Sam Horn - Intrigue

Sam Horn POP! Get More Bang For your Advertising Buck

2009-03-16T09:00:00.000-07:00

$5 FOOTLONG.
What company is associated with that ad?
Chances are, you said Subway.
Which makes Subway execs very happy. It means they’re geeting more bang for their advertising buck because their ad is becoming part of our vernacular. It has “legs.”
Why is this 3 word tagline so successful? It features several POP! techniques:
1. It’s PURPOSEFUL (it brands their product in your mind.)
2. It’s ORIGINAL. (no one in that market has used this measurable phrase which gives the impression you get a lot for your money. In a tough economy when everyone’s pinching pennies, this makes it relevant and top of mind.)
3. It’s PITHY. It’s less than 7 words long (most iconic taglines are because we can only keep 7 bits of information in short term memory, i.e., Nike’s “Just do it.”)
4. It’s ALLITERATIVE (words that start with the same sound give our mind a hook on which to hang a memory - ala Dunkin Donuts, Dirt Devil, Best Buy, Rolls Royce.)
5. It’s said with disctinctive INFLECTION AND IAMBIC METER (Put it in a beat to make it easy to repeat. Great examples are Paul Harvey with “And now . . . for the REST of the story” and “Takes a lickin and keeps on tickin.”
Does your company slogan, product tagline or ad campaign have the above elements? If so, good for you. It’s maing money for you because people are repeating it and becoming your word-of-mouth advertisers.
If not, buy a copy of POP! Create the Pefect Pitch, Title or Tagline for Anything and start applying its 25 innovative techniques to help your product, service and business get noticed, remembered and bought . . .for all the right reasons.

Sam Horn Intrigue

2008-10-09T17:00:00.000-07:00

Sam Horn - POP! Create the Perfect Pitch, Title and Tagline for Anything

How to Breakout - Rather Than Blend In

Tip 3: How to Be an Edge-Of-Your-Seat Speaker October 9, 2008

For those of you new to this blog, I’ve been sharing some highlights of the INC. 500 conference so you get to vicariously experience this impressive event.

Of the many intriguing speakers (e.g., Seth Godin, Tom Peters, Jim Collins, A. E. Hotchner, Elon Musk), a favorite was Keith McFarland, author of The Breakthrough Company.

Here’s the 3rd reason he received my Edge-of-Your-Seat Speaker Award.

Edge-Of-Your-Seat Speaker Tip 3. He illustrated vs. explained

Instead of simply telling us that Fastenal’s renowned customer service has contributed to their dramatic financial success, Keith illustrated his points with first-person stories and meaningful props.

He told us, “Our research team headed to Minnesota to try the Closing-Time Test’ on a Fastenal store. I’ve found if you show up at a store five-ten minutes before closing, you find out really fast how committed employees are to customer service.”

At this point, Keith walked over to a small table on the stage, picked up a bolt and said, “We walked into the store a few minutes before 5 pm and started wandering the aisles, loitering long enough to become a nuisance. Ten minutes after they were supposed to close, I picked up this bolt, walked to the front counter and started asking a lot of dumb questions.

The assistant manager, Keith Henderson, patiently answered all my questions and acted as if he’d be happy to spend the rest of the night there if that’s what I needed. I finally confessed I was there to do some research for my book and we all had a good laugh.”

What’s the point? Keith created a vivid, word picture so we saw what he was saying. He didn’t just tell us what happened, he relived it. He put us in the scene with a real-life example, complete with back-and-forth dialogue and the actual names of the people involved. We might as well have been there in the store with him.

He did not use, as many speakers do, an apocryphal, made-up story that strained the truth and undermined our respect for him. We all knew this story had actually taken place which added to his credibility. Plus, bringing the bolt with him and holding it up at a pivotal part of the story made his concept concrete and visually punctuated his point. Well done!

When and where will you be asking people for their valuable time and attention? How are you going to keep them on the edge of their seats? Could you keep them intrigued by using an illustrate-don’t-explain example that puts them in the scene? Could you bring a meaningful prop that illustrates your idea to help audience members visually grasp it? Invest some time and effort to keep audience members intrigued and everyone in the room will benefit — including you

Sam Horn Intrigue Speaker Trainer
Intrigue Consultant
http://www.samhorn.com/
Intrigue Branding
http://www.samhornpop.com/
Verbal Defense Methodologies
http://www.tonguefu.com/

Sam Horn - POP! Create the Perfect Pitch, Title and Tagline for Anything

2008-09-18T16:53:00.000-07:00

How to Breakout - Rather Than Blend In
Can You Identify These Intriguing Slogans?

September 12, 2008

Dullness will not sell your product; neither will irrelevant brilliance.” - Bill Bernbach

Every year, Advertising Week selects the top slogans. By definition, these taglines are relevant AND brilliant. Of the tens of thousands of commercials we see and hear every year these are the “sticky” ones – the ones we can repeat word for word years after we first heard them.
Here are a few candidates for this year’s contest plus some past winners. Notice how they all have a verbal “kick.” A beat, cadence or comic twist that elicits a smile and makes them easy to repeat.
Can you identify the company associated with each of these slogans?
“What happens here, stays here” ______________

“Think outside the bun” _______________________

“When you care enough to send the very best” _________________

“Sometimes you feel like a nut, sometimes you don’t”_____________

“When you care enough to send the very best”_______________

“Takes a lickin’ and keeps on tickin’”______________
Why is it so important to have an intriguing slogan?

You may not have heard or seen these slogans for years, but the sponsoring company was on the tip of your tongue and on the top of your mind.

Wouldn’t you like your business name and slogan top of mind and on the tip of the tongue of millions of people?

You can — if you make it intriguing.

Websters Dictionary defines INTRIGUE as

1) to arouse the curiosity or interest of by unusal, new, fascinating or compelling qualities,

2) to appeal strongly to; captivate.

I’ve studied the art and science of intrigue for 16 years because I know that quality is important; it’s not enough. You can have a quality product, excellent service and a worthwhile offering — that doesn’t necessarily means it’s going to get noticed, remembered and bought.
My POP! Process takes the mystery out of intrigue. It features specific, replicable techniques to get anyone interested in anything.
Email us at Sam@SamHorn.com to receive an article identifying the 8 Elements of Intrigue so you can package your communication so compellingly it captures the favorable interest of your target audience.

September 4, 2008

“I never had to change a word of what I got up in the middle of the night to write.”

The above words of wisdom were just a few of the many shared at this year’s Maui Writers Conference — the finest in the world. What Cannes is to the film industry, MWC is to the publishing industry.

Our opening and closing keynoter this year was the inimitable Bryce Courtenay — the author of POWER OF ONE –the 5th biggest selling book on Amazon.com the past 15 years, just after To Kill a Mockingbird.
Part of Bryce’s message was “Writing is a perishable skill.”
Have you always wanted to write a book? Are you putting it off until the kids go to college, you retire or you’re not so busy?

What makes you think your writing skills will still be there when you’re finally ready to write?
A recurring theme at this year’s Maui Writers Conference (www.MauiWriters.com) is that authors write — no matter what. They write in the middle of the night, they get up at 5 am and write before they go to work, they write when they’re tired, they write when times are tough.
Jacquelyn Mitchard, the first Oprah pick with her book The Deep End of the Ocean, wrote in her kitchen even when her husband died at age 39 and left her with 3 young children and no life or health insurance.

Steve Berry, author of The Templar Legacy and The Amber Room, wrote even after he received 86 rejection letters from dozens of different publishers.
Comedian Judy Tenuta said, “My parents always told me I wouldn’t amount to anything because I procrastinated so much. I told ‘em, ‘Just you wait.’”

If you’ve always wanted to write a book, if you have ideas or insights you want to share; don’t wait for perfect circumstances that may never come. Start writing today and continue writing every day — no matter how tired, busy or overwhelmed you are.
In my 16 years of helping people get their book out of their head and into the world — I have never met any who were sorry they wrote their book. I’ve only met people who were sorry they didn’t write it. . . sooner.

How to Capture Interest in 90 Seconds, Part III
August 20, 2008

Make ‘Em Say a Mental Yes

“When are you going to understand that if it doesn’t pertain to me, I’m not interested?” - Candace Bergen as TV character Murphy Brown

Want another way to have your audience at hello?

Ask yourself, “What keeps them up at night? What are they worried about? What is frustrating them?” Begin your meeting or workshop with rhetorial questions around those issues.
For example, if you’re preparing a presentation on the topic of money, you could begin with:
Do you ever wonder:

“What am I going to live on when I retire?”“Who’s going to take care of me when I grow old?”“Is social security going to be gone by the time I’m 65?”“What if a health challenge drains my savings?”“What if my company goes bankrupt and takes my 401K with it?”

If you said yes to any of the above questions, you’re in the right place because that’s what we’ll be talking about today.

See how starting off with the questions that are on your audience’s mind wins buy-in?
People will immediately bond with you because they’re thinking, “That’s exactly what I’ve been thinking about!” They’ ll be motivated to pay attention because you’ve articulated their concerns and they’ll be eager for your answers.

Next time you want people to give you their valuable time and attention, include content in your first 90 seconds that makes ‘em chuckle, makes ‘em arch their eyebrows and makes ‘em say a mental yes.

They’ll be on the edge of their seats, ready and willing to hear what’s next, because you’ve shaken them out of their preoccuaption and made their eyes and mind POP! open.

How to Capture Interest in 90 Seconds or Less, Part II

August 20, 2008

Make ‘em Arch Their Eyebrows

“When you can do a common thing in an uncommon way, you will command the attention of the world.” - George Washington Carver

Want to know another secret to engaging people in 90 seconds? Start with something they’ve never heard before.

You’ll know you’ve succeeded if listeners raise their eyebrows. It’s a surefire sign you’ve said something that’s piqued their curiosity. They’re thinking, “That’s interesting. Tell me more.”
Are you thinking, “I agree with this, but where can I find items that will get those eyebrows to go up?”
Scan USA Today the morning of your presentation or staff meeting. You’ll almost always discover an eye-opening item to shake people out of their preoccupation and prove early on you’re not going to be predictable (the kiss of death for any speaker — after all, if people know what you’re going to say, why should they listen?)

Cut out an article related to your issue and bring it with you. Hold it up and use a POP! technique called hook ‘n hinge to link your factoid to your topic so listeners get a fresh “Aha”.
The fact that you went to the effort to share something current and pertinent shows you’re not launching into a canned spiel. This raises your approval ratings because people dislike speakers who are on autopilot.

For example, I got up early to read the local paper before a Tongue Fu!® keynote in San Francisco and was rewarded with an article entitled “California Couple with Empty Nest Gets Serious About Downsizing.”

The article reported that Steve and Judy Glickman realized they were using only 30% of their home after their sons left for college. In a rather radical move, they traded in their five-bedroom home for a (drum roll, please) . . . chicken coop. What made this even more startling was they paid $545,000 for their new 544 square foot home (a result of the pricy real estate market in Silicon Valley).

Quoting that article definitely arched my group’s eyebrows and provided a dream opportunity to play off our theme of unintended miscommunication. With a twinkle in my eye, I asked the audience, “Can’t you just picture Judy Glickman looking at her husband with eyes as big as saucers and saying ‘No, I said . . . ‘Why don’t we FLY the coop?!’”

That got a laugh, a segue into how easy it can be to misunderstand each other and a return speaking engagement, at least partially because that amusing news item provided an uncommon intro to my topic.

Want more ways to have your listeners at hello? Check my next blog to discover how to immediately increase your likability factor — so people are predisposed to like you and what you have to say.

How To Capture Interest in 90 Seconds or Less, Part I

August 20, 2008

My job is to talk; your job is to listen. If you finish first, please let me know.” - Harry Herschfield

What’s a situation you’ve got coming up in which you’ll be asking people to listen to you?

Did you know your success depends on whether you capture their interest in the first 90 seconds?
People today are BB (Busy and Bored). They have dozens of things competing for their attention and they think they’ve seen and heard it all.

If we don’t quickly prove we’re worth their valuable time and attention, they’ll start checking their watches (or Blackberries.)

The best way to instantly intrigue listeners is to fulfill the 3 Prerequisites of the First 90 Seconds of any Communication.

1. Make ‘em chuckle.

2. Make ‘em arch their eyebrows.3. Make ‘em say a mental yes.
Make ‘Em Chuckle

“I learned at an early age that when I made people laugh, they liked me.

This is a lesson I never forgot.” - Art Buchwald

If something makes you laugh, it will probably make others laugh.
Imagine you’ve been asked to coach employees on cell phone etiquette. The evening before the staff training, you’re watching a talk show and guest Sandra Bernhardt is complaining about how offended she is when people talk on their cell phones in restaurants.

The host says, “I have Caller ID and never answer my phone in public unless it is urgent.”
The quick-witted Bernhardt says, “Caller ID? What we need is Caller IQ!”

You could start your training with Bernhardt’s line (be sure to attribute it) and then segue into three ways staff members could practice Caller IQ so they don’t offend customers by taking calls during business functions.

Starting off a serious subject with a light-hearted approach will pleasantly surprise listeners and they’ll be more likely to tune in instead of tune out.
Check back for the next blog to discover more ways to capture people’s interest the next time you want them to pay attention.

Got Brain Fog?

July 4, 2008

Having trouble getting an idea out?

Something on the tip of your tongue you can’t quite articulate?

Sometimes consulting clients or participants in my weekend retreats will have a hard time communicating an idea that’s tickling the edge of their mind.

I suggest they coax it out by saying, “What I really want to say is ….” or “What I mean is ….”
Next time you’ve got brain fog or you’re struggling to express yourself, complete those sentences. It can help you bypass the self-conscious tension that is tightening your mental vocal chords. Instead of trying to get it right, this gives you permission to just say what’s on your mind — without criticism — which is where originality resides.

Sam Horn

http://www.samhorn.com http://www.samhornpop.com http://www.tonguefu.com

Sam Horn Communication ,Creativity Consultant

2008-06-25T13:53:00.000-07:00

Sam Horn - POP! Stand Out in any Crowd
Sam Horn is based in Washington DC

Brilliant Brain-Droppings from George Carlin June 25, 2008
George Carlin was the poster child for POP!

His funny, incisive musings were Purposeful, Original, Pithy.

Samplings of his iconoclastic observations include:

“Before they invented the drawing board, what did they go back to?”

“What if there were no hypthothetical questions?”

“If you scratch a cynic, you’ll find a disappointed idealist.”

“Electricity is really just organized lightning.”

He was also known for saying, “You live 80 years and at best you get about six minutes of pure magic.”

Unfortunately for George, his loved ones and us, he didn’t make it to 80 years; but he certainly gave us a lot more than six minutes of pure genius and comedic magic. God speed.

Is Your Marketing Campaign Current? June 12, 2008

The most effective marketing campaigns have their finger on the pulse of POP! culture and reflect current trends.

For example, parents used to gripe about their kids being obsessed with their Gameboys during family vacations. The roles today are reversed with kids complaining their folks are the ones who ignore them while tapping away at their laptop and Blackberry.

A brilliant VisitOrlando.com ad addresses this issue by showing a family happily playing in a pool . The dialogue in the side bar says,

“Daddy, want to do swimming?” “Yes.”

