Wizard of Ads Monday Morning Memo

A brief summary of this episode

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 leapt from my mouth before he had even finished the question.“YouTube.”Everyone laughed. This confused me until I realized the class thought I was trying to be funny. Yes, of course, YouTube was already big.But not in the way I meant.Chad Hurley, Steve Chen and Jawed Karim founded YouTube in February 2005. Google purchased it the following year (2006) for $1.65 billion.YouTube was an idea whose time had come.During the 365 calendar days of 2011, YouTube delivered more than 1 trillion views. Viewership in 2012 was up by more than 40 percent: 1.46 trillion views. I mentioned that to you exactly 52 weeks ago. You might remember how I pointed out that one million seconds is about 12 days.One billion seconds is nearly 32 years.One trillion seconds is 31,688 years.A trillion is a lot.The statistics page at YouTube currently says the number of views delivered in 2013 was “50 percent more than last year.” This means they’ve jumped from 1 trillion views to 2 trillion views is just 24 months. It seems that you and I and the rest of the world are watching a lot of online video.Advertising begins a conversation with prospective customers that will be continued when they make contact with your company. This is why it’s important to educate your sales team about your advertising.Sometimes a customer calls to ask you a question. You answer. Sometimes they walk through your door. You greet them. But as Steve Wozniak wryly observed in 2010, “We used to ask a smart person a question. Now who do we ask? It starts with G-O, and it’s not God.”Your customers are gathering information through Google and YouTube. This means your website and your online videos are vital new half steps that fall between your advertising and your customer’s direct first contact with you. (You know I’m right because you’re doing this, too. You walk to your keyboard every time you have interest in a product or a service.)Are your customers finding the information they need?I’m not talking about Search Engine Optimization. I’m not talking about responding to customer queries made by email. I’m talking about crafting an informative answer to the question you believe your customer will ask and then posting that answer in a video on YouTube. You can also embed that video on your website. How many questions can you answer intelligently? That’s exactly how many YouTube videos you should create.Yes, I’m being serious.YouTube is often called “social media.” This is unfortunate because businesspeople tend to see “social media” as cotton candy that offers little real nutrition. Entertainment value is measured by the number of views a video receives. I am not suggesting that you should entertain the public, but rather that you should inform them. Information value is measured by how well you anticipate and answer your customer’s not-yet-asked question.YouTube delivers entertainment when we want to be distracted but it also delivers information when we are seeking answers. Google and YouTube give us unprecedented access to information, 24/7. This is changing the nature of sales training. As Steve Wozniak pointed out, we’re no longer seeking the opinions of experts face-to-face, we’re seeking them face-to-computer-screen. This is not how the world functioned a short decade ago.Welcome to 2014.Wizard Academy will soon be announcing the dates of our new online video classes. If you’d to receive advance notice of these class dates by email so that you can secure one of the 18 finely appointed, on-campus bedrooms at no additional charge, let Vice-Chancellor Daniel Whittington know of your interest and he’ll give you a 24-hour advance heads-up.Brother Whittington can be reached at 512-720-8801 or Daniel@WizardAcademy.org Capture the best you’ve got and make it available to your customer 24/7.We’ll show you how.It’s going to be a fabulous year.The future is here.Roy H. Williams

