Wizard of Ads Monday Morning Memo

Balance is not compromise. It is a universe born when gravity meets antigravity, matter meets antimatter, Yin meets Yang, and Lennon meets McCartney.Balance is not the average between two extremes. It is the precarious midpoint between rising and falling. It is the last breath of an old man answered by the first cry of a baby. It is the electric current that leaps between positive and negative. It is perky Paul McCartney meeting jerky John Lennon.There we are with Lennon and McCartney again. Do you know that story?Neither of them was as good alone as they were together.Lennon added depth to McCartney’s superficial shallowness. McCartney injected hope into John’s cries of despair. If you’ve seen the theatre masks of tragedy and comedy you’ve seen the souls of Lennon and McCartney.In a 1980 interview, John said,“Paul provided a lightness, an optimism, while I would always go for the sadness, the discords, the bluesy notes.”Occasionally, they would weave together two half-finished songs to create a hit that neither of them could have crafted alone. In one instance, Paul contributed the energetic passage, “Woke up, fell out of bed, dragged a comb across my head …” to insert in the middle of John’s whining complaint, “I read the news today, oh boy …”But then came the moment when perky Paul McCartney had to write a song of encouragement to a broken-hearted 5-year-old boy.That boy was Julian Lennon, the son that John had abandoned to be with his lover, Yoko Ono.Paul wrote the song as he was driving out to visit Julian and his mother, Cynthia, a month after John had moved out of the family home.“I started with the idea ‘Hey Jules’ – which was Julian – ‘don’t make it bad, take a sad song and make it better.’ But then I changed the name to ‘Jude’ because I thought that sounded a bit better.”When Paul played the song for John, he assured him that he would change the line, “the movement you need is on your shoulder,” because Paul felt it conjured the image of a parrot. Lennon replied, “You won’t, you know. That’s the best line in the song.” So the line stayed in.“Hey Jude” spent nine weeks as the number one song in the United States, the longest of any Beatles song, ever, and the single sold eight million copies. In 2013, Billboard named it the 10th biggest song of all time.When you make room for someone who is essentially your opposite, you make yourself exponentially stronger, more appealing, and more effective.Your opposite can bring you gifts that no one else can give you.Your opposite can see what is hiding in your blind spot and bring it blazing to your to attention.Your opposite is uniquely qualified to be your partner to the stars, or your nemesis in the darkness.Your relationship with them will determine which of these they will be.Did you know you can choose to like someone, regardless of whether they have ‘earned’ it?Which of the people in your life is your opposite?Do they know you treasure them as an asset?Or do you simply annoy each other?Roy H. Williams

“The data is conclusive,” he told me, “our close rate is much higher when customers call us on the telephone instead of going to our website. Therefore, you need to write ads that drive customers to the telephone.”“I agree that the data is conclusive,” I told him, “and it says you need to fix your half-assed website.”The research community has embraced a new buzzword. They take great delight in demanding that everything be “evidence based.” It’s a little like listening to a parrot: “Evidence based.” “Evidence based.” “Evidence based.” “Evidence based.”By themselves, these two words seem harmless. After all, every new idea is based on evidence. But the smug and devilish side of this trend toward “evidence-based” methodology is that the phrase has come to mean “scientific, conclusive, and therefore above debate.”In other words, if you want everyone to shut up and swallow your recommendation, all you have to do is raise your voice and announce that it is “evidence based.”I think they learned this trick from online marketers. (Lest the broad brush of that statement paint innocent people with a fault that is not their own, allow me to say that I know several brilliant, online marketers who gather data responsibly and examine it from every perspective. They agree that numbers can whisper opposite statements when viewed from different angles.