“Daddy, can you carry me on your shoulders?” “Yes.”

“Daddy, will you leave your phone in the room?” “Yes.”

The subliminal message? Come to Orlando and have an old-fashioned vacation where you actually focus on family and play together instead of everyone caring more about their gadgets.

Are you tapping into the zeitgeist of your target audience? Does your marketing campaign reflect current trends? If so, good for you. If not, use POP! techniques to update your commercials so they resonate with customers and motivate them to try or buy what you’ve got to say and sell.

What Does Freak Dancing Have to Do with POP? June 3, 2008

Congratulations to Laura Sessions Stepp for her thought-provoking Genderations column in today’s Washington Post entitled Two Types of Dirty Dancing.

She discusses how difficult it is to “police” freak dancing and that parents and educators are often in an uproar about this issue of teen-agers grinding - which as Laura describes is “a lot more than shaking booty.”

When researching POP! Stand Out in Any Crowd, I discovered a perfect slogan that helped parents and teens come to an agreement about this controversial issue.

In the book’s section on the importance of “Cliff Noting” your idea or issue into an easy-to-say-and-remember phrase so people “get” it, I used the examples of “Click it or Ticket,” “Spot the Tot,” and the example a prom chaperone told me about that helped them decide to go ahead with their prom rather than cancel it.

Her daughter’s school had considered banning the senior prom because the adults were scandalized by “rampant grinding and freak dancing” and didn’t want it happening at this school-sponsored event. An enterprising counselor came up with a “rap” that outlined the boundaries of what type of dancing would be allowed. What was the little ditty that brought peace to this controversial issue?

“Face to face, leave some space.”

That was it. Six words and the chaperones had something “hip” to say that clearly enforced the policy with no “wiggle room” (so to speak). The fact that the rule was placed in a rap helped make it acceptable to the teens. The prom was held and a good (appropriate) time was had by all.

Comedian Steven Wright said, “My grandfather invented Cliff Notes. It was in 1952 and he . . . well, to make a long story short.”

If you want people to “get” your idea or issue, you need to make your long story short. Condense a controversial or complex issue into a concise sound bite that rhymes or that’s alliterative, and people will be able to instantly grasp it. That’s the power of POP!

Want more of Sam Horn's creative wordsmithing? go to
http://www.samhornpop.com
Do you loose your train of thought in a verbal confrontation?
Check out Sam's clear definitive techniques of verbal self defence at http://www.tonguefu.com
Want to know more about Sam Horn? go to
http://samhorn.com
Copyright © 2008. Sam Horn. All rights reserved.

Sam Horn - POP! Stand Out in any Crowd

2008-05-20T14:23:00.000-07:00

How do I work? I grope.” - Einstein’s answer to a reporter asking how he created so many innovative ideas

Are you looking for an innovative, attention-getting brand that gets your business noticed?

Describe your company. What do you sell? What do you offer? Write down key words you use frequently when explaining what you and your organization do.

Those are your Core Words. They are what you “play with” to come up with a one-of-a-kind brand that helps you POP! out of your pack. Just as a jazz pianist “riffs” off standard chords to make new music, you “riff” off your Core Words to make an attention-getting brand new name.

Want to know how to create a “Half and Half” word that combines two aspects of your business or product to create an innovative brand name that belongs to you and you alone?
The Washington Post runs an annual contest that showcases the hilarious and high-potential results of doing just this.

“Its popular contest - The Style Invitational - invites readers to combine two names of the 100 horses eligible in today’s Kentucky Derby to “name” the resulting foal. Here are a few of the winning entries in today’s edition of the Post (page C2, Saturday, May 3, ‘08).

Arizona + In Orbit = AZ The World Turns

Pyro + Mapmaker = Your Heatin’ Chart

Casual Conquest + Total Bull = I’ll Call You

Clemens + Attempted Humor = Mock Twain

Fierce Wind + Big Brown = Hits the Fan

Revenge is Sweet + Oribit = What Goes Around

Signature Move + Total Bull = John Hancrock

Sea of Pleasure + I’ve Heard It All = Yachta, Yachta, Yachta

U.S. Treasury + Visionary = I See Debt, People

And my personal favorite?

Mapmaker + Behind at the Bar = Atlas Chugged

Are you thinking, “How would this help me come up with an attention-getting brand for my business?”

I think “Atlas Chugged” (playing off Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged) is a PERFECT name for a college-town bar.

“I See Debt, People” (playing off the memorable phrase from the movie Sixth Sense) is an amusing, attention-grabbing title for an article on how to get out of credit card debt.

“Yachta, Yachta, Yachta” is a smile-inducing slogan for a marine services store or boat Realtor.

(Of course, give credit where credit is due - to the originators of those phrases in the Post.)

Want a couple more examples showing how this works? A participant in my POP! Certification program last weekend told me about his favorite restaurant in San Antonio - a fusion restaurant combining Chinese and Mexican food. The name? Wokamole.

Perhaps you’ve seen the restaurant chain that blends Italian and Chinese food? Ciao Mein?

See how this works? Want to be walked through this process so you can produce attention-getting brands and “Half and Half” names and slogans for your company?

Buy my 3 hour CD series “Create Purposeful, Original, Pithy Names, Brands and Slogans that Help Your Business, Product or Services POP!” Listen to these CD’s while commuting or working out to kick-start your creativity and word-play your way to an attention-getting brand.

As Shari Peace, President of Peace Talks says, “I’ve been working on niching my business and wordsmithing my topics. Sam’s POP! techniques are by far the best resource I’ve discovered. Her concepts are creative, concrete and practical. I know everyone tells her this, but her ideas really are worth a fortune.”
Sam Horn
Sam Horn's other sites;
Tongue Fu!®
POP! Stand out in the Crowd
Take the Bully by the Horn"s

What's the 5th Worst Branding Mistake Businesses Make?

2007-11-29T19:22:00.000-08:00

Their Name and Slogan Aren't Purposeful

Every year several dozen companies pay millions to place a 30-60 second ad during the Super Bowl.

Some of those ads produce big laughs. But if, one day later, you can't remember the company or the product that was featured in that ad that made you howl, that wasn't a purposeful ad.

If you want your brand to POP! out, it's got to be Purposeful, Original and Pithy. As ad genius Bill Bernbach said, "Dullness will not sell your product; neither will irrelevant brilliance."

I’m always on the lookout for shining examples of organizations and individuals who are standing out from their crowd – for all the right reasons.

I can think of no finer example than 13 year old Jack McShane who is bringing “lawn and order” to New Orleans City Park. After Hurricane Katrina flooded this formerly beautiful park, the city abandoned it. They had no funds to keep it up and personnel were too busy re-building infrastructure.

Jack said, “It bothered me that it didn’t look good. Nobody was taking care of it, so I decided I had to.”

Jack took his family’s lawn-mower out of the garage, walked across the street and got to work. People started thanking him for his efforts, so he recruited other “Mow-rons” to help out.

Their original slogan, 'The Mow-Rons are in City Park, the idiots are in City Hall,'" was intended to be edgy. After awhile, Jack decided it was inappropriate and counter-productive, so he changed it.

The result? A perfect POP! name. What does this fine young man now call his grass-roots organization? Weeding by Example.

As a result of that smile-inducing name, he's been interviewed by Katie Couric, featured on CNN, and thousands of people are contributing to his worthy cause. Now that's a purposeful brand!

Do you have recent examples of companies, causes and creations that have POP’d out for all the right reasons? Submit your nominations. If they make our POP! Hall of Fame, we'll send an autographd copy of POP! (which Edelman Sr. VP Marilynn Mobley says, "If you liked Malcolm Gladwell's Blink, you'll like Sam Horn's POP!")

What's the 4th Worst Branding Mistake Organizations Make?

2007-11-24T13:00:00.000-08:00

They Can’t Explain Their Brand in 15 Seconds or Less

“My grandfather actually invented Cliff Notes. It was in 1952, and he was . . .
well, to make a long story short.” - Steven Wright

Remember when Andy Warhol said everyone would get 15 minutes of fame? In today’s rush-rush world, we don’t have that long to get people’s attention. We have about 15 seconds.

If you can’t quickly explain your brand in a way people get it and want it, they will move on. They are simply too busy to give us “the time of their day” unless we can quickly convince them we're worth their valuable attention.

That’s why it’s crucial to “Cliff Note” your brand's story into a concise, compelling Elevator Speech that captures interest in what you have to offer . . . in under 15 seconds.

Sound like an impossible dream? Not if you link your unfamiliar brand to something with which people are familiar and fond.

The secret is not to try to explain your brand. The more you try to explain what your brand does, the more confused potential customers will become. Instead, ask yourself, “What is my brand like . . . that my target audience already likes?’

I learned the power of this concept while in Denver for a speaking engagement with my teen-aged sons. We had a night free, so we went downstairs to the hotel concierge and asked if he had any suggestions for a fun night out.

He took one look at Tom and Andrew and said, “You’ve got to go to D & B’s.”

We were from Maui at the time and had no idea what he was talking about. We asked, “What’s D & B’s.”

He did NOT try to explain what D & B’s was. Imagine if he had said, “Well, it’s kind of like a restaurant, but it’s also a sports bar and they’ve got video games and TV’s and sometimes guys go there to watch football or play pool. But families go there too to play carnival games, kind of like an indoor amusement park.”

We would have looked at him in consternation and said, “Huh?” It’s just TMI (Too Much Information.) The longer he talked, the more baffled we would have become.

Instead, he thought about it for a moment and then smiled and said simply, “It’s like a . . . Chuck E. Cheese for adults.”

Perfect. Eight words and we knew exactly what it was and wanted to go there. By comparing D & B’s (something new) to Chuck E. Cheese (something we knew), he “told and sold” their brand in one succinct sentence. They should have put him on commission.

Do you have an elevator speech for your brand?

Remember, don’t try to explain it. Ask yourself, “What is my brand like - that these potential customers like?” If you compare your idea, company, product or service to something with which they’re familiar and fond, the light will go on in their eyes and their eyebrows will rise. That’s the way to win buy-in in 15 seconds or less.

Want to know the other 4 branding mistakes organizations make -- and how to avoid them? Keep checking this blog and I'll share them in the days ahead.

Into instant gratification? Email us at info@SamHorn.com with "8 Biggest Branding Mistakes" in the subject heading and we'll email you the entire article you can use in your organization's newsletter.

#3 Branding Mistake Organizations Make

2007-11-22T09:31:00.000-08:00

The Third Worst Branding Mistake Organizations Make?

Their Brand Name is Hard to Pronounce

What do Google, Roomba, Boppy, Snuba and Yahoo all have in common?

They all are fun, easy-to-say-and-remember names that have made their companies millions.

What you call your business is hugely important. If people don’t immediately understand it, they’ll move on.

That’s why it’s crucial to coin a catchy brand name that stops people in their tracks and makes their eyebrows go UP.

What’s this about making people’s eyebrows go up? It is a tangible way to check the commercial viability of your brand name – anytime, anywhere, for free.

Simply tell people your name . . and watch their eyebrows. If their eyebrows knit or furrow, it’s back to the drawing board. It means they’re perplexed. And if people find your name perplexing, you’ve got a problem.

Why? People are way too busy to take the time to figure out something that’s confusing. If they don't instantly get your name, YOU won't get their business.

The Eyebrow Test is an almost infallible way to test market the appeal of your brand. When people are intrigued, their eyebrows go up. It’s a visceral almost involuntary indication of curiosity. It’s the mind’s way of saying, “Hmm, this is interesting, tell me more.”

Do people "get" your brand name the first time they hear or see it? If so, good for you.

If not, you might want to purchase a copy of POP! (which Ken Blanchard says is a "fun, lively guide to getting heard, getting results, getting remembered") at www.SamHornPOP.com, and turn to Chapters 16-18 to discover how you can coin an easy-to-pronounce-and-remember brand name that makes eyebrows and sales go UP.

The 2nd Biggest Branding Mistake Organizations Make

2007-11-17T16:55:00.000-08:00

Marketing Messages are Way Too Serious

Art Buchwald said, “I learned when I made people laugh, they liked me.”

Study your signage, web copy, and ads. Do they make you laugh or smile? If not, they could be costing you sales.

Inject some humor into your marketing to increase likability.

When Coca-Cola launched Coke Zero, their goal was to convince consumers who didn’t like the Diet Coke taste that this new option was the real thing.

Their ads, which cleverly make that point, have generated a double-digit growth in sales – which constitutes a LOT of money in the $90 billion beverage industry.

A USA Today article lauded their success in a half-page article which pictured their ad, “Tastes so much like Coke, our lawyers have contacted our lawyers” with the flattering caption, “It’s got buzz. Coke Zero ads have scored with a sense of humor.”

Vegetarian alert. Just because you don’t eat meat doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy a delicious Thanksgiving turkey. Thanks to Turtle Island Foods, you can have a Tofurky (and 270,000 people are expected to do just that by season’s end.) As founder Seth Tibbott says, “We’re fine with the fact that people think it’s funny and get a smile out of it. People remember jokes.”

Saddled with a difficult nickname, the Sioux City, Iowa airport considered asking the FAA if they could change it. In a bold move, they decided to capitalize on their three-letter identifier, SUX, instead of apologize for it. Their new marketing campaign FlyingSUX and its associated line of FlySUX t-shirts and caps have become such a hit, airlines have added flights. “Now the whole world knows about us,” boasts Airport Director Rick McElroy.

The city of Cincinnati understands the power of laughing at yourself. It has an annual Running of the Wieners as part of its annual Octoberfest-Zinzinnati festival. Daschunds wearing hot-dog-bun costumes race across a downtown square to win money for charity. The motto for this popular event? Buns of Squeal.

Is your business not making as much money as it could? Rework your marketing messages to get a laugh - get a sale.

8 Biggest Branding Mistakes Businesses Make

2007-11-16T17:19:00.000-08:00

Is your business not as successful as it could be? Not as profitable as you'd like?

Perhaps your company is committing one of the 8 Cardinal Sins of Branding.

#1 Branding Mistake Businesses Make:

Marketing Messages are Way Too L-O-N-G

Did you know the top ten marketing slogans (as selected by Advertising Age magazine) of the last fifty years are ALL under 7 words long?

Why? The mind can only keep 7 bits of information in short term memory.

If your marketing slogan is longer than that, chances are people can't remember it. And if people can't remember your name and slogan, why will they hire you, how will they find you, recommend you?

Follow the example of winners Nike ("Just do it"), Avis ("We try harder") and Wheaties "(Breakfast of Champions") and keep it brief so people don't give you grief.

Comedian Jonathan Winters said, "I have a photographic memory. I just haven't developed it yet."

Most people don't have a photographic memory. If you want your branding message to stick, develop a marketing message that's easy to remember . . . which means keeping it under seven words.

Check back in two days for #2 Branding Mistake Businesses Make

Speed Thrills

2007-10-22T07:15:00.000-07:00

Kudos to Dallas-based colleague Vince Poscente for his USA Today business bestseller The Age of Speed.

It's a perfect example of a savvy Authorpreneur who is staying "on brand" with his message.

If you've attended a corporate event or association meeting in the past 10 years, you may have had the pleasure and privilege of seeing Vince in action.

