Wizard of Ads Monday Morning Memo

“Savannah's squares may be public, but they feel private. Their massive, gnarled oaks – dripping with Spanish moss – create an insular mood, not to mention a deep shade… So lazy and calming are these ancient parcels that they act as a narcotic. The temptation is to lose yourself in reverie, to slip irretrievably into a gossamer world of indifference and fantasy.” – Jolee Edmondson, writing of her hometown in Sky magazineDid I think the idea would make money? No.Did I believe it would change the world? No.Was it part of a popular trend? No.When I asked 2 rare musicians to spend a year together, it was because I knew their music needed to exist. Do you sometimes wake up in the morning and know exactly what you're supposed to do? This was one of those days. “Put Mark Huffman and Phil Sheeran into a studio together and listen to what wafts out.”Huffman's mournful, alto flute calls deep to the shadows beneath the trees when the air is warm and there is no breeze; a dark chocolate tunnel exhaling rich, medieval tunes to slow the pulse and quiet the mind, lowering you ever deeper into the narcotic embrace of Savannah's moss-laden giants on a sultry, summer afternoon.Conversely, Phil Sheeran is a Latin Jazz guitarist who makes his strings sing crystal; sharp notes tripping brightly on tiptoes, glittering in the sunlight, twinkling and sparkling like ice along a blade.I'd heard them separately. Now I wanted to hear them together. It would be like watching an episode of Mister Rogers Neighborhood with a zigzagging Zorro slicing the air into confetti about him.That music needed to exist. And now it does.Is there something you believe needs to exist?Don't let yourself talk yourself out of it. Take the time. Steal it from things that are merely urgent. If you wait for “a better time” you'll never do it. Whatever small, symbolic start you can make this instant, make it. “A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” Take that first step.Mark the flutist, Phil the guitarist, Dave the audio tech and Sean the graphics guy are happy they stole the time from their too-busy schedules to bring DeepFlute Dulcinea into existence.Like them, you'll probably have to steal the time from other projects that scream in your face how they're far more urgent and much more important. It's tempting to agree with those shrill voices and say, “I really can't afford to chase a silly rabbit through the forest right now. I'll do it later. Just not right now.”Are you willing to make an irrational commitment? Are you willing to Free the Beagle?Arooo! Aroo-Aroooo!The rabbit is disappearing into the green.You will now run toward the forest, or run away from it.Which will it be?Roy H. Williams

Irrational commitment is a powerful thing. It is the stuff of heroes. Legends live because of it.And like anything powerful, it can be turned toward darkness.But let us look toward the light.Francis Bacon (1561-1626) made a fascinating observation during the days of Cervantes (1547-1616): Philosophy is based on reason and is, therefore, rational. Faith is based on revelation and is, therefore, irrational. Consequently, the greater the impossibility of the thing you believe, the greater the honor to God.Faith is an irrational commitment of the heart, the pattern-recognizing right brain, not the deductive-reasoning left.In Cervantes’ book Don Quixote de la Mancha, our hero makes an irrational commitment to a common village girl who doesn’t even know he exists. To the rest of us, there’s nothing special about Aldonza Lorenzo. But in the mind of Quixote she embodies everything that is good and right and true. He sees in her a princess and calls her his lady Dulcinea.Quixote’s irrational commitment to Dulcinea gives him vision and focus and purpose.Do you make your commitments in your rational mind, or in your irrational heart?Quixote makes himself a fool for Dulcinea, and in her name accomplishes many impossible things.Doing the impossible is easy when you’re utterly committed and have pushed aside your logical mind.Here’s an example of an irrational commitment made by 56 men, 230 years ago:“And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.”Lady Liberty was their Dulcinea.Here’s another irrational commitment:“I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America…”America is a Lady, not a place. And many have given their lives for her honor.But here, I believe, is the best irrational commitment of them all:“…for better, for worse,for richer, for poorer,in sickness and in health,to love and to cherish,till death us do part.”In case I haven’t made it clear: I am in favor of irrational commitment. “It is not good… to be alone.”On June 7, 1947, Paul Compton made an irrational commitment to Jean Johnson and in later years he would be called to deliver on his promise: Alzheimer’s disease stole Jean from Paul, but left her frail body in his care. Strengthened only by the memory of their years together, Paul faced the never-ending job of caring for her empty shell 24 hours a day. And he did it without complaint for 20 long years.I’ve never known a better man.Paul and Jean had 4 daughters, all of whom work shoulder-to-shoulder with their husbands and have done so for more than 30 years. Miraculously, each of the girls is still married to her first husband, though none of those husbands is a prize. Trust me, I know them all. I’m the 18 year-old boy with no money and no future who married the youngest daughter.If you would taste truth and beauty and grace, you must reach for the fruit of a tree planted deep in the soil of irrational commitment.I wish you good fortune on your journey.Roy H. Williams