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 you’re lying. But if you say a thing is true and you believe it to be true even though it hasn’t happened yet, “I’m there for you. I have your back, no matter what,” are you lying? Are you exaggerating? Or are you just telling the truth prematurely?Faith is the substance of things hoped for. Happy endings are made of it.Faith is the evidence of things not seen. It is proof of the invisible.Hope is optimistic expectation.Faith is hope with its sleeves rolled up.Faith is hope wearing working gloves.Faith is hope yanking the ripcord of a chainsaw.Faith is hope with a hammer in its hand.Faith speaks of that which is not yet as though it already were.Faith requires commitment.I have faith in the success of the companies for whom I write ads. I have faith in the abilities of my Wizard of Ads partners. I have faith that you will blossom like a rose when you visit Wizard Academy. I have faith that you will find what you need while you’re with us.Faith requires commitment and commitment is a choice. It’s not something that arises within you like courage. It’s not something that comes upon you like fear. Commitment is simply a choice.Are you willing to pay the price of commitment?The things to which you must say “no” are the price of your commitment.The things you must walk away from are the price of your commitment.The things you will deny yourself are the price of your commitment.Commitment comes at a price.Do you have hope for the future?Do you have faith in your plans?Does your faith have a hammer in its hand?Are you willing to pay the price of your commitment?If you can give me four yesses I’ll tell you your future:You’re going to have a fabulous 2014.Roy H. Williams

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 spirit of Teddy is everywhere you look.Teddy Roosevelt would have liked Hockey and Football.“It is always dangerous to generalize, but the American people, while infinitely generous, are a hard and strong race and, but for the few cemeteries I have seen, I am inclined to think they never die.”– Margot AsquithMargot Asquith was an English socialite, author and wit.Dorothy Parker was an American socialite, author and wit.In 1927, Dorothy reviewed The Autobiography of Margot Asquith for the Oct. 22 edition of The New Yorker:“The affair between Margot Asquith and Margot Asquith will live as one of the prettiest love stories of all literature.”And that, Ladies and Gentlemen, is what is known in wrestling as a take-down. In soccer and hockey, a body check. In football, spearing. In the hood, a bitch slap.Americans are generally better at it than Europeans. This is an observation that’s been made many times.“I am an American, Chicago born – Chicago, that somber city – and go at things as I have taught myself, freestyle, and will make a record in my own way: first to knock, first admitted: sometimes an innocent knock, sometimes a not so innocent.”– Saul Bellow, opening line, The Adventures of Augie MarchI was born in Texas and raised with rough boys in Oklahoma, so I understand what Saul Bellow meant when he said, “I am an American…” Humorist Will Rogers also knew what Bellow meant. He wrote a letter from Europe to President Calvin Coolidge in 1926:“We, unfortunately, don’t make a good impression collectively… There ought to be a law prohibiting over three Americans going anywhere abroad together.”Comedian Fred Allen likewise looked into our cultural mirror with amusement and chagrin.“The American arrives in Paris with a few French phrases he has culled from a conversational guide or picked up from a friend who owns a beret.”Another comedian, Paul Rodriguez, said in 1987,“War is God’s way of teaching Americans geography.”Ouch.But the most devastating criticism came from the pen of John Steinbeck:“Americans are remarkably kind and hospitable and open with both guests and strangers; and yet they will make a wide circle around the man dying on the pavement. Fortunes are spent getting cats out of trees and dogs out of sewer pipes; but a girl screaming for help in the street draws only slammed doors, closed windows, and silence….”– John Steinbeck, Paradox and Dream, (1966)That these criticisms come from within our own circle gives me hope and a sense of pride. I am not advocating negativity. Continual self-criticism is a slow, unwinding spiral into darkness as our self-confidence unravels to nothing. This is dangerously self-destructive.But even more dangerous is to deny that we make mistakes.The vital passage in my book, Pendulum, is a quote from David Farland:“Men who believe themselves to be good, who do not search their own souls, often commit the worst atrocities. A man who sees himself as evil will restrain himself. It is only when we do evil in the belief that we do good that we pursue it wholeheartedly.”I believe it is wise to “search our own souls” as we approach New Year’s Day. It is essential to our wellbeing that we remember all the good things that happened in 2013. Celebrate these happy moments and be grateful. And then contemplate what you might do differently in 2014, because not everything happened last year as you had hoped or planned. Am I right?I’m talking about looking back and looking forward with an open heart and an open mind.Do you own a business? Might you benefit