*)I’ve never seen anyone make a decision that wasn’t based on evidence.So the question isn’t whether you’re basing your decisions on evidence. Of course you are. The question is whether you’re interpreting that evidence correctly.Here’s how I explain this cognitive bias that has become so alarmingly evident: “The intellect can always find logic to justify what the heart has already decided. Consequently, data is often used in the same way that a drunk man uses a lamppost; for support, not for illumination.”Let’s examine the facts.FACT: The Japanese eat very little fat and suffer fewer heart attacks than the British or Americans.FACT: The French eat a lot of fat and suffer fewer heart attacks than the British or Americans.FACT: The Japanese drink no red wine and suffer fewer heart attacks than the British or Americans.FACT: The Italians drink lots of red wine and suffer fewer heart attacks than the British or Americans.FACT: The Germans eat sausages with beer and suffer fewer heart attacks than the British or Americans.EVIDENCE BASED CONCLUSION: Eat and drink what you like. It’s speaking English that kills you.The misinterpretation of data is as old as humanity. “Post hoc, ergo propter hoc,” is the ancient Latin name for this most common fallacy of logic. It means, “the second thing followed the first thing, therefore the first thing caused the second thing.”But correlation rarely indicates causation.Another limitation of data is that it cannot tell you the right thing to do. It can only tell you the result of what you have already done.Am I against data? Of course not. Data is information, and information is powerful.But like all powerful things, it can hurt you if mishandle it.Five safeguards you should use when evaluating data.Ask:1. What were the methods of data collection?2. Could those methods have influenced the findings?3. Is there any other way to look at these numbers? (i.e. – Are they saying “drive customers to the telephones,” or are they saying “fix the website”?)4. Is there a chance the persons who prepared this information have a bias or an agenda?5. If the data reveals a surprise, is that surprise supported by indicators outside the data?You’ve heard it said that “numbers don’t lie.” I’ve heard that, too.But I also remember my grandfather Roy looking at me after a data-quoting salesman had walked away. He said, “Little Roy, never forget: figures lie when liars figure.”Granddad, it’s been fifty years.I never forgot.Roy H. Williams

The name Wizard Academy causes a lot of people to scorn our school without knowing anything about us.And that, my friend, is the primary reason we chose the name. AWe don’t want uptight people coming here.When the right people – people like you – are confronted with the name Wizard Academy, they are filled with curiosity. And so they investigate. They visit the website, watch a few videos, read some MondayMorningMemos.Curiosity and a hunger for wonder are what Wizard Academy alumni seem to have in common.Wonder. Do you remember it?“Later that evening when we sat at the train station waiting to board our train I opened the notebook and wrote a question at the top of the first page: Where do you find wonder? That was the central question for a magician, certainly, but I also thought it was an important question for anyone. Wonder is something that everyone cares about but no one discusses, and I probably wasn’t the only one in my generation to lie awake in bed one night, unable to sleep, trying to figure out when everything had gone so numb and how to get back. Where do you find wonder? is a good question, but it carries an unstated assumption. The real question is, Where do you find wonder after you have lost it? That’s what I wanted to learn on this trip – why you lose it, and how you get it back.” – Nate Staniforth, Here is Real Magic, p. 114-115People who lack curiositynever find the end of the rainbowor hear the chimes at midnight with a friend.Ann Pratchett famously said,“Never be so focused on what you’re looking for that you overlook the thing you actually find.”Glenn Gould was on a similar trajectory when he said,“The purpose of art is not the release of a momentary ejection of adrenaline but rather the gradual, lifelong construction of a state of wonder…”Tom Robbins said it in a way that includes me.“A lot of my work comes from what in Asia is called the ‘mind of wonder.’ There is not a lot of ‘mind of wonder’ writing in contemporary Western literature. I think that’s what appeals to the readers who are my fans.”Albert Einstein said it first.“The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and science. He to whom the emotion is a stranger, who can no longer pause to wonder and stand wrapped in awe, is as good as dead —his eyes are closed.”But G.K. Chesterton said it succinctly.“We are perishing for want of wonder, not for want of wonders.”Wizard Academy teaches the communication arts. These include speaking and writing, of course, but symbols, colors, shapes, music and numbers are language as well. And each one plays a role in successful advertising and marketing.I share these things with you becauseI am thinking about the future.And what I want it to hold.Curiosity is the gift I would give you.And wonder is what I want you to find.We’re here when you want to visit.Roy H. WilliamsChancellor, Wizard Academy