Poscente, a business consultant who's been honored as a member of the Speaker Hall of Fame (along with such respected orators as Art Linkletter, Og Mandino and Ronald Reagan), reached the gold medal round of the Olympic speed-skiing competition in Albertville, France.

What's perhaps most intriguing and unique about this achievement is that Vince started with NO racing experience and accomplished this feat in an unheard-of four years. How? By strategically accessing the top masters in every aspect of the sport to expedite his acquisition of this daring skill.

When Vince speaks, he gets up on a chair and assumes the "skiers' crouch" to demonstrate the aerodynamic shape necessary to acheive top speeds. He keeps audiences on the edge of their seats with his thrilling re-living of his death-defying run down the hill at speeds in excess of 100 mph. One slip would mean disaster.

Vince is known for his focus on how individuals and organizations can accomplish big goals in the shortest time possible. That's his brand.

Which is why it was so smart of him to make sure his newest book has the word "Speed" in its title. That's what people associate with Vince, that's what they want to hear from him, that's what they'll buy, that's what cements and perpetuates the perception that he is THE go-to expert on the topic of achieving and accelerating results, FAST.

Even his Table of Contents features speed-related titles such as A More-Faster-Now Revolution, The Big Blur and Racing Across a Tightrope.

Look at your business activities. Are they "on brand?" Are they centered around what customers expect, need and want from you? Does the language in your newsletters, reports and marketing material emphasize the words that are associated with your strength - what you're known for?

If so, good for you. If not, buy a copy of Vince Poscente's book The Age of Speed and learn from a master how to stay "on brand."

Got Writers Block? Running Out of Ideas?

2007-10-03T16:04:00.000-07:00

Have your ideas dried up? Has your creative project come to a screeching halt? Are you staring at your computer and the words won't come?

You're in the right place.

I love to write. There are many times when my mind’s on fire and it’s a joy to have my fingers flying on the computer keys, trying to keep up with the flow of thoughts pouring out of my head.

It was a surprise then, when I was working on my book Tongue Fu! for School, and writing became hard work. I was grinding it out because I had to turn my manuscript in to my publisher at the end of the month, but I wasn't liking what I was producing.

I would re-read what I had written (I know, a fatal error) and would go “Euch.” I knew it didn’t sing, knew it wasn’t “alive,” but I kept slogging it out because I had this deadline to meet.

I was creatively procrastinating one morning (reading the newspaper instead of writing) when I came across a fascinating article in USA Today about David Kelley, Hollywood’s former “Golden Boy.”

The article pointed out that, for a while, writer/director Kelley could do no wrong. He was the first person to receive an Emmy for Best Comedy (Ally McBeal) and Best Drama (The Practice) in the same year. Incredibly, Kelley was writing and directing BOTH shows at the same time – a grueling, almost unimaginable feat.

Then, for some reason, his pilots were getting cancelled and his shows were tanking in the ratings. The reporter’s opinion was that his plots were getting increasingly bizarre and middle-America viewers were having a hard time relating to his unrealistic story lines.

When asked why Kelley seemingly couldn’t do anything right, a TV critic said tongue-in-cheek, “Of course he’s lost his golden touch. He’s married to Michelle Pheiffer, he lives in a $15 million dollar home, and all he does, 24/7, is write, drive to the studio, direct the shows, and drive home. He's become disconnected.”

A light bulb went off in my head. Here I was trying to write a book about dealing with difficult people in schools – and I wasn’t spending any time in schools. I had lost touch with my audience and writing had become an intellectual exercise. I was trying to think up the book instead of accessing my target audience and asking what THEY thought, what THEY wanted, what THEY encountered.

I got up from my chair and drove over to my sons’ school. That day I interviewed several teachers, the principal, a guidance counselor, and a few of Tom and Andrew's friends.

Sample questions included, “What do you do when a parent accuses you of not caring for their kid? What do you when teachers complain that they’re not getting paid enough (which is true)? What do you do when a fellow student bullies you?”

By the end of that day, my mind was filled with the angst, frustration, mini victories and mixed feelings of pride and powerlessness that are a fact of life for many educators and students.

I sat down to the computer that night and the incredibly compelling stories I had heard, the confrontations I had been told about, the insightful responses they shared poured out. One afternoon of re-connecting with my intended audience renewed my passion for my project and brought it alive – because I had gotten out of my head and into the world of my readers.

Has your creative project come to a screeching halt? Have the ideas dried up? The passion disappeared?

Perhaps you’ve allowed this project to become an intellectual exercise. Perhaps you’re grinding it out because you’ve got a deadline and you’ve become completely detached from your topic, audience, and purpose.

That doesn’t work because that’s isolated creativity. That’s simply purging what’s in your head – without intent. If your intent is simply to finish your project, you can accomplish that – but that won't make it sing. You will have a completed project, but it will be lifeless and working on it will be joyless.

For creative work to become transcendent, we must have a clear intention of how it will deliver tangible value for people. We need to visualize individuals in our target audience and imagine how this project, product or program will solve a problem they’re facing. We need to get up from our chairs and go out into the field and talk with our readers and customers and ask what they think. Find out what keeps them up at night and then go back to work with their voices, issues and concerns in your mind so your project, program or product reflects and meets their needs.

Do you have a suggestion on how to keep those ideas coming? Have you developed a way to beat writers block? If you're one of the first three people to share your idea-generating suggestion with these blog readers, I'll send my CD I Can't Believe I Wrote The Whole Thing to you, free.

More Highlights from Maui Writers Conference, Part III

2007-09-09T06:22:00.000-07:00

One of my favorite aspects of Emceeing the Maui Writers Conference is finding out something new to include in each keynoter's introduction.

My philosophy is, it's lazy to simply repeat the list of achievements in the presenter's bio because participants have already read that in the conference brochure.

Why not introduce something no one knows? This piques curiosity and sets up suspense. Attendees look forward to each introduction because they never know what fascinating tidbit they'll hear about one of their favorite authors or screenwriters.

Case in point. 18-time New York Times best-selling author John Lescroart (The Suspect, The Hunt Club, The Second Chair and the popular Dismas Hardy-Abe Glitsky series) has had his novels translated into fifteen languages in more than 75 countries.

His newest book Betrayal will be out next year. When I asked John where he got the idea for this book, his surprising answer was, "From my son's 7th grade teacher."

He explained, "My son's teacher is in the National Guard Reserve. Most people think their job consists primarily of emergency domestic duties such as stacking up sand bags to hold back flood water or showing up at demonstrations to keep the peace. Many don't know that many National Guard Reserve units are being called up on short notice and sent overseas."

"My son's teacher, all of 38 years old, was given 6 weeks notice that he would be leaving behind his job and his wife and two children. His unit flew out of Travis Air Force Base in California and arrived in Kuwait to a Catch 22-like chaos. For some reason, their troop wasn't 'expected' so they spent the next 3 weeks in tents on the tarmac awaiting assignment. They were finally assigned to a convoy in Iraq . . . and 11 of his buddies were killed in the first 3 weeks."

"This 7th grade teacher, the sweetest man, returned home traumatized, suffering from survivors guilt and filled with anger. The first 150 pages of Betrayal tells his story because I think more Americans need to know what's happening to the young men and women who are representing our country overseas."

Will you be emceeing a conference or introducing speakers at a business event in the near future? If so, honor the presenters by interviewing them in advance. Feature an "I didn't know that" insight that delivers an intrigued, "on-the-edge-of-their-seats" audience who can't wait to hear what the speakers have to say. You'll be doing everyone a favor.

Where Do You Get Your Ideas? Part II

2007-09-07T07:12:00.000-07:00

"And so," New York Times best-selling novelist Luanne Rice said, "I set off in search of an interesting life."

Rice (author of Crazy in Love, Beach Girls, Sand Castles and Silver Bells which was a Hallmark Hall of Fame feature) knew she wanted to write at an early age. "So," she told the Maui Writers Conference audience, "I went out into the world in my early 20's to experience adventures and find material."

Those adventures included:

* working as a cook/maid for a wealthy mansion-owning family in Newport News, RI. Sample duties included going grocery shopping in a Rolls Royce and fending off advances from women-chasing yachtsmen involved in the America's Cup sailing race.

* working on a scallop boat and surviving a "perfect storm" with 20 foot high waves

* studying humpback whales at Woods Hole

* following her role model Ernest Hemingway's example and traveling to Paris

* lunching at the Algonquin Hotel with famed writer Brendan Gill who admired an essay of hers

* living for a brief time in Washington DC and covering environmental issues on Capital Hill

The result?

"I ended up coming home to Connecticut and writing about families. I call this the 'Ruby Slippers' of writing. You don't have to travel the world for material. All you have to do is click three times and come home. What I discovered is, 'You're interesting enough.'"

She continued, "We writers are masterful at underestimating ourselves. We never seem to think that what we have to say is important, interesting, or enlightening enough for anyone to care. A lot of us go looking far and wide for inspiration, for things to write about . . . doubting ourselves. The truth is we have everything we could ever need right now, with all the dreams, observations and memories our life has given us."

Respected author Raymond Carver obviously agreed with her conclusion. "There are signficiant moments in everyone's day that can make literature," he told a reporter years ago. "You have to be alert and pay attention to them. That's what you ought to write about."

Be sure to check out Luanne's latest project What Matters Most at www.Luanne_Rice.com. Submit your own insight into what matters most in life -- and she and her publisher Bantam will donate to Women Build, a subsidiary of Habitat for Humanity.

How to Overcome Writers Block

2007-09-05T05:29:00.001-07:00

By popular demand (or at least by request from a blog reader), here's a tip on how to overcome Writers Block.

This is Tip 2 of the 10 suggestions I shared in my presentation on "How to Overcome Writers Block" at this year's Maui Writers Conference and in my CD entitled "I Can't Believe I Wrote the Whole Thing."

Writers Block #2: Are You Trying to Write in Your First or Second Place?

“My husband told me he wanted more space. So I locked him outside.” - Roseanne Barr

Do you have a particular space where you go to write?

Ergonomics is the science of how our environment influences our effectiveness. It includes everything from how a cluttered space produces a cluttered mind to how a too-soft chair or a too-low computer contributes to a sore neck, bad back and decreased productivity.

Over the years, many writers have come to understand that their writing space (or lack of writing space) plays a huge role – for better or for worse -- in their ability to get work done.

Where do you usually write? Does your environment help or hurt your efforts to produce pages?

A fellow professional speaker who works from his home office is also active in his kids’ sports activities and in his local Rotary Club. Ron found it almost impossible to work on his book while juggling all his different obligations. “Between the phone calls, emails, paperwork, and questions from my wife and kids, it seemed like I was being interrupted every10 minutes.”

Sound familiar? Ready for a solution?

Best Way to Overcome Writers Block #2: Find and Work in Your Ritualistic Third Place

“Each of needs a free place, a little psychic territory. This is not a luxury, it’s a necessity if we don’t want our energy to run dry. Do you have yours?” - Gloria Steinem

If interruptions are driving you crazy, it’s time to find your Third Place.

Your home is your First Place and your office is your Second Place. If you work out of a home office, that’s both your First and Second Place.

Part of ergonomics centers around the power of ritual. If you repeatedly do the same type of activity in the same place, you mind automatically associates that activity to that location. For example, if you always turn on the TV when you walk into the living room, you’ll find yourself reaching for the remote as soon as you walk into the living room – without even thinking about it. It’s become a “second nature” habit.

That’s why it’s hard to write your book while working at the desk where you pay bills or answer emails. Your mind keeps dwelling on the tasks normally associated with that place which makes it difficult to stay focused on the “alien” activity of writing a book. You are fighting your nature – the habitual behavior that is customarily done in that setting.

Furthermore, your First and Second Place often come with built-in distractions. At work, there may be co-workers walking around, customers to deal with, bosses to answer to . . . not to mention ringing phones, whirring fax machines and clackety copiers. At home, you may be thinking about fixing dinner, doing a load of laundry, or keeping an eye on a toddler.

That’s why it’s so important find your Third Place – a nearby public place where you can work in privacy. (And no, that’s not an oxymoron.) Your Third Place could be your local Starbucks, library or bookstore . . . anywhere you can take your laptop and work anonymously and without interruption.

The beauty of your Third Place is that:
a) There are no chores to be done, phone calls to return, people to answer to . . . so you stay focused
b) it becomes your designated place to write – it’s the only thing you do there – so writing in that location becomes “second nature.”
c) You create a “cocoon of concentration” in which your surroundings slip away and you lose yourself in your work.

Perhaps most importantly, if you go to your Third Place at the same time every week and write, it becomes a ritual. How so?

Does the name Pavlov ring a bell?

If you go to your Third Place every Saturday morning at 8 and write, every Saturday morning at 8 and write . . . guess what happens the third or fourth time you go there? As soon as you arrive on the premises, you will drop into a state of concentration, the creative faucet will open and the words will pour out of your head so fast your fingers will hardly be able to keep up.

In my book ConZentrate - which Dr. Stephen Covey (author of 7 Habits of Highly Effective People) recommends as “fascinating and thought-provoking” -- I share many quotes and real-life examples from world-class athletes who discuss the pivotal role ritual plays in producing peak performance.

To concentrate on command, you must have a “trigger ritual” you use every single time you want to block everything else out and focus on one thing. Concentration is defined as “the ability to give the mind an order and make it obey.” By using the exact same ritual every single time you want to switch from “wide angle focus” ( in which you’re aware of your surroundings) to “telephoto focus” (in which you zoom in on your sole priority), you’re signaling your brain that it’s time to give complete and undivided attention to the task in front of you.

Golfer Tiger Woods places his hands around his eyes so that the noisy gallery, scoreboard, and his playing partners are “out of sight, out of mind.” Using his hands as “blinkers” has become his trigger ritual for concentrating on command. Musicians tune up before a concert. Surgeons mask up before an operation.

Do you have a physical ritual to trigger your state of concentration? Your ritual can be gathering your pens, re-reading the page where you left off to regain your train of thought and ramp up your mental momentum . . . or it could be the mere act of walking into your Third Place, sitting at the same table, pulling out your laptop and opening up your project file -- which will facilitate the flow of words.

Joseph Campbell said, “A sacred place is an absolute necessity for anybody today. You must have a room and a certain hour of the day when you have creative incubation.”

The good news is, my colleague Ron Culbertson finished his book “Is Your Glass Laugh Full?” because he searched until he found his “creative incubation” space. A friend of Ron's who was the GM of a local hotel arranged for him to work in an empty hotel room. . . .proving that it doesn’t matter so much WHERE you work as long as you have a ritualistic place that provides the type of concentration-friendly ergonomics that support vs. sabotage your efforts to make progress.

Want more ways to overcome writers block and kick-start your creativity? Visit www.SamHornPOP.com to purchase my "I Can't Believe I Wrote the Whole Thing" CD or revisit this blog as I'll share another tip next week.

Happy writing.

My Favorite Scene in Movies . . . Was Improvised

2007-08-31T17:55:00.000-07:00

One of the many pleasures of Emceeing the Maui Writers Conference is having the privilege to meet in person a number of Academy Award winning screenwriters and Pulitzer Prize winning authors you've admired from afar.

