Monday Morning Memo
"Leap, and the Net Will Appear." – Gaelyn Foley
James Lipton asked Barbra Streisand the secret of her success. She responded by saying, “At the moment of commitment, the Universe conspires to assist you.” – September 8, 2003, while recording an episode of Inside the Actor’s Studiothat would air on March 21, 2004 Streisand was summarizing a quote usually attributed to Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832,) &hellip Continue reading
Nostalgia is a Dangerous Drug
I love Garrison Keillor’s Lake Wobegon for the same reason I love Norman Rockwell. The people in those worlds are quirky but loveable, flawed but happy, sincere but imaginary. When you think about it, Lake Wobegon is a lot like Andy Griffith’s Mayberry, where the children are mischievous but good-hearted, racial tension is nonexistent and &hellip Continue reading
Are Two Heads Really Better Than One?
“Two heads are better than one,” is often quoted but horribly wrong. Trust me, I know. Anything with two heads is a monster. “Nothing was ever created by two men. There are no good collaborations, whether in music, in art, in poetry, in mathematics, in philosophy. Once the miracle of creation has taken place, the &hellip Continue reading
Why Radio Doesn't Work
My original plan was to make today’s memo the sequel to last week’s memo about media buying, but I decided not to go to the trouble. You see, I’m convinced no one believes me. I wrote last week’s memo to warn you of the extraordinary dangers of using Gross Rating Points as a guide to &hellip Continue reading
Who Is Your Customer?
Media Buying Lesson Number One I’ve never seen a business fail because they were reaching the wrong customer. But I’ve seen hundreds fail because they were saying the wrong things. Most ads answer questions no one was asking. How did we Americans become so fixated on “targeting the right customer” in our advertising? That question &hellip Continue reading
Advertising in 2012
People today are different, less naïve, less gullible, less open to suggestion than in the past. Christopher Isherwood describes this difference perfectly: “To live sanely in Los Angeles or, I suppose, in any other large American city, you have to cultivate the art of staying awake. You must learn to resist the unceasing hypnotic suggestions &hellip Continue reading
40 Years and 3 Miles Apart
1845: This is the year Johnny “Appleseed” Chapman will plant his final apple tree. Mark Twain is 10 years old, living the boyhood that will bring us Tom Sawyer. Florida will be added to the U.S. this year, raising the total number of states to 27. We think of life as being simpler, more idyllic &hellip Continue reading
America 2.0
America contained about two and a half million people when we declared our independence in 1776. Today’s Portland, Oregon is bigger than that. The Constitution (1787) empowered every citizen who was white, male and a landowner. Minorities, women and poor people? Not so much. America was unlike Europe in that we didn’t divide our population &hellip Continue reading
Flat Rock, Wide Pond
Every person is a collector, I think. Businesspeople collect money. Travelers collect places. Competitors collect shining moments. Insecure people collect conquests, panties hanging from the bedpost. Continue reading
Merry… I Don't Know
I’m a Merry Christmas person. Does that make me bad? “Happy Holidays” doesn’t carry quite the same exuberance for me as “Merry Christmas.” And I must shamefully confess that deep in my heart I still think of Navajos, Cherokees and Apaches as Indians. My publisher tells me there is no such place as the Orient &hellip Continue reading
