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Monday Morning Memo: What Kind of Cat are You?

By Roy H. Williams

It was a term once used to describe exceptional jazz musicians. African-Americans spelled it "hepcat," while their white counterparts heard "cat" and assumed "hep" to be a modifier. Hence, "hep cat."

In 1942 Bob Clampett created the first color Looney Tunes cartoon, The Hep Cat, featuring an unnamed feline that would later develop a lisp and become known as Sylvester, (derived from silvestris, the scientific name for the cat species.) Soon, people were being referred to as all kinds of cats, as in cool cat, crazy cat, and "hep" became "hip."

And it all came from the African Wolof word "hipikat," meaning, "someone finely attuned to his/her environment." Makes sense, right? An inspired improv from a blower in sync with his fellow jazz musicians would trigger the rejoinder "hipikat" from a bystander familiar with the African word. Anglos heard "hep cat" and a new, misheard word was born.

Language is an interesting thing. If you enjoyed that brief summary of "hep cat," then you're definitely my brand of crazy. I enjoyed it, too. Arooo! Aroo-Arooooo!

New subject: Winning a Race

Nothing changes when you win a footrace. But the person who wins the hearts of men and women can wonderfully change the future. Do you have the skill to win the eye, the ear, the doubting heart? Can you win the human race?

I Did Not Die Today

[For those of you who like the hands-on, how-to, git-er-done over the abstract and thought-provoking material that Roy sometimes writes, you'll LOVE this memo. -Dave]

An Introduction to Chaotic Ad Writing

By Roy H. Williams

I am, for the moment, alive and well as an ad writer. But I feel I'm being stalked by iPods, cell phones, instant messaging, and increasingly fragmented media choices. And they're all gunning for my life.

Over-communication rides rampant across the mindscape of America, putting greater-than-ever pressure on ad writers to create ads that produce results.

Today I will teach you how to write such ads.

The opening line is the key to impact. So open big. I'm not talking about hype; "Save up to 75 percent off this week only at blah, blah blah." I'm talking about a statement that is fundamentally more interesting than what had previously occupied your customer's mind.

Wasn't your attention piqued by the opening line, "I Did Not Die Today?" Magnetism is why I chose it. Frankly, I had no idea how I was going to bridge from that opening line into the subject matter at hand. But it can always be done.

Continue reading at WizardAcademy.

MMMemo: Science Proves the Wizard Right Again!

[Just a bit more introduction, and then you can read the memo. That's one of my first blog students, Chris Busch, on Roy's right, his son Ryan on the left. They attended Magical Worlds together last week. I've attended with my wife and my oldest daughters. It's an experience that is best shared with the people you'll be attempting to explain it to when you get home.  -Dave]

By Roy H. Williams

Okay, let's be clear about this: I'm proud of myself today. So proud, in fact, that you might want to skip reading this memo because all I'm going to do is strut. It could become sickening. Seriously.

Frankly, I can't believe you're still reading after a warning like that.

First it was Dr. Burkhardt Maess of the Max Planck Institute for Cognitive Neuroscience who proved my longstanding assertion that Broca's area of the brain anticipates the predictable. (This is important to you and me because Predictability is the killer of attention. If we want to gain and hold human attention, we must know how to stimulate Broca.)

Now neurologist Friedemann Pulvermuller of the Medical Research Council in Cambridge has shocked the scientific community by announcing that Wernicke's area and Broca's area gather sensory data from other brain areas and then compile it into complex mental images. According to the article, "These results challenge the theory that isolated, language-specific brain structures discern word meanings. Instead, they propose word understanding hinges on activation of interconnected brain areas that pull together knowledge about that particular word and its associated actions and sensations."

Anyone who has attended one of my public seminars since 1996 has heard me explain this whole "pulling sensory data from associated areas" process in detail. I wrote about it in a series of Monday Morning Memos in 2001 and 2002 and then finally laid the matter to rest with the April, 2003 publication of the audiobook with transcript, Thought Particles: Binary Code of the Mind. Its description says, "This limited-edition insight contains one audio CD and one illustration CD unveiling the Wizard's theories on how thoughts are assembled in the mind from stored sensory associations."

Why does any of this matter?  CONTINUE READING AT WIZARD ACADEMY

Beyond the Blue Horizon - Rain Man Walking

1930 - George Olsen

Beyond the blue horizon
Waits a beautiful day
Goodbye to things that bore me
Joy is waiting for me

I see a new horizon
My life has only begun
Beyond the blue horizon
Lies a rising sun.

This will be an unusually long introduction to Roy's Monday Morning Memo.

It was a long week; my wife on the West Coast where her dad is recovering from a stroke, I in West Virginia working with a client. We were finally back in the same house together last night catching up on news, gossip and tv. Then, just seconds before midnight - FLASH!!!. . . . . . . . . . . BOOOM!!! Wow! That was a close one!

Experience told us this was a storm. I should have known better.

The flash knocked out our internet service. (a wireless dsl). We couldn't get back on-line until this morning. Checking my email, there was ONE unread item...The Monday Morning Memo which had arrived at 11:58 p.m. Coincidence? I think not.