from the outside perspective of someone who has been studying American small business for more than 30 years? I’m talking about you and me spending an hour and a half together. I’m willing to do this for free.Here’s what’s up: some of my Wizard of Ads partners have asked that I videotape a few Uncovery sessions so they can better understand some of the techniques I use to uncover the opportunities that often hide in a business owner’s blind spot. The Uncovery is where great marketing plans begin. It is an assessment, a taking of inventory, a calculation of possibilities and probabilities that ends with a clear understanding of how you – the business owner – might better play the cards you’ve been dealt.Do you remember how Dorothy finally makes it in to see the Wizard only to learn that she’s had what she needed all along? She’s been wearing the Ruby Red Slippers since the beginning of the movie! The only thing Dorothy needed was someone who would recognize the power of those slippers and say, “Click your heels together.”That’s what happens in an Uncovery.I do a number of them every year and I’ve always charged $7,500 for an 8-hour day. My partners and my staff are telling me that I must raise this to $12,500 or $10,000 at the very least, but that’s not what’s on my mind right now.I’m looking for exactly 4 business owners who would be willing to let me perform an accelerated Uncovery for free. Each of these 4 will be given an hour and a half in my private conference room in February. These sessions will be videotaped for study and evaluation by the Wizard of Ads partners. They will not be made public.If this opportunity appeals to you, here are the details.My end-of-the-year introspection has been more protracted this year than usual. This is the 5th week in a row that I’ve talked about motives rather than methods. Please accept my apologies and allow me to explain.Constructing this last bit of the Wizard Academy campus has been like finishing a good book. I plunged into this project 10 years ago and could hardly wait to get to the end. But now that I’m at the end of the book, I sort of wish I wasn’t. I’m dumbstruck that 10 years has passed. Yet I’m also very excited to get started on a couple of novels and a screenplay that I haven’t had time to work on until now.You can expect to see new classes announced at Wizard Academy in 2014 as our energy will be focused on developing the intellectual property of the academy rather than its physical facilities.2014 is going to be a fabulous year. Not just for me and Wizard Academy, but for you and your efforts as well.Trust me on this. The signs are all around us.Merry Christmas.Roy H. Williams

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 Sarah’s observation to a pragmatic conclusion:“The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends upon the unreasonable man.”Progress begins with a rejection of the status quo.Progress begins when a Quixote sees a giant that needs to be defeated.Are you a conformist who believes we must accept the dominance of giants?Of course you’re not. If you were, you would not be reading this. You are the “unreasonable” person of whom George spoke.The opening lines of George’s biography at NobelPrize.org tell us, “George Bernard Shaw was born in Dublin, the son of a civil servant. His education was irregular, due to his dislike of any organized training.”George disliked organization? He would have adored Wizard Academy. Sadly, George Bernard Shaw died in 1950, exactly half a century before Wizard Academy was born. So alas, we cannot meet him.But Sarah is still with us. And she is looking for work as a babysitter. I know this because I found her 2011 college thesis during a Google search and was deeply impressed by it. Curiosity required me to learn more about her.Here are a few quotes from the introduction to her thesis:“Quixotists are the willful creators of their own destinies.Their childlike ability to marvel at the world, desperation to experience a full life, and willingness to pursue goodness and beauty through an adventurous process of trial and error set them apart from all who depend upon common sense. Thus, quixotism has the potential to serve as a mechanism of social change, stretching the limits of the possible.”“Given that quixotism stands in stark contrast to the more cautious, conventional notion of reason, it initially appears to be nothing more than madness and is often summarily dismissed as such. However, one of quixotism’s most important principles is its recognition of ambiguity and uncertainty. This philosophy thrives in the space between the known and the unknown.”