Didn’t Coca-Cola used to have the most wonderful TV ads?But when’s the last time you saw one on TV?Have you heard of Vitaminwater? Coke bought it for $4.1bn. Traditional soft drinks are now less than 2/3 of Coke’s business, and that percentage is likely to decline.The problem, I think, is that we fell out of love with sweet, syrupy soft drinks. Coke saw this handwriting on the wall, so they evolved into ready-to-drink teas and coffees and juices and dairy products.Coca-Cola knew it was time to reinvent themselves; to transform from one thing into another. This is why – after a continuing series of mistakes, failures, and course corrections – they will continue to thrive.Reinvention is easier as an evolution, rather than an all-at-once revolution.But this takes foresight.Do you remember when travel agencies were a thing? If you needed to buy a plane ticket, you called a travel agent. But most travel agencies disappeared altogether because they remained in denial too long.Changes in the marketplace are, doubtless, affecting your business. Do you have plans to evolve into what you need to be, or are you hunkered down in denial?I happen to know a number of bright and successful church pastors across North America. Interestingly, they all say the same thing. “Gone are the days when most people attended church services every Sunday. Most people attend once a month these days, and the core congregation comes to church twice or three times a month.” But these pastors aren’t complaining and they’re certainly not lecturing their congregations about it. They’re successful because they’ve adapted to what is.Have you adapted to what is? Or are you trying to turn back the clock, to the way it ought to be, or used to be, or the way you’d like it to be?The customer has a way they would like it to be, too. Will you listen to them? Or will you insist they listen to you?Is this something you’d care to discuss?Our conversation will continue in the rabbit hole, with Judge Indy Beagle presiding.Roy H. Williams

We settle for sex when we cannot find love.Likewise, we settle for the excitement of energy – adrenaline – when we cannot find oxytocin – that quiet but satisfying excitement of knowing we belong.Adrenaline and oxytocin are the neurotransmitters that make us feel our most important feelings.POW! The release of adrenaline is easy to trigger. But it takes subtlety to gently release oxytocin.SPOILER ALERT: Yes, we’re talking about advertising and marketing. We’re talking about selling. We’re talking about building long-term relationships with our friends, our clients, and our customers.The ancient Greeks had 6 words for love.Three of them – eros, philia, and agape, were used in the original Greek text of the New Testament:Eros is erotic love. Adrenaline excitement.Philia is friendship. That oxytocin-based feeling of connectedness.Agape is sacrificial love. An oxytocin bond so deep that you will take a bullet for your partner.The following 3 words for love are not found in the Bible, but they may prove to be of use to us nonetheless:Ludus is playful love. Banter and repartee. Teasing. Dancing. Ludus is that interesting blend of adrenaline and oxytocin we see in two puppies rolling and tumbling as they play-fight. Ludus is ludicrous. Ridiculous. Restorative.Philautia is self-love. It is confidence, self-connectedness, being comfortable in your own skin. Those of you that have been to Wizard Academy have heard me say, “Much of what we buy is purchased to remind ourselves – and announce to the world around us – who we are.” This identity reinforcement – “self belonging” – is oxytocin-based, not adrenalin-based. Philautia is a good thing, but too much of this good thing will make you a narcissist.Pragma is longstanding love. It is the deep understanding that develops between long-married couples. You might think of it as oxytocin that has been aged like fine wine. Brand loyalists have pragma for the brands they promote.Did you notice that only 2 of the 6 kinds of love – eros and ludus – involve adrenaline?Eros in advertising is using a girl in a bikini to sell auto parts. Eros in advertising is a billboard showing pretty girls in tight tops serving food in a place called “Hooters.”I like to believe I’m above doing those sorts of things in ads.(I’m probably not, but I like to believe I am.)I like to believe you’re above doing those sorts of things, too.But I’m definitely not above using ludus, playful love, banter and repartee in advertising. In fact, I’m wildly in favor of it, as are most of the people on earth, if popular movies and TV shows are any indication.Have you noticed that logic is not a driver in any of the 6 kinds of love?Wow. That’s scary.There is something in each of us that desperately needs to believe we are creatures of logic, and that our most important decisions are based on reason, after careful consideration of the facts.Unfortunately, this has been medically proven not to be the case. In fact, 100% of all decisions require an emotional component.Without emotion, there can be no decision.1Without surprise, there can be no delight.Without you, there can be no Wizard Academy.Come and see us when you can.Roy H. Williams

