”? – Christina Gressianu, opening lines of an unwritten novel Anton Chekhov wrote a letter&nbsp...

My friend Jeffrey and I were talking one day about this and that when he said, as much to himself as to me, I think, “What is it that separates confidence from hubris?” I replied, “The outcome.” “That’s it!” Jeff gasped through his laughter, his head thrown back as tears began to inch toward his ears. “If you succeed, it was confidence. Fail, and it was hubris.” I’ve never been sure&nbsp...

Do not confuse pleasure with happiness. Unhappy people can have pleasure. And uninterrupted pleasures are not happiness. Happiness is the result of knowing who you are, why you are here, and what you should do. We need identity, purpose, and adventure. Identity – Who am I? Purpose – Why am I here? Adventure – What will I do now? Selling is theater and each customer is an actor in that pl...

I’m 21 years old but my thinning hair makes me look about 30. I consider this to be my greatest asset. I walk the retail sidewalks, looking in windows, deciding if I will go in. A peddler goes door to door unthinkingly, playing the odds, tossing his pitch to anyone who will catch it like the common cold. But I choose my doors carefully, walking past most, looking always for those little...

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Reverse Your Thoughts, Increase Your Income Unifying Principles are those guiding thoughts around which all your actions revolve. When you hold them in plain sight, you always know what to do next. Brilliant people stumble when they focus on the parts and neglect to see the webs of connections between those parts. This is what causes medical doctors to treat each symptom separately while...

Agrees With Wizard Academy Headlines often tell the truth more powerfully than is completely accurate, a disturbing trend in this day of sound-bite news. The mental image conjured in the mind by the headline, “Nobel Prize-Winning Economist Agrees With Wizard Academy,” is one in which the Nobel Laureate (1.) is aware of Wizard Academy and (2.) makes a statement of affirmation regarding it...

The Essence of Content Marketing The perfect customer is like a beautiful woman, distant and desirable and pursued by countless competitors. An appropriate metaphor, don’t you think? Most advertisers want ads that equate to a magical pickup line. “Tell me what to say to this beautiful woman so that she’ll rip off her clothes and jump into bed with me.” Some advertisers get downright...

Commentators say that people today have a shorter attention span than in the past, but Jerry Seinfeld and I don’t believe this is true. “There is no such thing as an attention span. There is only  the quality  of what you are viewing. This whole idea of an attention span is, I think, a misnomer. People have an infinite attention span if you are entertaining them.” – Jerry Seinf...

We tend to think of imitation as the opposite of innovation but I don’t believe this is true. “Opposite” indicates opposed positions, left and right. But my observation is that innovation and imitation are usually the second and third positions in a continuing circle that has improvisation as its starting point. Here’s how that circle is usually drawn: You are faced with a problem for which y...

When you find your mind wandering, ask yourself these two questions: What am I thinking? Why am I thinking this? And when you’re busy, ask these three: What am I doing? What do I hope to gain by it? Why does this matter to me? Ask these questions and you’ll sidestep the bullet Socrates fired into the future when he said, “The unexamined life is not worth living.” Reality Television....