“Quixotism represents the most profound expression of genius: joyful curiosity about the world and a willingness to explore. As thought and action are inseparable, it is both a belief system and a way of life. While the practice of quixotism leads to a greater number of mistakes than more restrained forms of intellectualism, it also yields more successes as a result of its extreme nature.”Young Sarah is obviously one of us.She doesn’t know I’m quoting her. She doesn’t even know we exist.Shall we contact her? Shall I offer her a scholarship to a class atWizard Academy? Would you like to help cover her travel costs?Babysitters don’t often have money for plane tickets.It is Christmastime. You are busy. I am busy. So perhaps we should forget the whole thing.I leave it up to you.Roy H. Williams

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 “thought that has never quite gone away” provides you with a perspective not fully understood by those around you. You see a special connection between certain things that others don’t quite see. This is probably one of your “life messages,” a note you carry from God to the rest of us.We are terrified to deliver life messages. I’m not entirely sure why. But I do know that every two-dimensional life gains depth when its message is brought into the light.Have you been living a 2-dimensional life? If you will share your secret belief, your special perception, you can step into an exciting, 3-dimensional world.Yes, some people will think you’re bat-crap crazy.That’s the price you pay.I’ll admit this probably sounds highly abstract and even a bit airy-fairy, so I’ll make it concrete by giving you some examples:1. I believe there are specific, spatial relationships within a 3-dimensional color model – my favorite is Munsell’s – that can accurately predict the emotional effect of juxtaposing selected colors. We explore this idea briefly during the “Color” module of the class, Portals and the 12 Languages of the Mind. (The 2014 session will be March 4-5. You should register.)2. I have been haunted by the number 3 since I was small. During the past 17 years I’ve investigated the relationship between the numbers 2, 3 and 4, and have been encouraged by the fact that Lao Tzu was haunted by the same idea during the lifetime of Alexander the Great (about 325 BC) and he wrote about it in chapter 42 of the Tao Te Ching. Augustine of Hippo was likewise haunted by threes in 410 AD and shared his conclusions in chapter 2 of book 15 in his series, On the Trinity. Alchemists struggled with this 2-3-4 relationship during medieval times, calling it “The Axiom of Maria.” Mathematician and theoretical physicist Henri Poincare’ was haunted by threes in 1887 when he investigated the wild-card power of every third gravitating body in complex systems and invented algebraic topology as a direct result. Carl Jung built his Theory of Individuation around the idea. So maybe I am a nut, but I’m a nut in pretty good company. If this idea holds interest for you, any of the cognoscenti of the Magical Worlds Communications Workshop can explain the benefits and uses of this perception of threes in detail.3. I want to create songs in which the musical instruments, themselves, sing the words to the song. You know what a trumpet sounds like. You can identify it by its sound. Now imagine the voice of a trumpet speaking intelligibly. I believe this will soon be done, not just with trumpets, but with every musical instrument. The vowels of any language can easily be converted into notes via their frequency signature, so the problem of making instruments “talk” doesn’t lie within the vowels, but in the formants of the consonants.Are you beginning to understand what I mean when I say, “a perspective not fully understood by those around you… a connection between certain things that others don’t quite see?”You have ideas like these within you, too. Why not let them out?Life messages are hard to articulate. No matter how well you explain them, your explanation always feels incomplete. Don’t let that hold you back.Life messages bring life to others but they also take a lifetime to deliver.Earl Nightingale, before he died, left you a message.?”Never give up on a dream just because of the time it will take to accomplish it. The time will pass anyway.”Nolan Bushnell adds to this message a comment of his own.?”Everyone who has ever taken a shower has had an idea. It’s the person who gets out of the shower, dries off, and does something about it that makes a difference.”Terry Pratchett wraps these gifts from Earl and Nolan with a ribbon of rainbow light. “You’ve heard that before you die, your whole life flashes before