Last night, we had our Presenters Orientation and Dinner so the agents, editors, authors, and screenwriters could get to know each other, on top of the conference center at the Maui Marriott, overlooking Wailea Beach with the orange, red, yellow sun setting behind the island of Molokai.

Let me put you in the scene. Everyone (all 75 of them) is standing around in small groups, talking about their latest projects.

There’s Michael Arndt, screenwriter for the breakout hit movie Little Miss Sunshine who's nowworking at Pixar Animation Studios on Toy Story 3. Next to him is lawyer-author Scott Turow (Presumed Innocent) talking to felllow novelist John Lescroart (The Suspect, The Hunt Club) Neil Nyren, Publisher and Editor in Chief of major New York publisher G. P. Putnam's (clients include Tom Clancy, Clive Cussler, Patricia Cornwell, Dave Barry) is greeting agent Susan Crawford who represents Muhammed Ali, John Travolta and Stan Lee. The Secret contributor Lisa Nichols is telling Michael Palmieri (former executive with Tristar, Paramount, Warner and Twentieth Century Fox) about her new TV talk show.

I shake the hand of Pamela Wallace, screenwriter for the Academy-Award-winning, Writers Guild of America Award-winning movie Witness, and welcome her to the conference.

I tell her, “I’ve been burning to ask you something about your screenplay for Witness.”

"What's that?" she asked.

“That magnificent scene in the barn, when Harrison Ford starts singing along to “Don’t know much about history, don’t know much about biology, all I do know is I love you, and I'm hoping you love me too . . what a wonderful world that would be . . .” to Kelly McGillis?"

Pamela answered, "Yes, I know the one you're talking about."

"Kelly is playing a rather prim and proper yet slightly rebellious young Amish woman. Her eyes and face shine as the impish Ford starts serenading her. She laughs out loud with delight when he takes her hand and starts dancing with her. That magical scene just crackles with sexual energy. Is that how you envisioned it when you wrote it?”

Pam laughed and said, “Harrison improvised that! In the screenplay, they were just sitting in the car listening to the radio and talking. He spontaneously started singing along to the song and the scene just unfolded organically from there. It’s the best scene in the movie!” Pam added with a modest grin.

That's just part of the magic unfolding here at Maui Writers Conference. Insider tips on what really happened on the movie set, when a book went to auction and got a 7 figure deal, or when an agent discovered a hot new prospect.

Want to know what's on tap for tonight?

Following our opening chant by Pali Ahui and his hula halau Na Maile Ku Honua, former U.S. Poet Laureate W. S. Merwin will be sharing some of his respected work. This is guaranteed to be a "chicken skin" moment for all 800 participants as this National Book Award winner and former Chancellor of the Academy of American Poets reads from some of his spellbinding books of prose and poems including The River Sound, a New York Times Notable Book of the Year and the Pulitzer Prize winning The Carrier of Ladders.

Check back tomorrow when I'll share some of the best tips on how to become an Authorpreneur (monetize your writing career) and how to pitch your idea, book, or screenplay so you get interest from a decision-maker who has the power to get it published or produced.

Want more information ont he Maui Writers Conference? Visit www.MauiWriters.com

Blogging Live from Maui Writers Conference - Retreat

2007-08-29T11:05:00.000-07:00

Have you ever gotten one of those postcards that said, "Wish you were here."

I'm guessing you wish you were here at the 15th annual Maui Writers Conference in Hawaii -- so I'm take you here by sharing some of the highlights of this year's conference and retreat.

I'm teaching the Business - Self Help book retreat right now. Participants have come from around the world to polish their manuscripts and proposals to prepare them to pitch to top agents and editors in a few days at the conference.

Participants in my workshop include the former Global Creative Director of Yahoo, a Guatamalan businessman whose company makes bread for McDonalds and ships it frozen to U.S. locations, the former Executive Director of Coachville, attorneys, professors, psychologists and an eclectic mix of others working on projects ranging from catapulting your business success to being a better parent.

A highlight of yesterday's session was talking about how NOT to bury the lead when pitching your project. I told them a story of last year, when three days into our retreat, I was talking of the importance of presenting our credentials for maximum impact. I told the group:

"Now is NOT the time to be bashful or shy. If you have an achievement that will help position you as an expert in your topic, share it. Agents and editors can't read your mind. They won't know about your credentials unless you tell them. It is NOT bragging to talk about your awards, accomplishments, or extraordinary experiences -- it is simply telling the agent and editor that you have a PLATFORM that will establish credibility, visibility, and appeal for your work."

I continued, "Don't make sweeping, subjective claims. Back them up with names and numbers so agents and editors know your bio is factual. For example, don't say 'I'm a nationally respected speaker who presents to a variety of organizations across the country.' We don't know what that means. We have no idea if that's the local Rotary Club and an adult education program on the other coast -- or major associations and Fortune 500 companies.

Say, (if it's true) "My client list includes Young Presidents Organization, National Governors Association, and NASA and I've presented programs to more than 50,000 people in 10 states and 4 foreign countries including Mexico, Canada, Ireland and Switzerland." See how this line has "teeth?"

The participants then divided into smaller groups to strategize how they could introduce their credentials in order of priority to win instant buy-in from busy agents and editors.

A few minutes later, I heard a SHRIEK from the corner. Andrea gasped, "YOU HAVE WHAT?!"

Turns out one of our participants, a soft-spoken doctor, had been nominated for a Nobel in Medicine, had played a role in inventing the nicotene patch, and had the only patent for an anti-aging process.

Yikes. If you're pitching something -- whether it's to land a book deal, win a contract or receive funding -- START with whatever will get the decision-makers' favorable attention. You want their eyebrows to go UP which means they're intrigued and impressed.

As soon as their eyebrows go up, you've got your projects' foot in their mental door -- they're already thinking positively about what you're saying or selling.

I know this is getting long -- however I'll share one more tip.

I had the good fotune to interview New York Times best-selling author James Rollins over breakfast yesterday morning -- while looking out at Maui's marvelously blue ocean, sunny beach and majestic palm trees.

James is actually a Maui Writers Conference-Retreat success story. A veterinarian from Northern California, he came to the retreat years ago and worked with John Saul and the rest, as they say, is history. James' thriller Map of Boneswas chosen by Publishers Weekly as one of the most likely to win over Dan Brown's faithful audience.

In preparation for a presentation I'll be giving this Sunday at the conference, I asked James, "Where do you get your ideas?" (By the way, many authors are tired of being aked this question because it comes up in almost every interview and at most book-signings. Still, it's fascinating to hear the different systems authors use to kick-start their creativity. I've produced a top-ten list of idea-gnerating methods collected from a variety of authors, screenwriters, and creative types and will be sharing it in my program.)

James said, "After writing a dozen books, you can't rely on the 'hand of God' to tap you on the shoulder and deliver an inspired idea for a book. So, I subscribe to a lot of magazines ranging from Discover to Scientific American -- anything to do with my interests which are animals, physics, inventions, you name it. I also read a lot of newspapers every day, looking for some interesting tidbit that makes it through my screen. If it catches my interest, it means it's new instead of being commonplace. That means it has potential to be explored -- because it will break new ground."

"Keeping my antennae up for these types of 'Hmmm . . . haven't seen that before . . . didn't know that' ideas turns writing into a never-ending adventure for me and my readers."

Great insight, James. Tomorrow, I'll share some best-practice tips from Academy-award winning screenwriter Bobby Moresco (Crash, Million-Dollar Baby) and Pulitzer Prize winning author Ron Powers (Mark Twain: A Life and co-author with James Bradley of Flags of our Fathers.)

Have you been to the Maui Writers Conference or Retreat? I'd love to hear from you. Share your highlight so others can vicariously attend MWC through your eyes and experience.

How to Grab Readers with a Brilliant First Paragraph

2007-08-22T16:38:00.000-07:00

“James Boddie rose from a leather chair in the living room of his townhouse, minutes from downtown Baltimore, and walked upstairs to retrieve something. ‘I want to show you this,’ he said.

He’d been telling stories about his grandson, Michael Vick, stories about how a poor kid from a rough neighborhood in Newport News, VA could use football to build a fancy hours for his mother and life of fame and riches for himself. Stories of taking a train to New York to be with his grandson when the Atlanta Falcons made Vick, a quarterback from VA Tech with a powerful left arm and magical legs, the top pick in the NFL draft in 2001.

Boddie returned with a frame containing . . .”

So begins the attention-grabbing first paragraph written by Mark Maske in an article entitled Playing to Wrong Crowd for the 8-21-07 Washington Post.

What’s the point?

There have probably been hundreds of articles written about Michael Vick in newspapers around the country in the past few weeks.

I bet that is the ONLY ONE that starts out that way. The reporter was not content to be common. I imagine he thought, “How can I start this article in an unexpected way? How can I grab my audience from the get-go? How can I paint a word picture so readers see what I’m saying? How can I quote someone talking so people feel like they’re a fly-on-the-wall?”

From now on, don’t start your article, blog, or book with what you think.

Don’t start off with what you believe.

Don’t start off by explaining something or by telling us what you’re going to tell us.

Put us in a real-life scene. Describe it with visual detail so it comes alive. Feature back-and-forth dialogue in quote marks.

Do that and we’ll keep reading.

What are your tips for grabbing readers? Have you written an article that starts with an intriguing first paragraph? Send us a sample (100 words max) that POP!s . . . and I'll send the first three submissions my Write Here - Write Now calendar with 365 inspiring quotes to help you jump-start your creativity.

How to Create a Million-Dollar Business Name and Brand

2007-08-11T06:18:00.000-07:00

What's in a business name and brand?

Your future.

You have about 10 seconds to get people's favorable attention. If your business name or brand is unpronounceable, nonsensical, or boring . . .people will move on and you will have lost potential clients and sales.

Your goal is to produce a business name and brand that POP! - that are Purposeful,, Original, and Pithy - so people are instantly intrigued.

A compelling business name and brand can catapult your company's appeal, marketshare and revenue.

For example, two farmers in Virginia were looking for a health-conscious, low-fat alternative to traditional beef. They cross-bred a cow and a yak to produce what they laughingly call a "Frankensteer."

What to call these cattle-yak hybrids? Use one of Sam Horn's POP! Techniques called Alphabetizing to create a hybrid name. Take the word "cattle" and talk it through the Alphabet, changing the sound of the first syllable to match the related letter. Eventually, you come up with YATTLE.

Big deal, you say. You bet it's a big deal. Washington Post ran a two page article on August 11 about this new species - and now millions of people know about Yattle because these enterprising entrepreneurs used a little brainpower to come up with an attention-grabbing name that helped their pet project get noticed on a national level.

Want to corner a niche? Create a niche. And the best way to create a niche is to coin a new word. When you create a new word for your business name and brand, you have no competition because you are now one-of-a-kind. That's what generates media attention. That's what helps yor product POP! off the shelf. That's what motivates people to check out your website. That's what compels people to remember your business name and brand.

Want a few other examples? What would you call a musical based on Dr. Seuss's work? Seussical.

What do call a new form of "portable" yogurt that's designed for busy, on-the-go parents and kids? Gogurt.

What would you name a sight-seeing business in Alaska that takes tourists up in float planes? Flight-seeing.

The good news? You don't have to have a million dollar budget to come up with a million-dollar business name and brand -- you just need a little brainpower and Sam Horn's POP! Process.

The Alphabetizing technique is just one of 25 POP! Techniques entrepreneurs and organizations can use to create a business name and brand that help them stand out from the crowd. For more information about Sam Horn's POP! Process and Brand Camps, visit www.SamHornPOP.com

Best Websites I've Seen in '07

2007-08-08T20:11:00.000-07:00

Does your business/domain name cause you to break out or blend in?

These four websites POP! out . . . for all the right reasons.

Comedian Steven Wright said, "My grandfather invented Cliff Notes. It was in 1952 and he . . . well, to make a long story short."

1. http://www.SeeMommyRun.com This first domain name is a perfect example of how you can capture and "Cliff Note" your business concept into an easy-to-remember 11 letter(!) domain name. Plus, it features a visual verb which transforms it from passive to active. Well done!

2. Spencer Koppel, a self-confessed nerd, developed an online social network for pocket-protector types. Personal ads include such profiles as "Tall, dork, and hansome." The name? Geek 2 Geek. http://www.gk2gk.com

3. Then there's http://www.SweetOnGeeks.com - a "dating site where gray matters." Bravo.

4. One of my favorites is http://www.Prescription4Love.com, created by Ricky Durham in memory of his brother who died after a 15 year battle with Crohn's disease. Durham says, "He didn't feel comfortable meeting people because he had a colostomy bag. If he had been able to go online and find someone who shared - and understood -- his illness, it might have been different." The site has more than 1000 members with diagnoses ranging from diabetes to cancer to deafness. Kudos.

All of these business/domain names fit the POP! criteria - they're Purposeful, Original and Pithy.

Do you have a business/domain name that POP!s? Tell us about it. I'm collecting entries for my 2007 POP! Hall of Fame. Who knows? You may be featured in an upcoming post and receive free international attention for your organization or offering.

Amazon.com is Shaping Up by Shipping Out

2007-07-30T19:36:00.000-07:00

As an expert in branding who helps individuals and organizations stand out from the crowd, I'm always looking for companies that are POPing out for all the right reasons.

Amazon.com is setting a shining example.

An article in today's USA Today entitled "Amazon won't go down with the ship" quotes CEO Jeff Bezos as saying, "I love to kerfuffle Wall Street."

How so? Industry analysts predicted disaster when Amazon first started offering PRIME - their unprecedented offer of unlimited, FREE, two-day shipping for $79 a year which covers everything from toothbrushes to lawn mowers. (Yes, Amazon.com offers those items in addition to books and CDs.)

However, the retail giant just reported a rise in sales for its second quarter, now at a 7 year high.

Bezos said, "We know in our bones that siding with the customer pays off for everyone in the end."

Please reread that last sentence. What a profound philosophy. That commitment to providing value for customers is a PRIMary reason Amazon is now turning a profit.

Do you know a company that is turning a profit because it "sides with its customers?"

Tell us about it. Be one of the first three contributors and you'll receive a free copy of my book POP! Stand out in Any Crowd, about which Edelman Sr. VP Marilynn Mobley said, "If you liked Malcolm Gladwell's Blink, you'll love Sam Horn's POP!"

Want to Outsell the Competition? OutThink Them.

2007-07-16T11:36:00.000-07:00

An article on business travel in a recent issue of USA Today focused on how Independent Bookstores Find Readers on the Fly.

The essence of the article was, "How can smaller bookstores compete with retail giants who can buy and sell books for less?"

The answer? By zigging where the competition zags.

For example, business traveler Brian Norton was searching for a good book to read on the plane and was frustrated to find the airport bookstores featured only the top five leaders in each category of the New York Times Bestseller list.

What to do? Walter High, smart-thinking owner of the 2nd ed. Booksellers at Raleigh-Durham International, says, "I make a point of stocking books the new-book sellers don't. I recently bought a huge collection of Civil War books that includes first editions from the 1920's. You're not going to see that down the hall at Borders."

Are you offering the same selection of products/services as your competitors? That's a perscription for blending in, not breaking out.

Ask youself, "What are our potential customers looking for they can't find elsewhere?" Offer that and people will flock to your store or business.