Wizard Academy began with an itch and an image.I got the itch in Tulsa in 1978 when I was 20 years old.I saw the image online in 1994 when I was 36.The itch was to help little businesses succeed.The image was of a boy sitting beneath the stars with an open book in his lap. The crenels and merlons in the battlements beyond him suggested that he was sitting on the top of a castle tower.Looking at that cartoon image on my computer screen, I knew I was going to build that tower.I know this makes me sound crazy, but there have been a handful of moments in my life when I quietly but suddenly knew what was going to happen. I’m not talking about premonitions or visions or dreams or hopes or wishes. I’m not talking about goals or goal-setting. I’m talking about knowing something as surely as if it had already happened.Did I mention that I know this makes me sound crazy?I was 13 when I saw a photograph of Pennie Compton and knew that I was going to marry her. The two of us had never met. A few months earlier, I had been flipping through a 1963 Reader’s Digest atlas of the world when I noticed a city – Austin – in the center of Texas. I remember raising an eyebrow when I suddenly knew I would move there someday. The sequence of events that would cause these things to happen remained an absolute mystery to me. But the outcome was never in question.So I knew I was going to build that tower. But I had no idea why.My 1978 itch to help small businesses grow led to a string of remarkable successes. By 1992 I was traveling 40 weeks a year teaching ever-larger groups of business owners how to lift themselves to higher levels of success.I hated it.Dorothy was right, “There’s no place like home.” I’ve suffered from separation anxiety throughout my life. Travel, for me, is “the little death.”“Honey,” said Pennie in 1993, “let the people who want your help come to Austin. Schedule a monthly class in our conference room and if someone wants to come to it, they can come.”When we outgrew that conference room we began to rent the ballrooms of luxury hotels. By the time we paid for those rooms and rented the projection equipment and bought the coffee at $60 a pot and fed lunch to all our guests, we were spending about $20,000 per event to host these classes.Did I mention that we weren’t charging anyone to attend the classes, and that we had no capacity to serve additional clients?So we built a new headquarters building for our marketing business with a large, open room on the second floor that we could use as a classroom. That worked for about 2 years.Then we built a classroom building next to the main office building. That bought us an extra 4 years.Then, in 2004, Pennie said, “Honey, I found some land we should buy.”“Why do we want to buy some land?”“We’ll build some stuff for ourselves on one half of it, and then donate the other half to Wizard Academy and let the school become whatever it wants to become.”When she showed me the land, I smiled. There, on the top of that majestic plateau was the tower I had seen 10 years earlier. It wasn’t physically there, of course, but I knew that someday it would be.If you have a crazy image in your mind of a possible future, an inexplicable guiding star that encourages you in the dark moments and lights your way one step at a time, never forget that you have a tribe, and they’ve built a fascinating place for you to come when you need guidance or instruction or fellowship or encouragement.Do you have an idea? An itch? A hunger?Do you see something that no one else can see?Are you willing to leave a trail of sweat and tears and dollars behind you as you struggle to make it real?Welcome to Wizard Academy.You, my friend, are exactly our brand of crazy.Let the adventure begin.Roy H. Williams

2018 is looking to be a good year for small business.My personal definition of “a small business” is an owner-operator doing between $1M and $75M a year. I do not pretend to know the trends outside this group.The following are the small business trends that seem to be emerging in 2018:1: Small businesses are falling out of love with social media and with SEO (Search Engine Optimization.)2: Broadcast Radio and Broadcast Television are regaining their previous stature within ad budgets due to the excellent values available at this time.3: Business owners are beginning to learn the power of having a memorable personality. (The typical company spokesperson is “polished and professional.” Which is just another way of saying “bland, vanilla-neutral. Unremarkable. Interchangeable. Easy to ignore.” Criticism is the price of personality. Which is why so few company spokespersons have any.)Brad and Sarah Casebier used the power of personality to grow their tiny little company in Austin, Texas to astonishing levels of success. You can hear the ad they currently have on the radio on the first page of today’s rabbit hole.4: Experiments with ads in online radio (Pandora, etc.) have typically been disappointments