your eyes? This is true. It’s called living.” Are you ready to get started?John Burroughs was born when Abraham Lincoln was just 28 years old. John died nearly 100 years ago. But before he died, he slipped a message into a time capsule and flung it deep into the future, to this moment, to you. This is his message: “The lure of the distant and the difficult is deceptive. The great opportunity is where you are.”Don’t ask me what it means. That’s between John Burroughs and you. But I’d love for you to share your life messages with the board of directors of Wizard Academy.Will you?Write them down, as best you can, and send them to vice chancellor Daniel Whittington, daniel@wizardacademy.orgWe shall see what we shall see.And we promise we won’t think you’re crazy.Roy H. Williams

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 Drowner?Plays for sympathy.‘It’s been the worst week of my life.’The SurferScans the horizon,Wanting ever ‘The next big thing.’The Wise Men?Follow the star.?Adjust the sails.Twist the rudder.The Wise-ards know.– Roy H. WilliamsStart begins with star.Rick Warren popularized the concept of a guiding light in his book, The Purpose-Driven Life, but he certainly didn’t invent it. That book was published in 2002. By 2007, it had sold 30 million copies.It would appear that people hunger to have a purpose.Miguel de Cervantes wrote about a man consumed with purpose.His Don Quixote has been heroic and laughable, wise and foolish, admired and scorned for more than 400 years. Steinbeck speaks of Cervantes and Quixote in his preface to East of Eden, then says, “The reader will take from my book what he brings to it. The dull witted will get dullness and the brilliant may find things in my book I didn’t know were there.”Steinbeck looked at Don Quixote and realized that we tend to see what is already within us.In The New York Observer of March 31, 1910, John Bancroft Devins set 14 words apart in quotation marks but failed to attribute them. These 14 words have since been repeated many times:“Two men looked out through prison bars. One man saw mud, the other stars.”The first man saw mud because mud was within him.The other saw stars because he was full of light.We do not see things as they are, but as we are.We especially do that with the Bible, I think.Jesus speaks of vision in the 6th chapter of Matthew and the 11th chapter of Luke. I suppose the passage has as many interpretations as it has readers:“Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. The light of the body is the eye: if your vision is singular, your whole body will be full of light. But if your vision is unfocused, your body will be full of darkness. If the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness!”I read those lines and hear Jesus speaking of the passion and energy and creativity and stamina – the light – that comes from having a vision, a dream, a purpose, a goal. And I hear him speak of the echoing emptiness of life without these things. Perhaps I find in that passage only what I bring to it, but that’s what I find, nonetheless.I find myself contemplating this for three reasons:1. It is November.2. We have only to build Bilbo Baggins’ house and the Lenhard-Murray amphitheater and the Wizard Academy campus will be complete. What will we do then?3. Pennie and I remember in vivid detail the day we purchased the land on which Wizard Academy is built. The ensuing 9 years and 8 months passed us by with such speed that we are left gasping in a vacuum.I walk across the campus and am startled by what I see. When did all this happen?Each autumn I think seriously about what to do with the rest of my life. I reflect on the irreversible past and project a possible future. It is my favorite time of year.Start begins with star.“In any moment of decision, the best thing you can do is the right thing. The worst thing you can do is nothing.”– Theodore RooseveltStart begins with star.“Don’t ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive, and go do it. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.”– Howard ThurmanStart begins with star.“It’s when you’re safe at home that you wish you were having an adventure. When you’re having an adventure you wish you were safe at home.”– Thornton WilderGo.Follow your star.Begin your adventure.“Safe at home”is highly overrated.Roy H. Williams