As I say in my presentations, CD's and book on POP! (endorsed by Seth Godin, Jeffrey Gitomer, John Jantsch, and Ken Blanchard), "The best way to stand out from the crowd is to lead it, not follow it."

Outback Listens To Its Customers. Do You?

2007-06-27T06:28:00.000-07:00

A great article in USA Today entitled Takeout Takes Off (is that a POP! title or what?) showcases Outback Steakhouse as being one of the first casual restaurant chains in the country to offer curbside pickup. The reward for being visionaries? A hefty $300 million annually in takeout orders.

What's interesting about this article is that it points out that P.F. Chang's (an "upper-end China Bistro") initially "snubbed its nose at takeout." It actually discouraged customers from requesting food to go which resulted in their top complaint being poor marks for poor takeout service.

P.F. Chang CEO Richard Federico realized they were in the business of meeting their customers' needs, not arguing with them. They now have a dedicated takeout area in each location with a person on staff who does nothing but handle takeout. Voilla. Some Chang outlets now do 20% of their business in takeout.

What's the point?

Comedian Drake Sather said, "My girlfriend tells me I never listen to her. I think that's what she said."

Are you listening to your customers or ignoring them?

Do you have an example of a business that does a great job of listening to its customers? I'll give a free copy of POP! Stand Out in Any Crowd to the first 3 people who write in with a story about a company that goes above and beyond to meet and exceed its customers' needs.

Please - More TV Shows Like "So You Think You Can Dance"

2007-06-14T06:56:00.000-07:00

What a delight it was channel-surfing last night and stumbling upon So You Think You Can Dance on the FOX network from 8-10 pm EST.

It's my new favorite show because it POP!s out for all the right reasons.

Why? It's always alarmed and saddened me that most of the "prime time" programming on network TV is devoted to homicide, rape, autopsies, murder, crime and other examples of man's inhumanity to man.

I like American Idol because it's an updated version of the American Dream in which someone can be plucked from obscurity and get catapulted into the limelight -- all within a few months. Case in point, Fantasia starrring on Broadway, Jennifer Hudson receiving an Academy Award, and Carrie Underwood and Kelly Clarkson having #1 hits and sold-out tours.

Unfortunately, that show has an increased emphasis on the staged snarkiness between Simon Cowell and Ryan Seacrest and on people-behaving-badly who will do anything to get air time (including obscenity-laced rants). The most egregious kooks were actually rewarded on the final show with their 1 minute of fame and further exposure to an audience of 180 million people (!) around the world. What other countries must think of us for glorifying these shameless attention-at-any-and-all-costs individuals.

That is why So You Think You Can Dance is such a welcomed contrast.

It showcases talented young people who work hard for what they want and are passionate about their creative art. They are healthy, innovative, dedicated, creative individuals doing what they love with energy, enthusiasm . . . and character.

When they're voted off, every single one handles it with grace and dignity -- no snarling epithets tossed at the judges. When they need to dance in a genre that is alien to them, they don't complain or make excuses, they just get to work and expand their repertoire. When they're partnered with someone not at their level, they respond with graciousness and a commitment to somehow make it work.

What a concept! Man (and womankind) at their best. Now that's worth watching and emulating.

Do you have a favorite TV show that showcases the best (instead of the worst) of man(woman)kind? What is it? Are you a fan of American Idol or So You Think You Can Dance? Why or why not?

The Best of Book Expo

2007-06-04T15:05:00.000-07:00

Where else can you start your day hearing insider writing tips from Alice Sebold (The Lovely Bones author's new novel is Almost Moon), Khaled Hosseini (The Kite Runner author's lavishly-praised 2nd book is A Thousand Splendid Suns), and Stephen Colbert (the Comedy Central star penned the forthcoming I am America (And So Can You!) . . .and wrap up your evening dancing non-stop to Dave Barry, Mitch Albom and the rest of the Rock Bottom Remainder Gang?

If you're involved in the book industry, Book Expo is the place to be every year as publishers break out the Fall books they hope become bestsellers.

It's also an extravaganza of educational sessions, hundreds (really!) of autographing sessions, and aisles upon aisles of booths pitching everything from a remote pen (created by Margatet Atwood, this unique device is a way for authors to conduct long-distance book-signings via the web - www.LongPen.com) to a $2000 book (an oversize edition of the coffee table book Earth from Above) to the purple Hogwarts Knight Bus that's about to visit libraries across the country to promote the much-anticipated release of the final Harry Potter book this summer.

As always, I'm on the lookout for clever, stop-me-in-my-tracks titles. A few this year include "Fat, Forty, and Fired" by Nigel Marsh (love that alliteration), "Flickipedia: Perfect Films for Every Occasion, Holiday, Mood, Ordeal, or Whim" (Flickipedia is what I call an Alphabetized title in my book POP!), "Even June Cleaver Would Forget the Juice Box" and for canine lovers "Why Do Dogs Drink Out of the Toilet?"

Book Expo features many real-life stories that remind us that dreams can and do happen in the publishing world. The PW Show Daily (a free newsletter which chronicles the events of the weekend) revealed that Paulo Coelho (92 million books sold in 64 different languages) wrote "The Alchemist" in 2 weeks (!)

I must admit though, that in addition to spending time with my consulting clients who were there pitching their books and meeting with agents and editors, my favorite part of the entire 3 day event was rocking out with the Rock Bottom Remainders at New York's East Village Webster Hall. Can you imagine anything more fun than boogying to Gloria, It's my Party, and other oldie-but-goodies while watching some of your favorite authors (e.g., Dave, Mitch, Frank McCourt, Scott Turow, Stephen King, Amy Tan, Greg Isles) jam with Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Roger McGuinn (The Bryds)?

If you couldn't be there in person, the next best thing is to check out their website www.RockBottomRemainders.com and click onto the YouTube clip which features them being interviewed by Steve Martin at the Aspen Comedy Festival. Get ready to laugh. These guys know how to have fun.

Have you been to Book Expo before? What was your highlight?

What's The Stitch and Pitch Phenomenon?

2007-05-16T06:17:00.001-07:00

Today's Washington Post has a fun article about knitting.

Really.

The title Where It's Knit, Knit, Knit at The Old Ballgame plays off the lyrics of the 7th inning stretch classic Take Me Out to the Ballgame.

The focus of the article is on the Stitch and Pitch phenomenon (since when can the words knitting and phenomenon be found in the same sentence?) that is part of a marketing scheme to attract dye-hard knitters (sorry, couldn't resist) to 23 Major League Baseball games a year.

I propose this "movement" (yup, that's what it's referred to in the article, take it up with the Post) wouldn't be attracting so much attention if it didn't have such a fun, immediately memorable name.

What's the point?

Words that rhyme are remembered over time.

Abby Marks-Beale, a consulting client and one of our country's experts on speed-reading, wanted to develop a program and book on how to speed-read using the computer. Her initial title, Read More, Faster: Increasing Productivity Online While Saving Paper, Time and Frustration was long and uninteresting. It didn’t ring or resonate.

We kept brainstorming and finally came up with Increasing Productivity Online While Saving Paper, Frustration and Time. See how rhyming “online” and “time” made her title POP? What's amazing to me is that re-arranging the exact same words until they rhymed changed the rhythm so her title has a lilt that makes it fluent instead of flat.

Do you have other instances of rhymed names, titles, slogans and mottos that POP!?

Submit your favorite (s) and I'll give a free, autographed copy of POP! Stand Out in Any Crowd to the winner and feature your submission (with your permission) in my June 11th blog.

Why is Sanjaya Stealing the Show?

2007-04-10T15:03:00.000-07:00

If you’re an American Idol fan – and even if you’re not – you’re probably familiar with the controversy swirling around Sanjaya Malakar’s constantly changing hairdo (or hair-don’t), including the much-maligned Faux Hawk.

Articles have been written about it, bloggers have posted about it, water-cooler conversations have been held about it.

No one thinks Sanjaya is a great singer. Even he admits his vocals aren’t his strength.

Regardless, he is in the top ten, getting more ink than any other contestant; proving, once again, that while talent is important; it’s not enough.

You may be thinking, "What's this got to do with business?"

In an ideal work world, the most qualified candidate would get the job. The company with the best track record would get the contract. The highest-skilled consultant would get hired. In the real world, being good at what you do will only get you so far.

That’s one of the reasons I created POP: Stand Out in Any Crowd, which bestselling authors Ken Blanchard praise as "an inspiring guide to getting heard, getting remembered, and getting results"and Jeffrey Gitomer says is the "new way and best way to build buzz."

If you want to know how to help your cause, creation or corporation get noticed for all the right reasons, visit http://www.samhorn.com/ for a free article on how to POP Out of the Pack so you and your priority project get the respect and revenue you want, need and deserve.

The Most Fascinating Article I've Ever Read . . . Really!

2007-04-07T15:09:00.000-07:00

Please just give Gene Weingarten this year’s Pulitzer for journalism and be done with it.

And please take ten minutes to read his thought-provoking article Pearls Before Breakfast from the 4/8/07 Washington Post Magazine.

Gene wondered, “What would happen if you took a renowned violinist, (whose latest album has been called “unfailingly exquisite, a musical summit that will make your heart thump and weep at the same time”) and positioned him inside a D.C Metro Stop on a workday during the morning commute?

What if you asked him to play six compositions, each considered “masterpieces that have endured for centuries on their brilliance alone, soaring music befitting the grandeur of cathedrals and concert halls?”

What if you took this experiment one step further and asked him to play these musical works of art on a rare, multimillion dollar Stradivarius?

Would anyone notice? Would any of the hundreds of people streaming by take a minute to listen to a free concert by “one of the finest classical musicians in the world, playing some of the most elegant music ever written on one of the most valuable violins ever made?”

As Weingarten posited, “Would beauty transcend in a banal setting at an inconvenient time?”

In the 45 minutes that Joshua Bell played, (yes, the Joshua Bell who played the soundtrack of the movie The Red Violin and who packs them in at concert halls around the globe), only 7 (!) people paused long enough to acknowledge his performance.

The other 1070 people? They all rushed by, oblivious, not even noticing or caring about the miracle in their midst.

Weingarten’s point? There are several. One of which is to quote W.H. Davies who said, “What is this life if, full of care, we have no time to stop and stare.” At what cost are we so busy, so driven, that we have lost the ability to see, hear and be grateful for beauty?

Another intriguing insight, “There was no ethnic or demographic pattern to distinguish the few people who stayed to watch Bell from the vast majority who hurried past, unheeding. Whites, blacks, Asians, men and women were all represented. But the behavior of one demographic remained absolutely consistent. Every single time a child walked past, he or she tried to stop and watch. And every single time, a parent scooted the kid away.”

Makes you think, doesn’t it?

Kudos to Gene Weingarten for his absolutely brilliant writing and for this thought-provoking social experiment. Please take the time to read his article (and view a video clip of Joshua Bell’s “D.C. Metro Concert”) at http://www.Washintongpost.com/magazine.

Then, get back in touch and let me know, "Would you have stopped to listen to Bell if you had been rushing to work?" Why or why not? What does it say about our society that people were lined up at the lottery machine, punching in their numbers and hoping for a payday, but wouldn't even turn around to note this phenomenon?

Want to Capture Interest in the Frist 5 Seconds?

2007-03-29T06:33:00.000-07:00

What's one of the breakout TV shows this season?

"Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?"

Learn from this title. Look at the lead lines in your blog postings, articles, chapters, and Web pages.

Do they start off by simply describing what you have to say or sell?

Why not rephrase those introductory remarks into questions that elicit answers? You'll be setting up two-way communication instead of a one-way sermon.

Look at the difference between "Don't Sabotage Yourself" and "Are You Sabotaging Yourself?" One is an order. Do you know anyone who likes to be ordered around? The other Socratically causes people to reflect and respond.

Next time you write marketing material or sales copy, ask yourself, "How can I open with a question so I'm capturing interest instead of making a statement?"

Why is that so important? Statements sit on the page. Questions engage.

Want a Name That Gets Your Book or Business Noticed?

2007-03-27T07:39:00.000-07:00

Several attention-getting names caught my eye this morning.

Today’s WSJ features an article about people who have taken advice from spouses about work-related issues only to have that advice backfire. What are those spouses called? Badvisors.

This morning's USA Today features an article on Chrisopher Buckley's latest satire about what's going to happen when 77 million baby boomers start wanting their Social Security checks instead of their MTV. Its name? Boomsday. Brilliant.

Fellow blogger Marilynn Mobley emailed about a new company that makes luxury items for children, such as pacifiers adorned with crystals. Its smile-inducing name? Aristobrats!

The good news is, ANYONE –with a little brain power and the Alphabetizing technique described in my POP! book– can come up with their own stop-em-in-their-tracks name to help their priority project break out.

I used this technique to create my trademarked topic of Tongue Fu!® – the verbal form of Kung Fu. Want to learn how to create a name that gets you and your ideas and offerings noticed? Read more at http://SamHornPOP.com

Create Sticky Messages with POP! and John Jantsch’s Duct Tape Marketing

2007-02-20T10:18:00.000-08:00

Best-selling author Elmore Leonard was once asked why he thought his books were so popular. His answer? “I try to leave out the parts people skip.”

I had the pleasure of sharing my POP! tips on a podcast recently with John Jantsch – author of Duct Tape Marketing and creator of Forbes’ and Fast Company’s #1 rated blog on small business and marketing.

As you may already know, POP! stands for Purposeful, Original, and Pithy – the three prerequisites to sticky messages that capture and keep your attention.

John modeled the POP! process with his succinct definition of marketing. He said, “Marketing is getting somebody who has a need to know you, like you, and trust that you can supply it for them.”

John also mentioned his sure-fire system for test-marketing his material to make sure it POP!s. He runs it by his four teenaged daughters to see if they “get it and want it.” He added, “They’re imaginative, playful and have no time for B.S. If it doesn’t pass their litmus test, it’s back to the editing room.”

Look at your marketing messages and elevator speech.

Are you leaving out the parts people skip? Have you condensed the definition of what you do into a succinct sound-bite? Do you have a litmus test to see if people “get and want” what you have to offer?

If so, kudos. If not, it’s back to the drawing board or . . . listen to our podcast that talks about how you can market your business by developing attention-grabbing names, slogans, and ad campaigns at www.DuctTapeMarketing.com.

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I've recently made the move to Wordpress.

Please visit www.samhornpop.wordpress.com for my latest blog (and don't forget to update your technorati links, too)

Best Wishes.

Sam Horn

Sam Horn's New Blog

2007-01-30T13:39:00.000-08:00

I've recently made the move to Wordpress.

Please visit www.samhornpop.wordpress.com for my latest blog (and don't forget to update your technorati links, too)

Best Wishes.

Sam Horn

Filmanthropy - Ted Leonsis & The Sundance Film Festival

2007-01-30T13:32:00.000-08:00

When you want to get an important message out to millions of people and a 30-second PSA just won't do, why not make a movie?

In a recent article by the Washington Post, Ted Leonsis describes his new business model of "filmanthropy." It's no surprise to me that Ted has coined such a trademarkable phrase and concept - he was in my 2006 POP! Hall of Fame. Why? A year ago, Ted Googled himself and was unhappy to discover several unflattering articles featured first. Rather than passively complaining about this, he proactivTEd Leonsisely initiated his own blog, Ted's Takes, so he could control his professional persona. Click here to find out what happened as a result of him joining the blogosphere.