You see, this is one of Roy's emails that prove his wizard status through external sources. It is the world of science confirming (catching up with) what he's been teaching these past few years.

Of course it arrived with an attached lightning bolt. (I wish I knew how he does that)

Oh, and before I turn you over to Roy, one last observation... On the drive home from Denver yesterday I was listening to the Rain Man soundtrack. Put together by Hans Zimmer, it's one of the best driving cd's you could own. The last song is "Beyond the Blue Horizon" performed by Lou Christie. The lyrics got me thinking about Broca's area and how it can be harnessed to help eliminate the boring and the uninteresting. This is the song that was stuck in my phonological loop when the blast hit.

So, take a look at this week's Memo...it's posted next!

Getting What You Want

[I have a magical slide in my seminar that shows you how adjusting your Impact Quotient puts more money to the bottom line. Should you pay someone else to write your ads for you? Yes. Absolutely. -Dave]

By Roy H. Williams

BONUS! Listen to the podcast of this memo

One of these days I'm going to calculate the odds of pulling away from a drive-thru window and actually finding what was ordered in the bag.

For 3 years I've been calculating the odds of getting extra lemon for your tea when you add the phrase "lots of lemon, please" in America's better restaurants. Currently, this request will get you some small quantity of extra lemon 47.4 percent of the time; usually a single, sad slice alongside the sliver you were going to get anyway.

If you really want "lots of lemon," you must raise the impact quotient of your message; paint a bigger picture in the mind. Smile and say, "I'd like iced tea with so many lemons that they slide off the table onto the floor. I'm talking about this restaurant being knee-deep in lemons when I leave, so many lemons that it takes two men and a little boy to carry them all. Will you do that for me?"

Do I get lots of lemon when I say this? Yes. Do I enjoy doing it? No. Do I think it's witty, cute, clever, funny? No.

I do it because I want the lemons.

What do you want? And how have you been asking for it?

Monday Morning Memo: Perceptual Reality

By Roy H. Williams

Earth's population reached 1 billion persons in 1804, 2 billion in 1927, 3 billion in ‘59, 4 billion in ‘74 and 5 billion in late ‘86. And on October 12th, 1999, Earth's population surpassed 6 billion.

The number of passengers on Spaceship Earth has doubled (from 3 billion – 1959, to 6 billion – 1999,) in 40 short years. But we're not discussing population growth today, I'm just opening your eyes to perceptual reality.

The cognoscenti of Magical Worlds will remember a brief discussion of perceptual reality at the beginning of class. "Each of you will sit in this room for 3 days and hear the same information presented in precisely the same way. But you'll leave here having had an entirely different experience from the persons on your left and your right. You will connect different dots, have different epiphanies, make different associations. Objective reality will be the same for each of you. But your perceptual realities will be yours alone."

There are 525,948.766 minutes in a year. This means that each minute, the 6 billion of us experience a collective 11,408 years of perceptual reality. And each day we live a collective 16,427,455 years.

Given that we lived nearly sixteen and a half million years yesterday, it seems like one of us would've figured out how to end poverty, crime and war, doesn't it? (Personally, I was really busy, so I was counting on you.)

Today's illustration is an image of the famous mime, Marcel Marceau, superimposed over a photo of Earth with snapshots of women and men on its surface. To the right is the cover of Paul Finley's awesome 14 Windows guitar CD.

You, reader, saw the same image as 30,000 other subscribers, but your perception was yours alone. You may have been confused by the image, amused by it, intrigued by it, or mildly or strongly disturbed by it. Perhaps you even saw a symbolic statement being made. I did not intend one.

Perceptual reality is yours alone.

Every door of opportunity begins as a...continue reading at Wizard Academy.

Marketplace Realities - Is there a limit to how high you can climb?

[Q: When has an ad guy ever told a business owner that he's grown as big as he's ever going to grow?  A: When he's the Wizard of Ads. -Dave]

By Roy H. Williams

Last week a client achieved 42 percent of his market potential. Never before had I seen a business break the 40 percent barrier. It was kind of like seeing someone run a four-minute mile. I knew it was possible in theory, but I never thought I'd actually see it.

Ben had come to Austin for his annual marketing retreat. After the usual pleasantries, he said, "Traffic is flat, sales are flat, and I'm not happy."

"Ben, you've done everything that can be done. You've trained your staff, created a tantalizing compensation structure for them, advertised relentlessly, added every conceivable product line that might increase your attractiveness to your customer, refined your purchasing methods so that your prices are visibly better, built a fabulous new store for the comfort of your customers, and through it all, not one of your competitors has awakened."

"Are you saying that 3 and a half million is all that can be done in my town?" he bristled.

Looking him calmly in the eyes, I carefully enunciated a single word: "Evidently."

CONTINUE READING AT WIZARDACADEMY

Will YOU be there when the big door swings open?

For the past few weeks, David Letterman has been asking this new catch-phrase question. I was as confused as anyone...UNTIL today's Monday Morning Memo appeared. OF COURSE! Letterman was talking about the big door of Tall m'Hall on the new Wizard Academy campus!

I don't know about you, but I'LL be there when the big door swings open.