For Friends OnlyFifty-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 when to be anything other than that was a distinct disadvantage. I didn’t choose to be (1.) white and (2.) male, so I’ve always carried uneasy feelings of guilt. There you have it.I’m often reprimanded by those who feel it’s in poor taste to acknowledge differences in race and gender. This confuses me. I believe it’s in poor taste to pretend that minorities and women are always as quickly hired as white boys. Things are certainly better today than when I was young, but we’ve got a long way to go before we’re the nation we pretend to be.I was born in the late 1950s. I remember the murder of Martin Luther King. I remember Rosa Parks. I remember being raised by a single Mom who worked harder than her male counterparts, was more effective than her male counterparts and was paid 32 percent less than her male counterparts. So please, for the sake of our friendship, keep your reprimands to yourself.These are the 6 things for which I have always been thankful.1. I was born poor.This gave me a certain fearless resourcefulness that isn’t so easily learned in the better parts of town.2. I was born introverted.This makes it pleasant for me to focus and concentrate deeply when I’m alone. I’ve used this preference to great advantage throughout my life. My clients even pay me for it. I call these deep thoughts “plotting and scheming against the rest of the world.”3. I began losing my hair in my late teens.This gave me credibility as a young ad man. Thinning hair makes a boy look older, so I looked 30 by the time I was 20. You have no idea how much more seriously people listen to your advice when you don’t look like a kid.4. I was raised by a mother who gave me copious freedom and good advice.Mom knows that traditional wisdom is usually more tradition than wisdom, so she taught me to think for myself. And her belief that I could accomplish whatever I chose was so vast and complete that I could not help but believe it myself. Add to this the simple fact that poor people are resourceful by necessity and fearless because they have nothing to lose and you’ve got the ingredients of an unbreakable entrepreneur.5. I fell in love with a girl who believed in me.Miraculously, she agreed to drop out of college and marry me when we were both eighteen. This is huge. It cannot be overestimated. My belief in the extreme importance of one’s life partner is so overwhelming that I taught my sons throughout their formative years that their choice of a life-partner would be far more important to their future happiness than their educational path or choice of career. I know such statements are considered to be heresy in career-worshipping America but they never arrested me for it.There is one more thing for which I am thankful.6. I’ve had deeply personal encounters with God that make it impossible for me to be agnostic even though I find it easy to follow the logic of close friends who believe him to be a delusion. And my God likes me! I’m sorry if this makes you uncomfortable or angry, but we’re talking about me today, not you, remember?I’ve shared with you from my heart today – at great risk – in the hope of inspiring you to look inwardly this week and celebrate the ordinary in your life with great joy. We’re about to go into 2014 together and we’ve never been there before so I felt we should take inventory of all our assets.Here’s your assignment, if you’re willing:Write down at least 5 things for which you are thankful. And you cannot list “Family,” “Friends” or “Health,” because frankly, these go without saying. To be thankful for broad categories like these is lazy, bordering on the unspeakably cliché. So be specific in your thanks. And don’t just name the thing, explain it. Will you do it?Will you share it?If you’re willing, send your list to Andrew@WizardOfAds.comPennie and I will read your lists on Thanksgiving and be thankful with you.Roy H. Williams

Evocative Words Work WondersGive 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. Ignore, for a moment, that C and K are different letters. The phoneme is the sound, not the letter. The sound represented by the letters “ch” in chirp, cherry and cheerful is another phoneme.There are only 40 phonemes in the English language. If you want to get fussy, you can count the unvoiced “th” sound in with as a different phoneme than the voiced “th” in the. If you continue down that road, you can find as many as 44 different phonemes. But that’s all.Forty-four sounds allow you and I to know each other’s thoughts.The Bible opens and closes with stories about the importance of names. Genesis tells us that Adam’s first task was to name all the animals. In the Revelation of John we read, “I will also give that person a white stone with a new name written on it, known only to the one who receives it.”Names are important. This is a fact known to every cognitive neuroscientist.Nouns originate and are interpreted