Sea-monkey Marketing — Lessons from a Legendary Ad…

When I was a wee lad in the early 70s, living in America’s heartland, reading one comic book after another…

I was crazy for Sea-Monkeys.

Every comic book contained an ad for these “Instant PETS!” And I begged my parents to let me buy some. (Only $1.00, plus 30 cents for shipping.)

Mom and Dad knew those “frolicsome pets” were merely brine shrimp so they said:

“No sea-monkeys for you!”

(They didn’t want their wee lad to be ripped off.)

Earlier this week, I got an email from Ben Settle who recalled those sea-monkey promotions and said:

“…they were packaged, sold, and marketed as literally pets that live in their own magical-looking kingdom, that you can observe for hours in a bowl, endlessly fascinated by them — complete with illustrations (drawn by a popular comicbook artist of the day) in the ads showing humanoid-like creatures, living in a castle, underwater. It was an example of the advertising being more fascinating than the content.”

A classic example of infotaining content, he said.

“Many people dismissed the ads as “utter bull shyt,” Ben wrote, adding, “And while I do not share that belief, I do get the sentiment for the literalists with no imagination.”

That last word is key…

Imagination!

I wasn’t the brightest bulb in the light fixture. But even at age 7, I knew that $1.30 was not going to buy me a bowl full of mini monkeys.

I’d seen sea-monkeys at my friend Tim’s house. We knew what they were. But that didn’t stop us from imagining.

Tim had one of those mini castles in the bottom of the bowl. We made up stories about what the “sea-monkeys” did when they swam into the castle.

We “trained” them to swim to a pen light.

We imagined they were something other than primitive micro-crustaceans.

Those sea-monkey ads promised a “bowlfull of happiness.”

That was NOT a bull shyt claim.

So what does this tale tell you about marketing your business?

You don’t sell products or services. You sell how your products and services make people feel.

Harold von Braunhut, the inventor of “Sea-Monkeys,” made a fortune because he understood us comic-crazy kids who loved to let their imagination run wild.

He understood how those “sea-monkeys” would make us feel.

He knew brine shrimp, plus some imagination, equaled a “bowlfull of happiness.”

Captivating, client-attracting content begins with discovering your prospects’ stories. What makes them tick? How do they feel now? How would they like to feel?

Smart marketers don’t guess. They answer those questions through systematic story discovery.

If you’re feeling frustrated because you dish out content only to see prospects yawn, tune out, and move on…

…you have a story discovery problem.

If you’d prefer that “this is working!” feeling that strikes when prospects tune in, turn on, and choose you…

…ask me about my new do-it-with-you, mastermind/workshop — Content Marketing Masters.

Eight sessions that combine how-to training with get-things-done implementation so you can transform your content from prospect-repelling to client-attracting.

The first session: Story Discovery. I’ll share and we’ll implement my system to discover your prospects’ stories so you can gather the building blocks you need to assemble captivating content. Systematic story discovery will help you overcome writer’s block and build a pipeline of content ideas so you never feel stuck.

I’ll also show you how I use AI to streamline story discovery and generate great content.

Content Marketing Masters kicks off two weeks from today — on Tuesday, July 11. And enrollment closes at 11:59 p.m. this Friday.

If you want to learn more, reply to this email with the message “bowlfull of happiness.” I’ll circle back with the details.