Ted describes this new term "filmanthropy" (what I call a Half and Half Word in my book POP! Stand Out in Any Crowd), and how satisfying it was to make "Nanking," a movie with a cause that made its debut at the Sundance Film Festival in last Saturday.

"It's where you can shed light on a big issue. You raise the money around your charity and make something that can drive people to understand an issue," said Leonsis. "It brings together philanthropy and understanding how media works. You're going to see a lot of people doing this because a studio probably wouldn't do a story like this."

The blog On Philanthropy.com featured a post describing how socially conscious films are not new - however "filmanthropy" is an innovative way to give donors a more tangible vehicle to bring awareness to a favorite cause. Instead of simply writing a check and having it "disappear" into a foundation's budget, contributors get to see the fruits of their labor of love.

***********************************************************************************************
Sam Horn, author of POP! Stand out In Any Crowd (Perigee)
Want more? Visit http://www.SamHornPOP.com
Interested in interviewing Sam? Call 1 800 SAM-3455 or email info@samhorn.com

Check Out Sam Horn's New Blog

2007-01-18T14:18:00.000-08:00

I've recently made the move to Wordpress.

Please visit www.samhornpop.wordpress.com for my latest blog (and don't forget to update your technorati links, too)

Best Wishes.

Sam Horn

Announcing the 2006 POP! Hall of Fame

2006-12-15T04:41:00.000-08:00

What do Ted Leonsis, Crackberry, and Little MissMatched all have in common?

They're all been inducted into the 2006 POP! Hall of Fame - which honors individuals and entities that have captured the public's interest because of their originality. Previous winners have included Freakonomics, Java Jacket, Daddle, and Eats, Shoots, and Leaves.

I believe the best way to corner a niche is to create a niche. And the best way to create a niche is to coin a one-of-a-kind approach. These people and products are examples of how anyone and anything can break out if you pleasantly surprise people with something they haven't seen and heard before.

1. Treadmill Dance. The sublime marriage of this attention-grabbing peformance by OK GO with the around-the-world-in-seconds distribution of You Tube has been viewed by more than 100 million people. It started simply. The band realized they needed to differentiate themselves from the 50 other acts playing at a music festival. They came up with a dance routine which proved to be so popular, they brainstormed how to improve upon it. After 56 takes and much bumping and bruising, the "Treadmill Dance" was born, creating a word-of-mouse phenomenon which has catapulted the band from semi-obscurity to the international spotlight.

2. Ted's Takes. When Ted Leonsis (Vice Chair of AOL and majority owner of the Washington Capitals Hockey Team) Googled himself in 2005, he was displeased to discover pages of news stories about him, some unflattering. Understanding the importance of pro-actively controlling his public image rather than passively leaving it to chance, he started blogging daily, posting snippets of his celebrity-filled life and strategically linking to other high-profile entrepreneurs such as Mark Cuban. The result? He now receives up to 15,000 visits a day and his "take" on life shows up first when he's Googled. As a bonus, he says, "I have moral authority and credibility with employees and people in the industry that I'm not just talking about Web 2.0, I'm living it."

3. Little MissMatched. The slogan of this multimillion dollar company is "Nothing matches but anything goes." And what goes with co-founders Jason Dorf, Arielle Eckstut, and Jonah Taw is their vision to capitalize on the lost sock phenomenon instead of complain about it. They sell packets of three or seven mismatched socks, gloves and mittens in a variety of patterns and colors. Their novel retailing puts the fun in funky.

4. POPera. When is opera cool? When you combine it with popular tunes - ala Josh Groban and II Divo - to make classical music rock. This is an example of an Alphabetized word, a simple POP! technique which has the power to create a trademark-able word in seconds, ala Tongue Fu!® As soon as you create a never-before-seen word, you don't just have a clever title, tagline or brand, you have the beginnings of a business empire.

5. "You're on my fantasy team." Why did Colts quarterback Peyton Manning earn $11.5 million in endorsement income this year and have a "Q" ranking higher than popular NASCAR driver Dale Earnhardt Jr.? Partially because of his ad-libs for Master Card in which the commercial director simply asked him to repeat what he frequently hears from fans. Hence the catchphrase "I'm never going to wash my hand."

What do you hear from your customers? Is that featured on your website or in your marketing material? One of the quickest ways to make sure your target audience relates to what you have to say and sell is to feature the language they're already using when describing your products and services.

6. Heinz. This ketchup company, founded in 1876, models their motto which is "To do a common thing uncommonly well." How many times have you pounded a ketchup bottle against your palm trying to get that thick tomato paste out? In what has to be the "Duh!" moment of the decade, someone at Heinz had the bright idea to redesign the bottle and turn it upside down so it sits on its cap. Voila. Problem solved.

Is the answer to your packaging problem staring you in the face? Could you turn an assumption or tradition about your product upside down to produce an elegant and simple solution? Could you zig where your competitors are zagging and do the opposite instead of the obvious?

7. Metronatural®. Coining an appealing and memorable slogan for a city or state is crucial as it can make or break its vital convention and visitor business. This trademarked Half & Half Word captures and communicates the dual draw of Seattle – it’s a thriving metropolis surrounded by majestic natural beauty. Thanks to POP! fan David Zinger for alerting me to another catchy city slogan "Keep it Querque" for . . . what else but Albuquerque?

8. Spot the Tot. 500 children a year are run over in their own driveway by people who inadvertantly back up over them. A movement launched to prevent these tragic deaths is called "Spot the Tot" -- a classic example of how "Cliff-Noting" your campaign into a clear, concise message increases the likelihood people will remember and follow its important advice. Jonathan Winters said, "I have a photographic memory, I just haven't developed it yet." Since many people are forgetful, it's our responsibility to create a "rhyme is sublime" tagline for our cause that gives people's mind a hook on which to hang a memory.

9. Crackberry. This clever "Alphabetized Word" alludes to the addictive qualities of Blackberry (just ask the hundreds of thousands suffering from "Blackberry Thumb"). You don't have to be a creative genius to come up with a new word. Write down 10 words that describe your pet project. Now, run them through the ABC's, changing the sound of the first syllable to match the corresponding letter. Want an example (and a close runner-up in this category?) What do you call a cubicle with a view . . .that's right, viewbicle.

10. No Child Left Inside. Just as a jazz pianist riffs off common chords to create new music, POP! artists riff off common slogans to create new variations. Richard Louv, author of Last Child in the Woods: Saving our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder, (a clever play on the words Attention-Deficit Disorder) pioneered a back-to-nature movement to reconnect children with the outdoors and developed the perfect name that "plays off" the No Child Left Behind legislation. George Washington Carver said, "When you can say a common thing in an uncommon way, you will command the attention of the world." There is an art and craft to making a complicated concept compelling in 4 words -- and this program does just that.

Quality is important, but it is not enough. If you care about your ideas and offerings, you must create Purposeful, Original, Pithy marketing messages that help them stand out from the crowd instead of get lost in the crowd.

Want to discover how to get your cause, campaign, or company noticed? Take advantage of our POP! Holiday package. You receive:

POP 3 CD Series = $99 value. Turn your commute or workout into a fun and fascinating learning lab by listening to a variety of ways to develop one-of-a-kind approaches and identities that catapult your idea or organization into the limelight.

POP Hardback Book (Perigee) = $23 value Find out why Edelman Sr. VP Marilynn Mobley says, “If you liked Malcolm Gladwell’s Blink, you’ll love Sam Horn’s POP!”

Write Here, Write Now Perpetual Calendar = $20 value. A quote a day will catapult your ability to generate innovative ideas and approaches. 365 inspiring quotes including such favorites as "A hunch is creativity trying to tell you something." - Frank Capra

All for $99. Save $43 –in essence, you’re getting the calendar and book free. Order by Dec. 19 to receive your Holiday POP! Package by Dec. 25. This is a special blog offer - you won't find it on our website - so please call our CA office toll-free at 800 SAM-3455 to place your order.

Want to share the 2006 POP! Hall of Fame on your blog, website, or newsletter? Want to schedule an interview with Sam? Contact Cheri Grimm in Sam's California office at 800 SAM-3455 or email info@samhorn.com

Calling All Bloggers

2006-11-24T11:36:00.000-08:00

My publisher Perigee (Penguin Group) has agreed to send a review copy of my new book, POP! Stand Out in Any Crowd to the first 25 bloggers who are interested in reviewing it. To request a review copy, please send an email with the URL of your blog and your mailing address to:

Katherine.">Wasilewski@us.penguingroup.com

with the subject line "Review Copy of POP!"

You are also welcome to contact Cheri Grimm in my California office at 805 528-4351 to schedule an interview with me if you prefer to offer a Q & A format for your readers. We could focus on specific techniques, examples, and suggestions that are timely and relevant for your blog audience.

Some recent news about POP! is that it has been featured in Dallas Morning News, Boston Globe, on WGN, CBS NewsRadio, KTLA Morning News, and at the annual National Press Club Book Fair. The POP! presentation has also received rave reviews from American Society of Association Executives, Commonwealth Club, National Foundation of Women Legislators and will be showcased at Judy Carter's upcoming Comedy Workshop in Palm Springs.
I'm partial, however if you read the book, I think you'll agree with Wall St. Journal best-selling author Mark Sanborn (You Don't Need a Title to be a Leader) who said, "To break out you've got to stand out, and POP! shows you how. It is full of examples and useful exercises that take you beyond what you need to know to what you need to do. I recommend it."

Sam Horn
samhorn.com
samhornpop.com

The Joys of a Media Tour

2006-11-20T10:08:00.000-08:00

There are many joys of being on a media tour -- one of which is the opportunity to meet fascinating people.

Such was the case last Wednesday at the annual National Press Club Book Fair.

I was there, along with 80 other invited authors, to sign copies of POP! It was a delightful enveing kibbitzing with familiar faces and fresh faces.

A familiar face was Eleanor Herman, author of Sex with Kings and Sex with Queens, who I met a couple years ago while speaking at Bella Stander's Promotion 101 for Authors Workshop.

Eleanor definitely knows how to POP! She shows up for media interviews and book-signings wearing a lavish ballgown with an ermine cape and royal jewels. There is no way this woman is going to get lost in a crowd. She definitely stands out and her books' visibility and sales have benefitted as a result.

I confess, I played hookie from my table for a few minutes to meet female icon and national treasure - Helen Thomas.

In case you're not already familiar with this pioneering journalist, she became UPI's White House Correspondent in 1960 and was the "lady in red" who Presidents often called upon first when opening up press conferences for Q & A. Reviews on Amazon.com of her newest book Watchdogs of Democracy refer to her as the "venerable grand dame of the White House press corps" and an "uncorruptable member of the fourth estate." She is a walking-talking history book of the last five decades of our nation's major events because she had a front row seat at many of them.

I had an opportunity to ask Helen how she developed the courage to go where no woman had gone before. She said, "I always wanted to be in the forefront and my parents never told me it was impossible."

Are you at the forefront of your industry?

If you want to lead the pack instead of follow it (as Helen did), check out Chapter 9, Create the Next New Thing with the Half and Half Technique, in POP! It shares specific ways to forge a new path instead of following paths already taken by others.

Why Do Contra-Brand Titles, Ads, Products Build Buzz?

2006-11-06T16:12:00.000-08:00

The headline of an article in the November 3 editor of USA Today proclaims, Seinfeld Stings Typical Movie Trailers.

Perhaps you’ve seen this clever ad campaign which features Jerry in an enormous honeybee costume promising Chris Rock (who’s outfitted as a mosquito) that he’ll show up at his wife’s book-signing as a payoff for appearing in his upcoming Bee Movie (another play on words.)

This spoof has been generating a lot of water-cooler conversation because of its innovative approach. Instead of featuring actual clips from the movie, it features the stars talking about the movie.

As Seinfeld said to the reporter interviewing him for the article, “Let’s face it, if this was just a regular trailer cut with footage of the film, you and I wouldn’t be sitting here talking about it.”

Exactly. If you want to get noticed, don’t do what’s obvious, do what’s opposite.

Look at your ad, web copy, newsletter. Is it same old, same old? What can you do with your next version to take people by surprise? Ask yourself, “What’s a norm in my industry? What's a belief everyone holds to be true? How can I challenge that? Could you be counter-intuitive and claim, “Customers are NOT Always Right.”

We’re coming into the holidays. Could you take a common tradition and turn it upside down? That’s what several enterprising companies did last year, literally. Picture a “normal” Christmas tree, with branches wide at the bottom, narrowing up to the star on top.

Now, turn that tree on its head and you get the INVERTED CHRISTMAS TREE that Hammacher Schlemmer couldn’t keep in stock . . . at $599.95 a POP. Target featured three upside-down trees on its website, pointing out one of the best attributes, “Leaves more room on the floor for gifts!”

What’s the point? To stop busy people in their tracks, we must say, do, or offer something out of the ordinary. How are you doing that with your business?

Want more ways to help your organization stand out from the crowd instead of get lost in the crowd? Visit www.SamHornPOP.com to order copies of POP! to jump-start the creativity of your sales/marketing team. Call Cheri Grimm at 805 528-4351 for volume discounts for orders of more than 10 books.

The Appeal of Alliteration

2006-10-23T20:21:00.000-07:00

I'm on the second leg of my media tour now, (just in Dallas and Salt Lake City and on my way to Minneapolis) and had the privilege of seeing 94 years young (or as he puts it - "the 50th anniversary of my 44th year") Art Linkletter in action.

We were both speaking at Mark Victor Hansen's Mega-Speaking Empire event in Southern California. My presentation was on "Are You a One-of-a-Kind Speaker?" and Art shared some of the fascinating highlights of his life, including some of his favorite quips from "Kids Say the Darndest Things."

We all laughed out loud at the little boy who, when asked if his dog had a pedigree, replied, "He used to, but we cut it off." Ouch.

Art talked about his books Hobo on His Way to Heaven (insights on how a poor kid grew up to know kings, queens, and presidents), Drugs on My Doorstep (his plea to do something about rampant use of drugs after his daughter jumped to her death while on LSD), and Living Better Longer - Make the Rest of Your Life the Best of Your Life (tips on how to stay vital - Art only quit skiing last year because his 90 year old wife was afraid he'd get wiped out by wild snowboarders - in your 70's and beyond.)

Please notice the use of alliteration (words that start with the same sound)in his titles. Hear how it creates a pleasing ear music?

Say these words out loud.

Dunkin Croissants.

King Gorilla.

Rolls Jaguar.

Bed, Toilet, and Shower.

Those words sound kind of clunky, don't they?

Now say, Dunkin Donuts, King Kong, Rolls Royce and Bed, Bath, and Beyond.

Hear how those words fit together? That's the impact of alliteration. It makes your language lyrical, gives the mind a hook on which to hang a memory, and has the potential to transform something generic into something genius.

For example, did you know that cardboard insulating sleeve you put around your cup of coffee in the morning is actually a multi-million dollar business? Why? Innovator Jay Sorenson gave that common product a catchy name - Java Jacket.

Can you use alliteration when naming your creations? It just might help your product POP! off the shelf.