in a region of the brain just behind your left ear known as Wernicke’s area, connected by the arcuate fasciculus – a high-bandwidth bundle of nerves – to another region slightly forward of your left ear known as Broca’s area, where we attach the sounds we call “verbs” to the actions we need to name. Broca’s area then coordinates the diaphragm, larynx, lips and tongue so that we can form the rapid succession of phonemes in that positively human display called speech.Information gathered by the eyes, muscles and skin is routed through Broca’s area on its way to the dorsolateral prefrontal association area, the home of the visuospatial sketchpad*, the mind’s eye, where we “see” things in our imaginations. All of this is connected to the ear.Yes, humans are uniquely gifted to attach complex meanings to sounds. And we are uniquely gifted to make those sounds, as well.All of this is well documented.Shape and Color are visual languages.Phonemes and Music are auditory languages.Painters use paint and brush. Fashion designers use cloth and scissors. Jewelers use metals and gemstones. Visual artists, gifted in the languages of Shape and Color, often expect their work to “speak for itself.”But it can’t.If you will add to these visual languages an evocative name, the listener – your customer – will craft their own unconscious bond to the thing you have named. A well-chosen name focuses and accelerates the talent of the visual artist and gives that talent greater impact.A designer and a poet holding hands can reshape the world.Here’s a 60-second radio ad built upon the evocative naming of visual products.SARAH: Christmas is coming!SEAN: And what could be betterSARAH: than designer diamond earrings!SEAN: You’ve never seen ANYTHING like these.SARAH: From diamond Hugs and KissesSEAN: two-hundred-ninety-nine dollarsSARAH: to the fabulous hoops of the Renaissance Queen.SEAN: Twenty-five-hundred-thirty-nine dollars.SARAH: See them on our website.SEAN: The Diamond-Studded SUPERSTAR.SARAH: The Summer of Love.SEAN: Cinnamon Roll earrings!SARAH: Fairy Tale hoops.SEAN: Forever THIN.SARAH: Sparkling Springtime!SEAN: Pink CHAMPAGNE hoopsSARAH: and Captured HeartsSEAN: Buried TREASURE hoopsSARAH: [sexy] and the Diamond Negligee.SEAN: The Ocean JourneySARAH: and the Embassy Ball.SEAN: We have Splish-Splash earringsSARAH: and Drop-Drops!SEAN: Diamond SunflowersSARAH: and The Four Seasons of Vivaldi.SEAN: Did you mention Snuggles and the Colors of Light?SARAH: No, you did.SEAN: When?SARAH: Just now.SEAN: Oh.SARAH: Designer diamond earrings start at just 299 dollarsSEAN: at SpenceSARAH: and Spence Diamonds dot-com.SEAN: Do we need to give them the address?SARAH: No, they can find us.Do you want to see these earrings?Of course you do.Because you’re human.Some words describe what is outside a listener.But other words evoke what is within them.Evocative words and phrases connect with core values and allow the listener to attach their own story to what you are selling.Those of you who were far-thinking enough to sign up for Wizard Academy’s January class, “How to Write Direct Response Ads,” before it sold out will be taught how to choose and arrange evocative words and phrases for maximum effect.No, there are no remaining seats for sale.But five scholarships will be awarded.I’d love to see you win one.Roy H. Williams

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 different than today and let them know it in an entertaining way.Go do that.Go. Get started.“Be entertaining” and “make tomorrow different” is easier said than done, right?We want your customer to have a new perspective, a new attitude about you and what you sell. But if your customer doesn’t give your message a moment of their time, your message might as well have never existed.You paid the postage but they didn’t read the letter.Entertainment is the currency that will buy you their time. How might your message entertain them? I’m not just talking about being funny.Humor is nitroglycerine.Handled correctly, it moves mountains.Mishandled, it moves things you didn’t want moved.We often remember the humor but don’t remember the product, right? This is what happens when the humor is gratuitous, disconnected from the essence of the ad.“Entertaining” is simply what we call the most interesting thing that’s in front of us at any given moment. Sometimes the bar is lower than at other times.My friend Brian Alter is a jeweler who’s about to send a catalog to his customers. His excellent cover letter below will accompany each catalog. Take a look and see what you can learn.ANext week we’ll talk about PowerNaming.Now get some rest. Christmas is coming.Roy H. Williams