and word is spreading quickly.5: Google is actively blocking all attempts by SEO specialists to “game” a client’s ranking on Google.6: The most savvy online marketing people are openly advocating mass media as the most efficient way to drive “direct navigation” to a website. (Direct Navigation is currently the single, most important criteria used by Google to determine the search engine ranking of your website. Number two is Time on Site. Number three is Pages Per Session. That being said, there are at least 14 other, smaller criteria considered by Google, but with each one having a decreasing degree of importance.)7: Sensing the dying momentum for their services, SEO consultants are beginning to push harder than ever in their search for new clients.8: Recognizing the importance of aligning all their channels of customer communication, business owners are becoming adamant that their online marketing contain the words and phrases [brandable chunks] that have been popularized through their mass media ads.9: Extremely savvy business owners are taking this concept of “channel alignment” to its ultimate end: ongoing agreement, alignment and reinforcement of mass media messaging throughout all their:A. online efforts,B. direct mail, including invoicingC. email,D. outbound calls,E. conversations of Customer Service Representatives with inbound callersF. weekly orientation and training of salespeopleG. weekly orientation and training of all other employees who might interact with the public on behalf of the company.Let me say this as plainly as I can. The smartest and most successful small business owners are orchestrating and aligning all these previously “siloed” departments into a single, concerted voice.And it’s about time.Roy H. Williams

I am, by profession, an ad writer. I tell stories about people and products and services.You do, too.But because I get paid for it, I spend a lot of time considering – and measuring ­– the impact of stories.Some of the stories I’ve told have made people an enormous amount of money.But the most important stories I tell, by far, are the stories I tell about myself, to myself. Those stories are the source of my identity and the foundation of my purpose in life.But we’ve talked enough about me.I see something good in you and I’m calling it out.Is it okay for me to do that?Let us stare together into the eyes of the truth:Whether good or bad, your current circumstances are temporary.Success is temporary.Failure is temporary.Your future depends on your choices.Your choices depend on what you believe.What you believe is not determined by what you see and hear, but by how you interpret what you see and hear.How you interpret what you see and hear is determined by the stories you tell yourself, about yourself.Who do you believe yourself to be?What do you believe about this world we live in?What does the future hold?Your mood, your attitude and what happens to you next will be greatly impacted by your answers to those questions.“If you want your baby to die with a name, you need to pick one now.”The newborn had inhaled meconium during birth, the most the doctors had ever seen. His lungs were 95% full of it. The father and the baby rode with lights and sirens to Dell Children’s Hospital 30 minutes away, with the grandmother riding the back bumper.The doctors at Dell looked at the x-rays and slowly shook their heads in disappointment.The grandmother stayed with the newborn while the father went back to see his wife.The mother was puzzled when the nurse showed her the baby’s birth certificate. She and her husband had been torn between 2 names for their new son and had agreed to choose the name after they met him.The husband walked into the room.She said, “I thought we agreed to talk about it before we chose the name.”“Honey, Lincoln died. But Gideon overcame impossible odds. When they asked me his name, I said: ‘This boy isn’t Lincoln. This boy is Gideon.’”When the specialist at Dell met with the parents the following day, he was holding two sets of x-rays. Holding up a film in his left hand, he said, “I have no explanation for it, but this baby…” Then he lowered that film as he raised the one in his right, “isn’t this baby.”Gideon will be eight years old on March 15 and he suffers no after-effects at all.You may believe that what happened was going to happen anyway, and that belief in the power of a name is superstitious nonsense. That would be the logical, scientific belief, to be sure.But do you really believe that beliefs have no power?Beliefs are what separate Democrats from Republicans, Hindus from Muslims, stock market Bulls from stock market Bears, and scientists from storytellers.Your beliefs are what make you who you are.And your beliefs are determinedby the stories you tell yourselfabout yourself.You are not responsible for the beliefs of others.You are responsible only for your own.During his time at Walden pond, Henry David Thoreau observed, “The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation.” And I agree with him.I also agree with Jack Kerouac. “But why think about that when all the golden land’s ahead of you and all kinds of unforeseen events wait lurking to surprise you and make you glad you’re alive to see?”Did you experience 5 years of life during the past 5 years?Or did you experience 1 year of life 5 times?Don’t let 2018 be the 6th straight year of 1 years’ experience.Do something new.Tell yourself a different storyabout yourself.And believe it.Roy H. Williams