Want more ideas on how to title your idea or invention so it gets noticed and bought? POP! Stand Out in Any Crowd has been named one of the best business books of the year and has been featured recently on KRON TV in San Francisco, KTLA in Los Angeles, CBS NewsRadio, and WGN from Chicago.

Visit www.SamHornPOP.com to see if I'm presenting a public seminar in your city, or call Cheri Grimm at 805 528-4351 to arrange an interview for your TV show, radio program, or newspaper/magazine.

Want Your Book to POP! Off the Shelf?

2006-10-07T14:25:00.000-07:00

Just finished the first leg of my media tour for POP!, and had the opportunity to go in dozens of bookstores across the country.

After signing copies of my books, I usually take a few minutes to browse through the store, looking for fresh examples of clever titles that stopped me in my tracks and compelled me to give the book a second look.

Kudos to the following books for doing just that.

Momfidence: An Oreo Never Killed Anybody and Other Secrets of Happier Parenting Author Paula Spencer uses what I call a Half and Half Word to coin a new term. Kudos. When you coin a new word, you become the de facto topic expert – because you created and named the topic.

Shopportunity How to Be a Retail Revolutionary by Kate Newlin has been getting a lot of media attention these days – as least partially because of its innovative Alphabetized title. Freakonomics is another example of an Alphabetized title.

Fling or Ring Which Finger are You Going to Give Him? Author Alison James is positioning herself for this year’s POP! Hall of Fame because her title is Purposeful, Original, and Pithy. Her previous book, I Used to Miss Him . . . But My Aim is Improving also has an edgy attitude, perfect for this genre.

I laughed out loud at a book by Jackie Ivie displayed in the front window of a bookstore in San Francisco. This steamy romance novel featured a shirtless Fabio-look-a-like on the cover stretched out in a seductive pose. This is a seasonal book designed for the holidays. How did I know that? There was a Yule-log fire in the background and the title was The Knight Before Christmas.

What’s the point? There were tens of thousands of books in each of those bookstores. Which caught my eye? Which do I remember? The ones with the clever titles.

If you’re working on a book or writing an article for your website or newsletter, take the time to give it a clever title. It will help get your work the attention it deserves.

www.samhorn.com
www.samhornpop.com

I Think, Therefore I POD

2006-09-26T14:37:00.000-07:00

No, not the IPOD gadget you use to listen to your favorite tunes.

I'm talking about POD - Point of Distinction.

What is one specific thing you do differently from your peers? What is an area of speciality no one else in your industry offers?

That is your Point of Distinction, and it determines whether you stand out from the crowd or get lost in the crowd.

WASH radio station was losing marketshare so they studied their competition. One thing they noticed was many stations played the same top 40 hits over and over. They decided to "Do the opposite, not the obvious" and became the "Do Not Repeat After Me" station. They NEVER play the same song twice during working hours. By offering a refreshing alternative, they dramatically increased their fanbase.

A restaurant in Virginia wasn't drawing many people to their happy hour. Why? Dozens of establishments in a 3 mile radius were also offering happy hours.

Their smart restaurant manager noticed a customer had tied his dog up outside while he came in for a beer. Hmmm. Why not invite professionals to bring along their loyal pooches who had been cooped up all day while their owners were at work? The restaurant could give out dog buscuits and put out water bowls for Fido and Fifi so when people took their dog for a walk, they could both stop in for a cold one.

What to call this unique offering? Well, take Happy Hour (what I call a "Core Word") and run it through the alphabet. What do you come up with?

Yappy Hour!

Voila! That clever name tripled the restaurant's business and got them a front page story in the Washington Post. The article was then picked up by many newspapers around the country which means millions of people now know about this restaurant's unique offering -- all because the quick-thinking manager identified and capitalized on a POD by creating a clever name that catapulted his restaurant into the national spotlight.

Want to learn how you can identify your POD and catapult your organization or offering into the national spotlight? Buy "POP! stand out in any crowd to learn 25 specific ways to break out instead of blend in.

Also, visit www.SamHornPOP.com to see when I'll be speaking in your area. I'm in the middle of a 20 city media tour. Chances are, I'll be in your area soon. I would enjoy meeting you and having a chance to brainstorm an attention-grabbing title or tagline that helps you stand out from the crowd.

Thanks to the Boston Globe

2006-09-06T12:55:00.000-07:00

Thanks to Cecil Johnson of Mcclatchy Newspapers for his favorable review of POP! in the Sept. 3, 2006 edition of the Boston Globe. His review, entitled Get to the Point of Your Pitch starts off,

"In the movie `Kill Bill,' David Carradine (Bill) is about to bop Uma Thurman (Beatrix Kiddo) with the business edge of a samurai sword when Thurman whops Carradine in the chest and stops him in mid-backswing.

In that instant, Thurman achieves what business consultant, trainer, and public speaker Sam Horn calls, in her new book, "POP!'

Beatrix gets Bill's attention. He pauses long enough to ask, before he takes his last five steps and drops:

`Pai Mei taught you the five-point palm exploding heart technique?'

Well, of course, that venerable martial-arts misogynist taught Kiddo that heart-stopping trickery. And in her book, Horn, a language-arts and marketing maven, is endeavoring to hand off to readers a technique for marketing products or services they have to offer.

The review (which can be accessed FREE at www.boston.com/get_to_the_point_of_your_pitch_with_pop) ends with saying that POP! ' . . . shows how almost anyone can find tools on the Internet to learn how to radiate something approximating POP.'

Johnson is right. ANYONE can coin a memorable phrase that helps their pitch and priority project POP! out of the pack -- and it's in your best interests to do just that because it turns people into good will ambassadors for your offering.

Think about it. The movie Jerry Maguire coined four iconic phrases that were repeated ad infinitum around the water cooler, “Show me the money,” “Help me help you,” “You complete me,” and “You had me at hello.”

I bet you remember Jack Nicholson confessing "You make me want to be a better man" to Helen Hunt in As Good as It Gets. Do you also recall Jack Nicholson barking, “You can’t handle the truth” to Tom Cruise in A Few Good Men? And how about Clint Eastwood’s snarled warning, “Make my day” and Arnold Schwarzenegger’s promise, “I’ll be back.”

In POP!, this is called a Money Phrase because it puts money in your pocket. If people can’t repeat anything from your book, website, speech, or movie, how can they recommend it to others? If they can't remember your business name, how can they contact you? We forfeit profits if we don't intentionally craft a phrase that gets repeated.

Catchy phrases create a tell-a-friend phenomenon that translates into cash. People “hear” the buzz about your project by word of mouth (or word of mouse) and are motivated to try/buy what you have to offer.

What’s one of your favorite Money Phrases from a book or movie? Did you like “I wish I knew how to quit you” from Brokeback Mountain? How about “Where did we go right?” from The Producers? Can you think of a product name or business slogan that was so intriguing it prompted you to check them out?

Submit your favorites and I’ll feature the best in an upcoming blog. Want to learn how to produce your own money phrase? Visit www.SamHornPOP.com for FREE articles on how to coin pithy pitches that get your offering noticed, remembered, and bought.

Why Seth Godin is a Genius

2006-08-22T08:53:00.000-07:00

What a pleasure it is to see that Seth Godin has come out with yet another cutting-edge book.

You probably know Seth because he introduced the "ideavirus" concept and wrote a ground-breaking book Purple Cow – which offered a variety of pioneering ways to be outstanding in your field (so to speak).

His newest resource is Small is the New Big: and the 183 Other Riffs, Rants, and Remarkable Business Ideas (Portfolio).

One of this book's most valuable essays focuses on blogging . . . in particular, the importance of making sure your blog features “candor, urgency, timeliness, pithiness, controversy, and utility.”

In fact, Seth points out that “the best blogs walk a very fine line between civility and anarchy, between passion and privacy. The best blogs start conversations, they don’t control them.”

This insight really sat me back on my mental heels.

Up until now, I’ve tried to share useful information in my blog entries. I’ve noted what POP!d out in the news that particular week, why, and how you could apply that to your work.

Seth has opened my eyes.

That approach comes under the heading of controlling the conversation. That style of writing is more of a tutorial than a two-way discussion. His point is that people rather be involved than taught.

From now on, I will do my best to incorporate Seth’s suggestions. I will ask for input. I will be pithier (after all that is one of POP’s three prerequisites – to make messages Purposeful, Original, Pithy.) I will seek to stir debate.

How do you invite participation so your blog promotes two-way communication and creates an online community? How do you make your posts controversial or urgent? Are you an anarchist blogger? How so? Do you disagree with Seth? Why or why not?

I hope you buy Seth's new book and visit his blog, website, and internet forum Squidoo because they demonstrate his genius. Here are those links. Enjoy.

Seth's website: http://www.sethgodin.com/ (click on Seth’s head!)
Seth’s lens: http://www.squidoo.com/seth
Subscribe to Seth’s blog: http://feeds.feedburner.com/typepad/sethsmainblog
Buy Seth's book:

Is Your Slogan Memorable?

2006-07-28T10:50:00.000-07:00

An article in The July 18th issue of USA Today addressed an alarming statistic. In the last ten years, 500 children have been killed in their own driveways – by someone “backing over” them by mistake.

This article discussed pending legislation that would require new standards for rear visibility on all vehicles including larger rear-view mirrors and sensors that sound a warning beep when the car is backing up (much like garbage trucks use.)

Kudos to the Safe Kids Worldwide program for giving their public education campaign a concise, compelling slogan.

What is their memorable slogan? “Spot the Tot.”

Truman Capote said, “ I’ve known all my life that I could take a bunch of words and throw them up in the air and they would come down just right.”

Good for Capote. For most of us, coming up with the right title and tagline takes longer. It’s worth the effort though because when we take the time to craft our message into words that rhyme, our message will be remembered over time.

If I asked you to think of the two instinctive human responses to danger, you might dredge up something you first heard decades ago in school . . . “fight or flight.” Part of why that phrase is so memorable is because it condenses an entire concept into a tight sound-bite featuring two rhyming words.

Are you developing a slogan for your cause, campaign, or company? Experiment with your key words until they settle into a phrase that features words that rhyme. Doing so, (i.e., "Shop until you drop") will help your message get noticed and get remembered.

Want more ways to craft slogans that get your point across in memorable ways? Visit www.SamHorn.com for info about Sam’s upcoming book POP! Stand Out in any Crowd that provides 25 ways to develop Purposeful, Original, Pithy slogans that get your ideas and offerings the attention (and support and sales) they deserve.

Heard This Laugh-Out-Loud Song Title?

2006-07-02T17:12:00.000-07:00

I was listening to a jazz station on my way to play a round of golf with my buddies today, and caught the tail end of the name of a song they were about to play by Wynton Marsalis.

It instantly became my all-time favorite song title. Ready?

I Heard You Twice the First Time.

What a GREAT line.

Let’s analyze why it works so well.

1. It turns a common phrase on its head by replacing one of the core words with a substitute. You think you know where the title is going – and then it takes a verbal left turn. That’s the essence of humor. When we expect one thing and the communicator surprises us with something unexpected, it elicits an almost involuntary smile, chuckle, or guffaw

2. The substituted word is similar to the original word because it has also one syllable and a "long i." A verbal twist on a cliché works better when the new word sounds like the original word because there's a slight delay while we wonder, "Did I hear what I just heard?" When we discover we've been cleverly fooled, we are intellectually tickled.

3. Like good art, this line keeps revealing new layers the more we think about it. It has another “gotcha” by playing off the numbers twice and first. You can’t really hear someone twice the first time – however most of us “get” this anyway because most of us have been subjected to a long-winded monologue or a person who repeats everything they say.

4. This simple line also “says a lot in a little.” Comedian Steven Wright said, “My grandfather invented Cliff- Notes. It was in . .. well, to make a long story short.” This song title makes a l-o-n-g story short – 7 words to be exact – however we are eager to hear, as popular broadcaster Paul Harvey would say, “ . . . the rest of the story.”

That's the hallmark of a good title -- it gets your project's foot in your target audience's mental door and they can't wait to find out more.

What are some of your favorite song titles? They could be clever, laugh-out-loud funny, or evocative.

Submit them to this blog and I will feature the winner (with your permission) in an upcoming blog and give you a $50 gift certificate to be used for any of my books and CD’s at www.SamHorn.com

Why Do I Love USA Today?

2006-06-30T09:13:00.000-07:00

Why do I look forward to reading USA Today and the Washington Post?

Because of headlines like these.

Opened the newspaper to Friday's Destinations and Diversions section and there was a fascinating article about the annual BRAG race (Bike Ride Across Georgia) that has hundreds of bicycle riders traversing all 406 miles of the state.

The headline?

Georgia on their Behinds.

That’s one of the reasons I’m a USA Today and Washington Post junkie. My morning ritual is to take my dog, Murphy, out for a walk around the lake and then return to my favorite chair by the window, cup of coffee in one hand, morning papers in the other.

The reporters and editors at both of these newspapers are absolutely brilliant with their headlines. Not a day goes by, and that is not an exaggeration, that I don’t laugh out loud at some clever play on words.

For example, Washington Post ran a story by staff writer William Booth about director David Lynch, (he of Blue Velvet fame), who is presenting lectures on Transcendental Meditation at universities across the country. His material is based on the teachings of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, (the Beatles’ former guru). The headline of this article? Yogi Bearer.

Not to be outdone, business writer Steven Pearlstein wrote about the anxiety some A-types were feeling at the prospect of not having access to their Blackberries due to pending litigation. What was the title of his article that discussed the dangers of not protecting proprietary technology? Big Firms Caught With Their Patents Down.

That same issue of the Post featured a book review by Carolyn See about a biography written by Linda Bird Francke called On the Road with Francis of Assisi. The title of See’s review? A Saint for Sore Eyes.

A friend told me about a headline in the Wall Street Journal that caught her attention. The article described an interesting development in the airline industry. Rather than turning in their frequent flier miles for more flights (a win for the carriers), many customers are “hoarding” their miles in the hopes of exchanging them for high-dollar items such as flat panel TVs and diamond earrings. The name of the article? Now Hoarding.

You may be thinking, “It takes time to come up with creative titles. I'm busy enough as it is."

Ask yourself, “Is it worth a few minutes of my time to create a headline that stops people in their mental tracks and compels them to read my article, web copy, ad, report, or proposal? What's a writing project I'm working on right now? Does it have a title that will grab people's attention and motivate them to drop what they're doing and read my work?"

If so, great. If no, you might want to order my POP! CD series that teaches you how to develop attention-grabbing titles, taglines, and headlines at www.SamHorn.com.

Make the Familiar Fresh

2006-06-25T10:09:00.000-07:00

Coach Pat Riley is known for his suave, cool, metro-sexual demeanor. This week he also deserves “props” for making the familiar fresh.

Due to the ubiquitous nature of ESPN and every sport imaginable appearing on all the major networks, we have heard just about every sports cliché’ repeated ad infinitum.

“We’ve got to take it one game at a time.” “I couldn’t have done this on my
own. It was a team effort.” Been there, heard that.

This is why it was such a treat to hear Pat Riley’s response to a reporter’s question about the possibility of having to play a game 7 in the NBA Finals.