Sigh… We get asked that question a lot.No, we don't have anything to do with witches, warlocks, séances, Harry Potter or Halloween. We're simply a school of the communication arts.Our mission is to improve the creative thinking and communication skills of educators, ministers, authors, inventors, journalists, business owners, architects, artists and musicians. Not surprisingly, a lot of salespeople, public relations professionals, internet consultants and ad writers are attracted to our school as well.Any student of language will tell you that “wizard” simply means “wise man.” A person who cowers is a coward. A person always drunk is a drunkard. A person who is dull is a dullard. A person who is wise is a wisard.Since the “s” is pronounced as a “z,” it came to be spelled with a “z.”Any person who gathers and catalogs information so that he or she might be able to give good advice at critical times is a wise-ard, or wizard. The insights they provide might seem like magic, but they're merely the result of careful investigation fueled by curiosity.Arthur C. Clarke describes the function of wizards in his famous Three Laws of Technology:“1. When a scientist states that something is possible, he is almost certainly right. When he states that something is impossible, he is very probably wrong.2. The only way of discovering the limits of the possible is to venture a little way past them into the impossible.3. Any sufficiently developed technology is indistinguishable from magic.”At Wizard Academy we push the boundaries of what is known. From these efforts emerge insight, knowledge and new technologies. It only seems like magic.Sadly, the translators of the 1611 King James Bible opted to use the word “wizard” throughout the Old Testament to describe persons who speak to demons or the dead. Please know that we neither practice nor teach these things at Wizard Academy.Now before you get all holier-than-thou and say something silly like, “If the King James Bible was good enough for the apostle Paul, it's good enough for me,” remember: these same King James translators used the word “spirit” to describe a frightening apparition, (Matthew 14:26) and “ghost” to describe the presence of God. (Matthew 1:20 and throughout the New Testament.) Today these words have precisely the opposite meanings, do they not? Ghost is the frightening apparition and Spirit is the presence of God.Remember John Milton of Paradise Lost? Barely 21 years old, Milton stayed up all night on Christmas Eve in 1629 to write On the Morning of Christ's Nativity. It was the first thing he ever wrote. This is the fourth stanza:“See how from far upon the eastern roadThe star-led wisards haste with odours sweet:O run, prevent them with thy humble ode,And lay it lowly at his blessed feet.Have thou the honour first thy Lord to greet,And join thy voice unto the angel quire,From out his secret altar touch'd with hallow'd fire.”Obviously, Milton was speaking of the magi (magicians) or “wise men” spoken of in Matthew chapter two who somehow knew that star to be a sign that Christ had been born. These wise men, or wizards, received no annunciation from an angelic choir. The angels appeared to “shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night,” remember?Yet not only did these wisards know that Christ had been born, they knew exactly what gifts to bring: Gold, the gift given to a king, Frankincense, burned as an offering to God, and Myrrh, resin harvested from the skin of the commiphora tree, used to embalm the bodies of the dead. The wise men believed that this newborn baby was king, that he was God, and that he was born to die.And they came to worship him.Here's the exact passage from the King James Bible:“Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judaea in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem, saying, 'Where is he that is born King of the Jews? for we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him…' And when they were come into the house, they saw the young child with Mary his mother, and fell down, and worshipped him: and when they had opened their treasures, they presented unto him gifts; gold, and frankincense and myrrh.” – Matthew chapter 2, King James Bible, translated in 1611Happy Holidays.Roy H. Williams

Advertising is what you buy from the sales department of the media. Public Relations (PR) is what you get from the news department for free.How many ads do you suppose a good news story is worth?Q: Which of the following statements is false?1. Thomas Edison invented electric light.2. Guglielmo Marconi invented radio.3. Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone.Regardless of which statement you think to be untrue, you're exactly one-third correct. Because all three statements are false.Thomas Edison was a great inventor. No one is saying otherwise. His first invention was a stock ticker that was purchased by the New York Stock Exchange. With the money he made from that invention, Edison hired a staff and set up his famous laboratory in Menlo Park, New Jersey.Joseph Swann in England and William Sawyer in the US were also brilliant inventors, though neither of them understood the press. Like Edison, Swann and Sawyer were both working to produce electric light by running a current through a filament in a vacuum. When Edison learned they were both further along in their experiments than he was, he simply announced that he'd perfected the light bulb and immediately received all the fame and recognition.Did you know that Edison made his famous announcement more than a year before he actually produced electric light? By the time Swann and Sawyer announced their inventions, electric light was already old news, even though Edison hadn't yet actually done the thing he'd claimed.Edison's statement to the press bought him the time he needed to complete his experiments. Edison understood the power of PR.Nikola Tesla invented radio in 1893 when Marconi was just 19 years old, then wrote a series of scientific papers about exactly how to build one. Underrated to this day, Tesla was perhaps the most brilliant scientist to stride the earth since Leonardo da Vinci.But it was 19 year-old Guglielmo Marconi who knew how to talk loud and draw a crowd. Marconi read Tesla's descriptions, then built a radio and claimed it to be his own invention. Newspaper stories everywhere began touting the young genius Marconi.How certain are we that Marconi stole the credit for Tesla's invention? Nine months after Tesla's death in 1943 the Supreme Patent Court of the United States announced its decision: “Nikola Tesla is the father of wireless transmission and radio.” The Court considered Marconi's argument, examined the evidence, and concluded that Marconi was lying. Case closed.So what about Alexander Graham Bell? Was he simply another poser who knew how to work the press? At the risk of sounding harsh, I'll answer in a word: Yes.The telephone was invented by an Italian immigrant named Antonio Meucci who died penniless and without heirs. Meucci didn't know how to talk loud and draw a crowd. Alexander Graham Bell did.How certain are we that Bell stole the credit for Meucci's invention? In 2001, the 107th Congress of the United States of America passed House Resolution 269. In a nutshell, that resolution acknowledges that “Meucci invented the telephone, Bell stole it from him, and we all feel real bad that Meucci got screwed.” Antonio Meucci had been dead for 112 years.During those 112 years, Bell Telephone became one of the largest and richest companies on earth.Evidently, it pays to understand the press.Like anything powerul, PR can be aimed at good or evil.Do you understand the press and how to get their attention?Would you like to?Roy H. Williams

Toward the end of last week's Monday Morning Memo I promised, “Next week I'll teach you how to increase the magnetism of a message by referring to unseen action.” Mischievously, I preceded that statement with a subtle example of the very thing.Do you remember the quote that preceded my promise? “Thoughts are the threads that bind us to deeds. Deeds are the ropes that bind us to habits. Habits are the chains that bind us to destiny.' – inscription carved on the West Wall at the palace in Maygassa”Where is Maygassa? Who carved the quote? How large is it written? How long has it been there? These are the questions that immediately spring to mind, right? By referring to an unseen act – an event in an untold story – a writer stimulates curiosity, elevates interest and heightens awareness.Are these things you'd like to know how to do?A famous paragraph written by Ernest Hemingway opens by saying, “They shot the six cabinet ministers at half-past six in the morning against the wall of a hospital. There were pools of water in the courtyard.”“What cabinet ministers of what country, for what crime, or for what historical movement, and with what justice, or with what miscarriage of justice, we are never told… these elements were rigorously excluded from the writer's art, in order to intensify the descriptions of pure pain and horror.” – Maxwell Geismar, July 1, 1962Another quote mentioned last week was taken from The Engines of God. Here's a second one (p.271) from that same book, lifted from the diary of Janet Allegri, “I've been thinking a lot about my life the last few days, and I have to say that it doesn't seem to have had much point. I've done well professionally, and I've had a pretty good time. Maybe that's all you can reasonably ask. But tonight I keep thinking about things not done. Things not attempted because I was afraid of failing. Things not got around to. Thank God I had the chance to help Hutch throw her foamball. I hope it gets out. It's something I'd like to be remembered for.”“Thank God I had the chance to help Hutch throw her foamball.”Who is Hutch? Why did she throw a foamball? Who did she aim it at? Why did she need help throwing it? What is a foamball, anyway?And aren't you just a bit curious about Janet Allegri and what else might be hiding in that diary?Dang. I did it to you again.Referring to an event in an untold story is a powerful technique, rarely used. Most writers just don't have the guts.Here's a radio script written by the great Adam Donmoyer in which he obliquely refers to a couple of untold stories. See if they don't leap off the page and bang you on the snout:Do you remember what it was like before you met her? Seriously, do you remember all those girls who seemed okay at first, but later – whoa!But now you're beginning to understand what they mean by “happily ever after,” right?Do you have any idea how many guys are out there still lookin' for exactly what you have?Don't screw this up, man. Remember what happened to Leeroy.You need to think about lifting up the top of an engagement ring box while you're down on one knee. That's really not such a scary idea when you imagine that it's her you're giving it to, right?The scary part is shopping for a diamond. You don't want to go swimming in those shark-infested waters. No, no, no. You want to go where it's happy and safe. You want to go to Preston's [Guitar Stinger] Rocks.No pressure, no hassle. Just great prices, the hottest styles of engagement rings and financing if you need it.They don't call us Preston's Rocks [Guitar Stinger] for nothing. We do diamonds better than anybody, because diamonds are all we do.Back behind the Arby's on 96th, just west of I-69.