Thanks heaps, great start to the day for me in Australia.

John

Thank you so much - this has been eating at me for months.

Ahhh to relax

Alex

Thank you for taking the time to share this interview with us!

There are a lot of differences in advertising and I have noticed this over the years. Brand creation and images, have evolved and stay with the person. Association with images eg Coca-Cola, McWilliams Wines in Australia..from clothes to medicines - psychologists to alternative medicine - each advertisement presents a different brand and something unique to that product/person. Something memorable that will stay with the viewer long after the advert is over.
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"Actually, there is a big difference in the different worlds of advertising. Most people don’t understand the reason why much TV advertising is like it is. Or the reasons why slogans and brand image advertising are more important. Or even the theory of the USP, the Unique Selling Proposition, which was initially created to create better TV advertising.

With TV advertising, the point of sale is far removed from the exposure of the advertising to the audience. So if you’re watching a commercial on “60 Minutes” on a Sunday evening, you might not get to the store until Thursday, so you have to have a mnemonic device or something very powerful embedded in your mind so when you do see that product on the shelf, you’ll remember the commercial. We in direct marketing don’t have such a heavy burden of having the sales separated by time and place. We can close the sale right on the spot. So much of what works in TV advertising — namely mnemonic devices, or USP, which focuses on one reason to buy — really doesn’t apply to direct marketing."
_________________________________________Thank you for this eye opener and continued inspiration!Wishing everyone continued success,Sue in Aus
http://www.marketingforlife.com.au  

I was on the phone for a couple of hours last night with a client when he mentioned how much he appreciates not only the breadth of my knowledge of many subjects, but also the depth.

I had been thinking about that this morning before opening your always welcome daily email, and concluded the secret to broad, deep knowledge is when you see something, don’t say "look at that" or "what?".  Rather:  Ask "why did they do it that way?" or "how does that work?"  It is when you ask "what" and "why" that learning occurs.

And those are rooted in a deeper base:  Curiosity.  That’s why I have always loved Gary’s quote from Ezra Pound.

And for anyone home-schooling or teaching their children to compensate for what schools aren’t getting done, my advice is the same as I tell my clients:  Feed their curiousity.  Help them gain more curiosity.

I suspect the same applies in copy work.  Curiosity gets the letter opened.  Curiosity gets them to the next page by the cliff-hanger sentence at the end of the page that makes them want the rest of it on the next page.

But to be truly effective, stick to the truth too.  One of the things I’ve always respected about the top writers is their humility and honesty.  I’ve never heard them caught in the "How Great I Art" syndrome like so many celebs.

Now I"m dying to read the coming installments!

Clarke

And it’s STILL a Kellogg staple, here in the UK as well - in fact, there’s a new Rice Krispies TV ad series running just now.

Great interview - looking forward to the next installment.