A pleasant surprise is the beginning of delight.You surprise and delight your family by listening to them.You surprise and delight your friends by being interested in what they say.You surprise and delight your customers by giving them your full attention.That’s why everyone likes you.Ray Bard is the ringmaster of untamed quotes, captured in the wild. Crazy quotes you’ve never heard before; frightful, delightful, insightful. One of my recent favorites is by Lisa Kirk,“A gossip is one who talks to you about others. A bore is one who talks to you about himself. And a brilliant conversationalist is one who talks to you about yourself.”Lisa Kirk’s observation applies to ad writers and online content writers as well.A gossip trashes competitors.A bore talks about their company and their products.A brilliant writer talks about how they hope to improve some part of your world.That’s you in 2018, improving some part of everyone’s world.2018 is going to be wonderful for you, because you have the courage, confidence and compassion to make every person you encounter a little happier.Even when they don’t deserve it.Your attitude springs from your gratitude, like water gushing up from an artesian well. You are thankful for all the good in your life. You find interesting ways to celebrate the ordinary.Lunch with a friend.Making a new co-worker feel welcome.Remembering others by their best moments.You have chosen to be grateful because gratitude makes every weight feel lighter.Gratitude drives away depression, just as light drives away the darkness.That’s you in 2018: a beam of light! Making others feel special by listening to them, being grateful for all the good in your life, finding ways to celebrate the ordinary.You’re really lucky to be you.I’m glad I know you.Roy H. Williams

Indy Beagle brought me an electric fan and a hammer.The fan is to blow away the smoke.The hammer is to shatter the mirrors.You hear a lot of talk these days about transparency and engagement and the Zero Moment of Truth.My friend Dewey Jenkins says the most dangerous statement a stock broker can make is, “But this time it’s different.” Dewey has been around long enough to know that ideas and concepts don’t really change so much as they get repackaged and renamed.A number of marketing’s oldest ideas are getting repackaged and renamed. Among these new names are Transparency, Engagement, and the Zero Moment of Truth.What is Transparency?One clothing store says,“We have the biggest selection, the highest quality, the best service and the lowest prices.”Yawn.Another clothing store says,“Sure, we’re more expensive. But looking good costs money. How good do you want to look?”Which clothing store do you believe?The more expensive clothing store admitted the downside and won your admiration and your trust.Transparency = They’re not going to believe the upside until you admit the downside.Do you have the humility and the courage to let the public see you real? Few companies do.None of this is new.Winning a customer’s attention is easy.Hanging on to it is called “engagement.”What percentage of your selling opportunities become sales?This used to be called your close rate.Now it’s called conversion.Yesterday’s loss leader is today’s tripwire.Use the wrong word and you’re a dinosaur.None of this really bothers me much.The thing that makes me look at the ground, shake my head and sigh is the dangerous myth of the Zero Moment of Truth. But then again, Google is the new Yellow Pages, so it shouldn’t surprise us that they’ve repackaged and renamed the old Yellow Pages scare tactic.The fundamental premise of the Zero Moment of Truth is that the customer is going to go online when they’re ready to purchase what you sell.I have no argument with that.But the dangerous, underlying assumption is that all contenders are equal during the Zero Moment of Truth. But that simply isn’t true.The company most likely to get the click, the call, and the sale is the company the customer has heard of and has good feelings about.The tortoise patiently wins the hearts of the people long before the race is begun. He says he’s “bonding with tomorrow’s customers.”“Stupid tortoise,” says the rabbit, “he still believes in branding.”Have you heard how that race turned out? Take a look. I dare you.“Knowledge is power” is another dangerous myth.It doesn’t matter what you know.What matters is what you do with what you know.So what are you going to do?Roy H. Williams