I love pithy sayings, little gold nuggets of truth and clichés. Don't know why but I do.
It might be the idea of discovering the underlying truth that forms the cliché from time to time... Ironically I have almost no interest in the endless clichés that professional athletes churn out - in response to unrelated questions when interviewed.
Those just drive me nuts.
Here are a few of my favourites.
'Marketing is all about discrimination.'
Think about it, if marketing has anything to do with selecting the right people to send your message to then it is a process of discrimination. Discrimination against those who don't want or won't respond to your message. Of course the more politically correct term is segmentation, but which has more hitting power - 'Obama segmented the political market perfectly.' Or 'Obama discriminated against non-battleground states?'
'Advertising is just salesmanship in print.' John E. Kennedy most famously described advertising and copywriting as salesmanship in print. A brilliant way to describe it. Makes him sound like a genius, so much so that Albert Lasker hired him.
What this insight lacks is delving into the shades of grey that make up salesmanship. Not all salesmanship is equal - Kennedy incorrectly never made this distinction. He probably could have commanded much more money had he also positioned himself as a master salesman.
Oh well, can't win 'em all. Lasker paid copywriters well because he knew how valuable they were to him.
'The media is the message.' McLuhan sacrificed clarity for catchiness when he said this. I've taken copy run as a space ad and put on a postcard and had a fraction of the response for the same amount of media spend.
So the media influences how the message is received, which is McLuhan's point. However, different messages can be taken and used in the same media for greater result. Generally you can expect when you transfer a working message into other media, there is a good chance it will work there too.
I've taken copy from a sales letter and delivered it as a webinar practically verbatim and the message has converted 10X as many. Media influences this - but it is the message that remains king.
It might be the idea of discovering the underlying truth that forms the cliché from time to time... Ironically I have almost no interest in the endless clichés that professional athletes churn out - in response to unrelated questions when interviewed.
Those just drive me nuts.
Here are a few of my favourites.
'Marketing is all about discrimination.'
Think about it, if marketing has anything to do with selecting the right people to send your message to then it is a process of discrimination. Discrimination against those who don't want or won't respond to your message. Of course the more politically correct term is segmentation, but which has more hitting power - 'Obama segmented the political market perfectly.' Or 'Obama discriminated against non-battleground states?'
'Advertising is just salesmanship in print.' John E. Kennedy most famously described advertising and copywriting as salesmanship in print. A brilliant way to describe it. Makes him sound like a genius, so much so that Albert Lasker hired him.
What this insight lacks is delving into the shades of grey that make up salesmanship. Not all salesmanship is equal - Kennedy incorrectly never made this distinction. He probably could have commanded much more money had he also positioned himself as a master salesman.
Oh well, can't win 'em all. Lasker paid copywriters well because he knew how valuable they were to him.
'The media is the message.' McLuhan sacrificed clarity for catchiness when he said this. I've taken copy run as a space ad and put on a postcard and had a fraction of the response for the same amount of media spend.
So the media influences how the message is received, which is McLuhan's point. However, different messages can be taken and used in the same media for greater result. Generally you can expect when you transfer a working message into other media, there is a good chance it will work there too.
I've taken copy from a sales letter and delivered it as a webinar practically verbatim and the message has converted 10X as many. Media influences this - but it is the message that remains king.
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