Good Examples
n 2004, on the eve of his retirement, when he was no longer accepting clients, “America’s best copywriter” began to share his most powerful trade secrets by email. His name was Gary Bencivenga and he called the emails “Marketing Bullets.” I’ve been reading Bencivenga’s Bullets again lately, inspired by Brian Kurtz and his book “Overdeliver.”…
Pablo Picasso was born on this day (Oct. 25) in 1881. Before he painted like this ⬇ … …Picasso painted like this ⬇ Makes sense that Picasso said: “Learn the rules like a pro so you can break them like an artist.” What’s good for Picasso is good for us marketers. That quote (also attributed…
Last night, I had the craziest dream. I invented a wi-fi-enabled blender with a vertical video screen built into the side of the container… …so you can watch TikTok videos while making smoothies. Brilliant! …or so I thought… …until I asked my GPT-powered copywriting robot, B-9(?), for his opinion. He said the younger, “tech-savvy” crowd…
How’s this for an attention-getting headline… READ THIS OR DIE The legendary copywriter Jim Rutz wrote that headline, followed by this copy: “Today you have a 95 percent chance of eventually dying from a disease or condition for which there is already a known cure somewhere on the planet. The editor of Alternatives would like to free…
I didn’t sleep well last night. No big deal. It happens. Now, bleary-eyed and foggy-headed, I sit before my laptop. Some mornings I arrive with a story idea, ready to roll. This morning, like many others, I’m starting from scratch. Just me, a blank screen, and no idea what to write. But I have habits…
Here’s a winner-loser tale to chew on… (Trigger warning: If you dislike silly puns, you may wish to move on.) It plays out every Saturday morning at the Tower Grove Farmers Market, down the street from Story Power HQ in St. Louis. Many Saturday mornings, Melissa and I visit the market to stock up on…
A couple of years back, I got an email from marketing master Karl Bryan who wrote: “The most powerful speech of all time started with ‘I have a Dream!’ It didn’t start with ‘I have a step-by-step plan.’” I stashed that line in my “email ideas” file and came across it this week (there’s a…
Sixty-one years ago today, a guy named Robert Allen Zimmerman legally changed his name to Bob Dylan. In a few months, I’ll publish a book that embraces Bob Dylan on its very first page. Here’s how the book — at least in its first draft form – begins: When I was a young boy, my…
Ripped from the headlines… …another story for the “you can’t make this stuff up” file… Last month, government killjoys in Baltimore shut down a dispensary after a surprise inspection revealed illegal try-before-you-buy activity. Turns out Cookies dispensary fired up free samples – token tokes – for anyone strolling by. According to the shut-down notice, the…
I spent the holiday yesterday lounging by the pool and reading a great book: When I Stop Talking, You’ll Know I’m Dead by Jerry Weintraub. Weintraub was a Hollywood producer, talent agent, and concert promoter whose clients included Elvis Presley, Frank Sinatra, Bob Dylan, The Four Seasons, Neil Diamond, Bob Dylan, and Led Zeppelin. His book boils…