# # # #If you'd like to hear that radio ad in its final form, just go to http://www.MMMemo.com/PrestonsAd.htmAnd don't forget to bang the wonkus.Roy H. Williams

Persona-based writing is the new Targeting. According to what we've seen so far, ads that employ persona-based writing are outperforming yesterday's demo-targeted ads by an average of 81 percent.Website copy, direct mail letters, radio scripts and magazine ads that use persona-based language are pulling buckets of gold from the dwindling rivers of mass media.Persona-based ad writing is rooted in self-definition, that life-long process by which we determine who we shall be in our minds.If you understand what I just said, you can see that not only does self-definition provide the familiar image in the mirror of persona-based writing, but it is the strength behind branding as well.1. Self-definition begins with a perception of family and our place in it.At an early age we begin answering the question, “Who am I, what is my place?”Am I my parents' Reason for Living? (Common among only children)Am I the Protector of my sibling? (Common among eldest children)Am I the Protected, mischievous one? (Common among second children)Am I the Guilty one? (Common among abused children)NOTE: These are, of course, just a few of the many possible perceptions of familial relationships in childhood. Please don't feel limited by them.2. Self-definition is further influenced by our companions.“Who am I, what is my place?” Am I the Fast Runner? Am I the Quiet One? Am I the Comedian? Am I the King? Am I the Outcast? Am I the Sidekick? Who am I?3. Self-definition is reinforced by feedback from our teachers.Their words and attitudes shape us far more than we, or they, suspect. To pay teachers poorly is to hold them in low esteem. It ensures that the best and brightest among us will likely choose a profession other than teaching. And the next generation will be greatly diminished because of our lack of vision.4. Self-definition is molded by media.Continually confronting us with its own definitions of “good” and “bad,” we are forced to consciously reject the media each day or it will modify our unconscious self-perception. “Are my armpits dry enough? Am I supporting our troops? Do I have gingivitis?”5. Self-definition is expressed through our choices; actions, words, and purchases.Yes, we buy much of what we buy to remind ourselves, and tell the world around us, who we are. Our choices of footwear, clothing, hairstyle and automobile are statements of self-definition, assuming of course that we chose these things ourselves.“Show me what a people admire, and I will tell you everything about them that matters.” – Maggie Tufu, The Engines of God, p. 398Remember Maslow's Hierarchy? According to most estimates, 60 percent of us are stuck in that third level from the bottom. We're still trying to figure out what we want to be when we grow up. Our Need to Belong is our greatest, unmet need.Does it offend you that I believe we are flawed creatures capable of flashes of brilliance, heroism and amazing wisdom, but following these fine, few moments we lapse into the cloudy self-definitions we've carried from childhood like woolen blankets fresh from the dryer?“I suppose I do sound crazy,' Binnesman admitted. 'But everyone has a touch of madness, and those who can't admit it are usually farther gone than the rest of us.”“In choosing one path we ignore others. And wonder what might have been.” – Binnesman“Many adventures await you upon the road of life. Enter these doors, and take your first step…” – from a placard above the Horn and Hound Pub“Life is a journey, and with every step we reach a point of no return.” – Gaborn Val Orden“Thoughts are the threads that bind us to deeds. Deeds are the ropes that bind us to habits. Habits are the chains that bind us to destiny.” – inscription carved on the West Wall at the palace in MaygassaNext week I'll teach you how to increase the magnetism of a message by referring to unseen action.I'm glad you came on this walk through the woods with me.Till next week, Arooo! Aroo-Arooooo!Roy H. Williams

