Craig Garber

If you can give your son or daughter only one gift, let it be the gift of "Enthusiasm"

Bruce Barton said that, not me.

In case you don’t know who Barton is, he was the founder and second “B” in BBDO — Batten, Barton, Durstine & Osborn — one of the world’s oldest and largest advertising agencies.

Barton also mentored John Caples, author of Tested Advertising Methods, and the lesser-known but equally good “Making Ads Pay.”

One of Barton’s most famous ads, that ran for 7 years straight, was for the Alexander Hamilton Institute, a 2-year correspondence course in business. The headline of the ad went like this:

“A Wonderful Two Years’ Trip At Full Pay — But Only Men With Imagination Can Take It”

What I want to know is, why do you think this headline was so effective?

Post your answers on my blog at http://blog.kingofcopy.com and next week I’ll reveal some of the exact reasons why this ad worked so well, plus I’ll show you how you can use some of these strategies in your own business.

Oh, and if you’ve never seen one of these, here’s a cool picture of a manatee. Last week I had the opportunity to go cruising down the Weekie-Wachee river with some friends of ours. These gentle creatures swim freely and actually let you pet them if you’re lucky enough to be in the right place at the right time (my daughter was).

This one’s a baby, but adult manatees are upwards of 1,200 pounds, so it’s really a special treat to get next to one of these. Check out this rare photo:

Now go sell something, Craig Garber

P.S. The August Seductive Selling Newsletter contains TEN ad examples and the Audio Success CD of the month is an interview with the inventor of Virtual Wholesaling. Test-drive it for 30 days, free — and get 15 REAL bonus gifts at: http://www.kingofcopy.com/ssnl

If you enjoyed this, pass it on to a few of your friends and business associates, and if you have any comments about this message, leave them here on my blog — it’s important you let me know what you’re thinking!:

Here are ALL the King’s products: http://www.kingofcopy.com/products

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3 responses to “If you can give your son or daughter only one gift, let it be the gift of "Enthusiasm"”

  1. Mike Porter Avatar
    Mike Porter

    Craig, the Headline worked, because it correlated to the concept of to whom the college was established. A forward, ambitious thinking pioneer. So if you have those qualities then come join.

  2. Edbiz World Avatar
    Edbiz World

    Hi Craig,
    I think it sounded like “I will pay for your two years if you have imagination”.Everyone thinks they have one and so it must have worked.Since imagination (which infact is a huge qualification) does not look big materialistically.

    With Regards,
    Kumar

  3. Bill Parlaman Avatar
    Bill Parlaman

    Craig,

    I think the headline worked well because there is a ton of curiosity here with a big ol’ benefit!

    I mean who wouldn’t want to take a two year trip with full pay…?

    You would want to find out more…

    Then, he hits you with a negative qualifier…”Only Men With Imagination Can Take It.”

    I would think if you use the word “imagination” you can really play up on the “Dreamers” of the world.

    If you had an active imagination this would play right into your hands…a perfect emotional buy button!

    Looking forward to your response!

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