Our Hurtling World - by Roy H. Williams

Marketing was easy in the old days. You had ABC, NBC and CBS, a local newspaper and half a dozen radio stations. That was it. There was no Fox, no WB, no cable channels, no FM radio and no such thing as a cell phone. You had to find a phone booth and a dime. When pay phones jumped to a quarter it was taken as a sign of the antichrist.

I'm talking about the 1970s.

Fax machines and VCRs did not exist for most of us until 1980. It took barely 10 years for them to become utterly indispensable and now they're becoming obsolete, kicked to the curb by email attachments, DVD machines and TiVo.

The future is accelerating toward us. Take your eyes off the hurtling horizon - even for a moment - and the world will pass you by.

It's time for you to get serious about a web site.

Yes, in that list of things that didn't exist in 1980, I failed to mention personal computers, the biggest world-changer of them all.

World-changing, let's talk about it.

Recently, one of our graduates sat down to dinner at the old Clark Gable estate with 4 other World Changers:

1. the president of a major television network
2. a recent candidate for the Presidency of the United States
3. the man whose name is attached to all the most spectacular hotels in Las Vegas
4. a money man whose name you would instantly recognize if I were to say it.
They gathered to discuss a project being headed by my friend. I hope to be able to tell you more about this project soon, as it potentially involves Wizard Academy.

Another of our graduates is directing the worldwide Research and Development efforts of the US government to defeat bio-terrorism. If he is successful, Anthrax, Ebola, SARS, AIDS and other infectious diseases will no longer be life-threatening. Let's pray that he succeeds.

A third graduate is the head of Pentagon News. I'm always fascinated to hear his perspective on world events.

But the graduates whose work is most likely to affect your personal life - the ones who can help you catch up to the future - are the Wizards of Web, Bryan and Jeffrey Eisenberg.

You know from recent memos that their book Call to Action became an international bestseller. Now, as a special favor to their alma mater, the Eisenbrothers have agreed to teach a world-changing 2-day event – Sept 8 and 9 – as a fundraiser to help build Engelbrecht House, the student mansion soon to be constructed on the campus of Wizard Academy. (No more renting of hotel rooms when you come to Austin!)

You need to attend this event. No other investment will propel you as fast into the future. And at just $2,200 it's the bargain of the century. Academy graduates (and honorary graduates – those who have attended my public seminars) pay only half. Wow. That's only $1,100. Read the details of this one-time-only seminar - Call to Action - under Course Descriptions at WizardAcademy.com.

I wouldn't put it off if I were you.

Roy H. Williams

PS - Are you employed by a small or medium-market radio station? Are you responsible for making radio work for your advertisers? Good news: You have just enough time to get the 2-week-advance ticket price on the airlines of your choice. Radio in the 21st Century is happening July 14-15. It will make a huge difference in your career.

A Happy Whack Upside Your Melon

Just what I needed today. The last two days have been as dreary as it gets here. Overcast, rain mixed with mist mixed with downpour. And, of course, the wind. If it ever suddenly stopped blowing, we'd all fall over.

Now, here's Roy's memo in my in-box with the headline "Unhappy People." OK, I can take a hint. Can You?

Unhappy People

Have you ever noticed how unhappy people always want to share their unhappiness with you? It may come in the form of a whine, a complaint, a rant, or sanctimonious "constructive criticism," but come it most certainly will.

The thing to remember when an unhappy person begins spraying unhappiness is this: It's not really about you. It's about them. And the wounds they carry. So try not to internalize it.

Do you remember the Jewish father played by Roberto Benigni in Life is Beautiful? He illustrated the idea that happiness can be chosen in spite of unhappy circumstances; you are not a product of your environment. You are a product of your choices.

Even weirder than unhappy people wanting to share their unhappiness with you is the fact that happy people generally keep their happiness to themselves. Why are we like this?

I have a theory about leaving tips on tables at restaurants: the size of the tip isn't really an expression of your judgment regarding the quality of service you've received. It's an expression of your generosity, the bigness of your heart. It's not really about the waiter or waitress. It's about you.

This idea can be especially fun when you receive truly abominable service. That's when you can leave a tip that's totally over the top and then smile all the way to your car as you contemplate all the different ways the story might end:

1. The waiter, recognizing the tip as a gesture......

Continue reading at WizardAcademy

The Power of Purpose

[The photo accompanying this memo is NOT the photo that Roy sent with the memo. It is the photo accompanying the link in the memo. When you've known Roy long enough, you'll know to follow the white rabbit down the hole. This photo is a glimpse of the collection of Don Quixote art adorning the walls of Tuscan Hall, where Wizard Academy classes are held. You are standing on the catwalk...you see the projection booth on the right. Why haven't you been to Wizard Academy yet?  dy]

By Roy H. Williams,

"…And after the fire came a gentle whisper. When Elijah heard it, he pulled his cloak over his face and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave. Then a voice said to him, ‘What are you doing here, Elijah?'" – from the 1st book of Kings, chapter 19

When Elijah focused on his own strength, his knees got weak, his hand began to tremble and his heart melted away. But as long as he kept his vision focused on his mission, he was filled with vitality and confidence and did miraculous things.

Where is your vision focused?