Every Nazi believed every other Nazi had character and integrity. Likewise, the Ku Klux Kooks and the Taliban believe themselves to be the high defenders of all that is holy and true.Your judgment of the “character and integrity” of others is rooted in the values you hold to be self-evident or in the religion to which you subscribe.Is it only those who believe as you do that have “character and integrity?” That question lies at the feet of the survey I introduced last week. I promised you I would share how we were going to use the information we were gathering. Do you remember?Actually that information has several uses. But we'll put them in chronological order:Monday, 9:47AM: There it was. Shortly after the MMMemo went out, I found it in my inbox, right on schedule; the first nitpick, an unintended put-down of me by one of my friends: “Roy – I find it remarkable that character/integrity didn't make it on your list of admirable attributes. The rest are quite a few rungs down on my list. – RS”It appears that my friend was disappointed in me. By leaving character/integrity off the list, I obviously didn't have any.It doesn't seem to matter that – in anticipation of this – I gave one last instruction at the top of the survey: “One final point of clarity before we begin. You'll notice that certain qualities aren't represented on the list. As an example, “sensitive and artistic.” The underlying question is this: What do you appreciate most about the artist? Is it their skill, the physical ability to do the difficult thing? Is it the impact, the spiritual clarity of the message they're communicating? Is it the fame they've achieved because of their efforts?”I responded to my friend by email: “Character/Integrity falls solidly in the category of ‘Spiritual Clarity – Inner confidence, people who know who they are and what they believe and are willing to identify themselves as such. (Can be religious or non-religious)'I apologize that I didn't define the categories more clearly. – Roy H. Williams”That particular friend was merely the first who wrote last week to critique, correct, or instruct me.What have we learned so far?1. Looking into an objective mirror makes us uncomfortable when it comes to matters of self-definition. We crave to control the criteria by which we are judged.2. When communicating with a tribe, the language of that tribe is incredibly important. (This is the foundation of Persona-Based Marketing and Selling by Personality Type.)3. The things you don't say are often more important than the things you do say. What you choose to leave out reveals your focus. (The Cognoscenti will recall this as Frameline Magnetism, the seven-eighths of Hemingway's iceberg that is underwater, one of the three principles of Being Perfectly Robert Frank.)4. Every positive attribute has its negative side. Look again at that list of six categories and you'll see an equal number of positive and negative manifestations for each.I realize that today's memo may be hard to understand at first. But is it possible that it's valuable enough to warrant a second or third read?If you are willing to do a frightening thing, if you are willing to run toward the sound of the guns, if you would fight with all your strength against self-righteousness: step out of yourself and see the truth your adversary sees.I ask you to do this only because I love you.Roy H. Williams

Will you tell me the truth about yourself if I let you do it from behind a mask?I'm collecting impressions today and I'm willing to share my collected data with you. My hope is that we'll both will get a glimpse into how we measure ourselves, our friends, and our heroes.Want to give it a try?Which of the following characteristics do you most admire? Which trait is number two?Physical AbilityOutstanding athletes, highly skilled tradesmen, the marksman who can hit a target from a great distance.Physical AppearancePersons with striking features, enhanced by hairstyle, clothing and the way they move.Financial AchievementSuccessful entrepreneurs, savvy investors, wealth creators.Intellectual ProwessGeniuses, bestselling authors, Nobel and Pulitzer prize winners, persons with advanced degrees.Spiritual ClarityInner confidence, people who know who they are and what they believe and are willing to identify themselves as such. (Can be religious or non-religious)Famous NameDistinguished by birth, relationship, or any other achievement. Recognized around the world for who they are.Now before you go to the survey landing page and rank these six in the order of their relative importance to you, I want to remind you that your anonymity is guaranteed. It's going to be fun. It's going to be enlightening. I promise.Immediately upon ranking your sixth and final characteristic, the website will tell you what percentage of the population sees as you do.Soon I'll tell you exactly how you and I are going to use this information.Thanks for coming out to play when I called your name.Ciao for Niao,Roy H. Williams

Why does every branch of medicine have pediatric specialists? Are kids a different species than adults?In a word, “yes.”According to Dr. David Nichols, “Children are susceptible to different diseases than adults. Their basic anatomy is the same as ours, but they experience a whole different set of problems.”Business life-cycles are like that, too.When young, a business must embrace fundamental change. To survive and thrive, it must:(1.) Differentiate itself from its competitors in a way that appeals to customer preferences, and(2.) Substantiate those claims with something beyond mere ad-speak. We're talking about creating a believable, fundamental brand essence.Consequently, a young business often grows by large percentages. Mature businesses rarely do.But there are advantages to maturity. Mature businesses have:(1.) repeat customers,(2.) referral customers, and(3.) reputationto keep them humming. In other words, they can coast. This is why mature businesses usually think in terms of incremental change: “Tweaking.” “Refining.” “Getting to the next level.”Be careful not to bite into the illusion of permanent success, Snow White, lest you fall asleep and