A Monday Morning Memo from www.WizardAcademy.com
At the close of last week’s memo about short-term and long-term memory, * I asked whether you would prefer your ad campaign to ride the tortoise or the hare. Before you make that choice, let’s take a closer look at the facts.
1. Hares are capable of astounding bursts of speed but can run for only a very short period of time before they become exhausted. Essentially defenseless, hares are easy prey for smarter, more patient animals. They are highly reactive and live a very short life. The hare’s motto seems to be “Live fast and die young.” Since it doesn’t take long to make a hare, they are more-or-less disposable. Easy come, easy go.
2. Although the tortoise lives and moves slowly, it is relentlessly determined and essentially tireless. The tortoise has a protective shell that is virtually impenetrable, making it an impregnable fortress. It is not nervous or reactive. A tortoise can live to be 350 years old. When considering the hare, remember: Bursts of speed, Short time, Exhausted prey.
When considering the tortoise, remember: Slow, Determined, an Impregnable fortress.
Which sounds like the better ad campaign to you?
Roy H. Williams
# # #
PS I am convinced that the laws which govern our physical universe of hard-shelled tortoises and soft-furred hares also govern the invisible universe of temporal perception and human persuasion. Consequently, the laws of biology and physics and chemistry are also the laws of advertising and business and love. In other words, I believe there are Laws of the Universe that can be trusted to remain true in every situation.
“What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun. Is there anything of which one can say, ‘Look! This is something new’? It was here already, long ago; it was here before our time.” Solomon the Wise, in Ecclesiastes.
A new book by Roy H. Williams, The Wizard’s Laws of the Universe, will be released on September 1, 2001, and will be followed 30 days later by Accidental Magic, The Miraculous Snapshots of Wizard Academy, (a book that is currently being written by the students of the academy.) Between now and then, be sure to read The Wizard of Ads, Turning Words into Magic and Dreamers into Millionaires, (the 1998 Business Book of the Year,) and Secret Formulas of the Wizard of Ads, (a New York Times bestseller, named “The #1 Business Book in America” by The Wall Street Journal.)
* for those of you who would like to review last week’s memo, you’ll find it in the archives at www.WizardofAds.com titled, “Expiration-Dated Advertising.”