be eaten by piranha.You can be sure you've slipped into sleepy, incremental change when:(1.) you feel you've essentially perfected your business model, and(2.) your newest competitors are doing something significantly different than you, and(3.) all your people are telling you that “targeting the right customer” is the way to get to the next level, and how “a rifle shot is better than a shotgun blast.”But if rifles with cross-haired scopes are so superior, why don't we use them when shooting skeet or hunting dove, quail, geese or duck?Might it be because they're moving targets?Are your customers moving targets?Rifles and scopes are for big-game hunters, those marketers who target rich people. (Use data-mining to get them in your crosshairs and then mail them something, call them on the phone, or drive to their offices and leave gifts with their receptionists. The current name for this technique is clienteling.)Me, I prefer to keep both eyes open and the whole horizon in view. This is why I most often use the shotgun of mass-media to tell the world about my clients. To be successful, I must make sure my ads differentiate my clients from their competitors and that we substantiate every claim we make.Don't worry so much about who you're reaching. Worry about whether or not they're impressed.Is the public impressed with your product when they hear your ads?If you want to experience tunnel vision, just close one eye and look through a tube. Congratulations, now you're targeting.Has the time come for you to think young again? Are you ready to embrace fundamental change?Open the other eye.Roy H. Williams

A visual image is a simple thing, a picture that enters the eyes.But a mental image is more complex.Assembled in the mind from information real and imagined, mental images are complex composites of sight, sound, taste, touch, smell, opinion and mood, combined with associative memories, both conscious and unconscious.A visual image in the hand of an artist is merely a tool to trigger a mental image. The mental image is what we're after. Whether speaking in the language of Shape, Color, Music, Symbol or Word, our goal is always to trigger a mental image.The visual image above the headline of today's memo is the stylized drawing of a home. If you noticed the baseball replacing the sun in the sky, the drawing made a different statement. It may have been confusing for a moment, but then you remembered ‘home plate' in the batter's box, or of how baseball represents Mom and Home and Apple Pie, or of how the game's players were once called “the boys of summer.”The drawings of the home and the baseball were selected to trigger an assortment of mental images. Likewise, the words themselves – “home” and “baseball” – trigger mental images equally rich in tangental and associative memories.Here's an example of what I mean. In the words of the late Bart Giamatti, “There is no great, long poem about baseball. It may be that baseball is itself its own great, long poem. This had occurred to me in the course of my wondering why home plate wasn't called fourth base. And then it came to me, ‘Why not? Meditate on the name, for a moment, ‘home.'' Home is an English word virtually impossible to translate into other tongues. No translation catches the associations, the mixture of memory and longing, the sense of security and autonomy and accessibility, the aroma of inclusiveness, of freedom from wariness that cling to the word ‘home' and are absent from ‘house' or even ‘my house.' Home is a concept, not a place; it's a state of mind where self-definition starts. It is origins, a mix of time and place and smell and weather wherein one first realizes one is an original; perhaps like others, especially those one loves; but discreet, distinct, not to be copied. Home is where one first learned to be separate, and it remains in the mind as the place where reunion, if it were ever to occur, would happen. All literary romance, all romance epic, derives from the Odyssey and it is about going home. It's about rejoining; rejoining a beloved, rejoining parent to child, rejoining a land to its rightful owner or rule. Romance is about putting things aright after some tragedy has put them asunder. It is about restoration of the right relations among things. And ‘going home' is where that restoration occurs, because that's where it matters most. Baseball is, of course, entirely about going home. It's the only game you ever heard of where you want to get back to where you started. All the other games are territorial – you want to get his or her territory – but not baseball. Baseball simply wants to get you from here, back around to here.”Wow. Who knew that two simple words, baseball and home, could conjure such a rich array of mental images? Words and pictures can do that. This is why we must select them carefully when our goal is to trigger a mood or change an opinion.If you want to experience still yet another – slightly disturbing – mental image of what ‘home' can mean, take a look at the famous painting by Andrew Wyeth, Christina's World.If you found today's memo interesting and would like to learn how to stack shape, color, music, symbol and word so that you deepen the public's perception of your message, or if you'd like to learn how to use contradictory signals to elevate people's interest, you need to be in Austin next week for a class that will blow your mind.Or, you can stay home and be bored:)I hope to see you here.Roy H. Williams