The Miami Heat, with stars Dwayne Wade and Shaquille O’Neal, were up 3-2 and headed to Dallas to play the Mavericks. If the Heat won this “away” game, they’d take the series. If they lost, they’d be forced to play a final game to determine the championship.

When asked about the possibility of a game 7, Riley wasn’t content to trot out a tired cliché. Instead, he said, “I packed one suit, one shirt and one tie.”

Brilliant. His creative, second level response made it quite clear to his team and everyone listening that he was supremely confident the Heat would win that night and take home the championship.

A second level response is when, instead of saying something obvious, you say something subtle that requires people to think about what you said in order to determine your meaning. It’s a way of engaging people’s brain instead of settling for a trite, on the surface response that has no intellectual depth.

Michael Jordan did the same thing when Chicago Bulls Coach Phil Jackson chided him during practice one day for not sharing the ball and passing to an open player. “You know, Michael,” he said, “There’s no I in team.”

With a twinkle in his eye, Jordan replied, “Yeah, but there is in win.”

Next time you’re asked a question, realize you have a choice. You could give a cliché’d response that will elicit internal eye-rolling. Or, you could pleasantly surprise people – and gain style points - by giving an unexpected, thought-provoking response.

For specific tips on how to compose thought-provoking, “second-level” responses, check out Chapter 7, “Don’t Repeat Cliché’s, Re-arrange Cliché’s” in Sam Horn's newest book, POP! Stand Out in Any Crowd (Perigee).

Ink It When You Think It

2006-06-11T09:21:00.000-07:00

I was watching CBS Sunday Morning (one of my favorite weekend rituals) and Billy Joel, composer of such classics as The Piano Man and New York State of Mind, was discussing how he “came up” with his lyrics and melodies.

He said he was designing a boat (something he does in his free time) and the lyrics, “In the middle of the night, I go walking in my sleep” kind of POP’d out. Then he thought, “Naw, that’s too simple” and rejected it.

He went to take a shower and couldn’t get the tune out of his mind. He wrote it down later that day and it eventually evolved into one of his 40 hit songs, river of dreams

If there’s anything I’ve learned in years of researching, writing, consulting and speaking on creativity, it’s that this is how our best thoughts occur. They POP! into our mind. And if we don’t write them down, they’re gone. Worse, if we allow that inner critic to kick in and tell us all the reasons this won’t work, we snuff out these sparks of genius.

From now on, pay attention to those sudden insights – what Ralph Waldo Emerson called, “the gleams of light which flash across the mind from within.” You may not know how or where this idea, lyric, or phrase fits into your work. Just trust that it will.

Our greatest minds from Mozart to Einstein have understood and honored the power of the “muse.” If they were gifted with a revelation, they knew it was their responsibility to write it down. Or what I call, “Muse it or lose it.”

I have been collecting quotes on creativity for years. Many are featured in my Write Here, Write Now perpetual calendar. They are eloquent attempts to articulate how ideas are “birthed” and built upon. Examples include:

“Often an idea would occur to me which seemed to have force. . . . I never let one of those ideas escape me, but wrote it on a scrap of paper and put it in a drawer. In that way, I saved my best thoughts on the subject, and, you know, such things often come in a kind of intuitive way more clearly than if one were to sit down and deliberately reason them out. To save the results of such mental action is true intellectual economy.” - Abraham Lincoln

“The song was there before me. I just sorta took it down with a pencil, but it was all there before I came around.” - Bob Dylan

“It often happens that things come into the mind in a more finished form than could have been achieved after much study.” - La Rochefoucauld

The Man Who Wouldn't Die

2006-06-08T19:35:00.000-07:00

Comedian Woody Allen said famously, “It’s not that I’m afraid to die, I just don’t want to be there when it happens.” Well, columnist Art Buchwald is “there” when it’s happening and he’s reporting from the front lines.

You can’t pick up a magazine (www.PEOPLE.com) or listen to a radio station (www.NPR.com) without reading or hearing an interview with this 80 year old Pulitzer-winning humorist who was told by his doctor 4 months ago that his kidney was failing and he only had a few weeks left to live.

Following this dire diagnosis and his decision to refuse further dialysis, he was moved to a hospice to go not so quietly into that good night.

Mr. Buchwald is still there, writing two syndicated columns a week, receiving friends ranging from Tom Brokaw and Maria Shriver to the French Ambassador for the U.S. who bestowed upon him France’s highest honor for arts and letters, and enjoying the cheesecakes, ice cream and other goodies sent by people who, in his words, “want to DO something for him.”

He even signed a book deal with Random House to chronicle his insights surrounding this unanticipated second chance at life. Its name? Stand By for Heaven: The Man Who Wouldn’t Die.

What made his story POP! out is not just its improbability and his savoring of every extra hour, it’s that he dares to address the “elephant in the room” subject of death honestly instead of verbally tip-toeing around it.

He talks frankly about what it’s like to think every moment could be your last. He talks about the absurdity of a few visitors who came to see him, only to complain how difficult it was to find a parking place on the crowded street outside the hospice (!) He has become, in his words, “a celebrity of death.”

I prefer to think of him as an emissary of death. Emissary is defined as “a representative sent on a mission or errand.” I think Art Buchwald is wisely using his platform of press attention to remind us that most of us won’t get a second chance. He’s filling every bonus day with what matters most so he has no regrets. Carly Simon had agreed to sing at his memorial on Martha’s Vineyard. Mr. Buchwald is traveling there in early July, and Carly has agreed to sing for him upon his arrival. As he said, “I’m sure I’ll enjoy her singing ‘All the Familiar Places’ more now than I would if she’d sung at my funeral.”

What’s this got to do with you? If you have only one chance at reaching people, what message do you want to get across? Is there a forbidden or sensitive aspect of your issue? How could you be the bold emissary who addresses it instead of dancing around it?

Get FIRED Up!

2006-05-31T18:18:00.000-07:00

A book was reviewed in the Washington Post on Sunday, May 28 that had a perfect POP! title and sub-title.

First, the back story. A woman named Annabelle Gurwitch was rather spectacularly booted off a movie set by director Woody Allen. He told her, "What you're doing is terrible, none of it good, and all of it bad."

Instead of licking her wounds and spiraling into depression, she told friends what happened, many of whom then shared their "You think that's bad, wait 'til I tell you how I got canned from my job" story.

She started collecting these tales of workplace rejection and thought,"This would make an interesting book." Voila. She solicited first-person accounts from dozens of people and turned what could have been a traumatic incident into a money-making career and cottage industry with a documentary in the works.

Now, what to call her book? Think of all the synonyms for being "let go" and let the word play begin. That resulted in FIRED! Tales of the Canned, Canceled, Downsized, and Dismissed.

What's the point? If you're trying to come up with a name for your book, project, or presentation, write down all the words you use when describing your topic. Then write down synonyms for the words you've already listed. See if there is ONE word that captures the essence of your subject. When it comes to titles, less is more. A one word title is more likely to POP! off the page.

Then, play with the words in your sub-title until they're alliterative. Alliteration (words that start with the same sound) makes your language lyrical and gives people's mind a hook on which to hang a mmemory.

Want more tips on how to create titles and taglines that help your project break out instead of blend in? Sam will be conducting workshops in 15 cities across the country from September-October as part of the media tour for her new book POP! Stand Out in Any Crowd. Check www.SamHorn.com for a complete public seminar/media schedule to see if Sam will be coming to your area.

What POP'd Out at Book Expo?

2006-05-23T16:47:00.000-07:00

What a way to start out a day -- sharing breakfast with Senator Barack Obama, funny lady Amy Sedaris, and noted novelist John Updike. Well, me and 1000 other Book Expo attendees.

BEA is the annual publishing extravaganza held every May that draws tens of thousands of agents, editors, publishers, and authors from around the world. Walk down the halls and, at any given moment, you could encounter Pulitzer Prize winning humorist Dave Barry or Dr. Ruth Westheimer (all 4’10” of her) pitching their Fall books.

What really stood out for me were the stirring words of John Updike who rose to the defense of good old-fashioned books you can hold in your hands . . . vs. the “electronic anteater” also known as the internet. He praised booksellers for continuing to operate brick and mortar stores that are “citadels of literacy in the neighborhoods in which they live.”

He said memorably, “Books have edges. Sometimes hard edges, sometimes soft edges, and it up to authors and booksellers everywhere to defend those edges.” I had an opportunity to talk briefly with Updike afterwards and he said that phrase and image had come to him the night before as he was searching for a way to wrap up his speech.

Which brings me to my two points.

1. Whenever we take the stage, whether it is for 3 minutes or 30, it is our obligation to say something thought-provoking that adds value to the people in the audience. Too many speakers, when giving a platform, run through a laundry list of thanks (think the Oscars) or invest little time in thinking what they could say that is intriguing and insightful. Updike honored his audience by spending time composing a message that was relevant and timely to everyone in the room. Kudos.

2. Saul Bellow said, “I never had to change a word of what I got up in the middle of the night to write.” Updike knew, as soon as those words “came to him,” that they were a gift. He immediately wrote them down and planned where and how he could include them for maximum impact.

When are you speaking before a group next? Whether it is to employees and colleagues at your weekly staff meeting or to a group of professional peers at a Chamber of Commerce function; take the time to construct a message that will pleasantly surprise your audience with its originality and topicality. Keep your antenna up for that strike of creative lightning that "occurs" to you. If it stops you in your mental tracks, it will probably stop others in their mental tracks.

Promise yourself you will not get up to speak until you have at least one thing to say that is fresh, useful, or potentially profound. Your audience will thank you for it and your reputation will benefit from it. Sam Horn samhorn.com

Increase Your LIKE-Ability

2006-05-08T09:31:00.000-07:00

I saw an ad in USA Today this morning for The TRADE Show (Travel Retailing and Destination Expo) to be held in Orlando September 10-12, 2006.

You may ask, “What’s that?”

Good question. When introduced to things new, we often don’t have a clue as to what they do.

The TRADE Show ad solved that problem by featuring a headline surrounded by white space that said, “IT’S LIKE a giant supermarket for vacation ideas.”

Aahh! I went from confusion to clarity in a second because the ad linked its unknown offering to something with which I was familiar and fond.

Are you marketing a new product or service? Are you pitching a new idea or championing a cause? If you’re worried that people won’t understand what you’re saying or selling, ask yourself “What is it LIKE?” and compare it to something your target audience regularly uses.

I came up with this Increase Your LIKE-Ability Technique while on a speaking tour in Denver, Colorado with my teen-aged sons. We had a night free so I asked our hotel concierge to suggest a fun outing. He took one look at Tom and Andrew and said, “You’ve got to go to D & B’s.”

We were from Maui at the time and had no idea what he was talking about. I asked, “What’s D & B’s?”

Instead of explaining it stood for “Dave and Buster’s” which wouldn’t have cleared up our confusion, he grinned and said, “IT’S LIKE . . . a Chuckie Cheese for adults.”

Perfect! Seven words and we understood what it was and wanted to go there. By linking something we didn’t know with something we knew and liked, he “told and sold” that place in one succinct sound-bite. They should have put him on commission.

Barbara Walters said, “There are few times in your life when it isn’t too melodramatic to say your destiny hangs on the impression you make.”

When people first hear or read about your offering, what type of impression does it make? If they don’t instantly “get” it, they won’t want it.

Ask yourself, “What is my idea or invention LIKE? How is it similar to something people frequently use?" For more ideas on how to compellingly describe your offering so people like it and are motivated to try it and buy it, visit www.SamHorn.com

Freakonomics Added to POP! Hall of Fame

2006-04-21T07:16:00.000-07:00

The cover of the brilliant book Freakonomics proves that a picture can indeed be worth a thousand words. This book by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner not only won the 2005 Quills Book Awards for Business, I’m nominating it for the POP! Hall of Fame for the following reasons.

1. The pithy one-word title is a compelling example of how you can Alphabetize a Core Word, (economics) to coin a new term and a one-of-a-kind brand name that belongs only to you.(This technique is introduced in Chapter 3)

2. The sub-title “A Rogue Economist Explains the Hidden Side of Everything” is purposeful in that it promises to reveal secrets which favorably positions the book with its target audience of executives and business book buyers who have “seen it all.” (Chapter 2)

3. Their ads feature a marvelous “Valley Girl” endorsement from the Wall Street Journal that says, “If Indiana Jones were an economist, he’d be Steven D. Levitt.” That comparison linking the professor/author to movie actor/celebrity Harrison Ford broadens the topic’s appeal, turning it into a cross-over book that’s attracted mainstream readers who wouldn’t normally be interested in this subject. (Chapter 5)

4. The authors pose such fascinating “POP the Question” inquiries as “How is a beauty pageant like a crack dealer? What do school teachers and sumo wrestlers have in common?” Aren’t you intrigued? Phrasing these unexpected comparisons into questions engages our curiosity. (Chapter 13.)

5. The book cover “AFLACs” its premise, “Things are often different than they appear” by showing a crisp green apple with a slice cut out and you clearly see the inside of the apple is a juicy . . . orange. This made their abstract concept concrete. This startling image has become an identifiable visual brand that is now associated with their work. (Chapter 8)

6. Furthermore, this visual contradiction is an excellent example of Contra-brand (Chapter 10) in which they challenge a common assumption, in this case, the belief that you can’t compare apples and oranges. They just did! Kudos.

POP! Stand Out in any Crowd will be published by Perigee (Penguin Putnam) in Sept. '06. You can access these techniques before then by visiting www.SamHorn.com to buy the 3 hour CD series or by calling 805 528-4351 to schedule Sam to deliver her fun and fascintaing keynote on this original topic to your organization.

Need a Sound-Bite Slogan?

2006-04-11T07:19:00.000-07:00

Hmmm . . . so what POP’d out this week?

I was looking through the movie ads for something interesting to see this weekend. What caught my eye was the slogan for the bank robbery film “The Inside Man” starring Denzel Washington, Jodie Foster, and Clive Owen.

The slogan? “You can’t judge a crime by its cover.”

Kudos. They used a clever twist on a cliché to produce an intriguing sound-bite slogan.

We all need a succinct summary that communicates what we have to offer in a way that anyone hearing or reading it “gets” it and “wants” it.

Wherever we go, we’re asked, “Why should I buy this?” Or, “What do you do?” It’s important to develop an intriguing elevator intro (I never call them elevator speeches – who wants to listen to a speech?) so we can quickly and compellingly articulate the essence of our work so people are motivated to try it and buy it.

Want to know an easy way to come up with an interesting elevator intro?

Write down 5-10 words you use to describe different aspects of your offering -- whether that is a service, book, movie, idea, or invention. For example, if you own a dog-obedience business, you might write down dog, canine, puppy, heel, sit, leash, lie down, train, obey, etc.

Then, go to your computer and bring up www.ClicheSite.com. Type in your descriptive words, one at a time. Up will come a variety of clichés containing your Core Words, (what these are called in the POP! Process). For example, when you enter "dog," you'll find such high-potential phrases as "Every dog has its day," "Let sleeping dogs lie," "Call off the dogs," "That dog won't hunt," and "You can't teach an old dog new tricks."

Let the word play begin. You don’t want to repeat cliché’s (boring), you want to re-arrange them so you have a fresh tagline that delights people because of its novelty. For example, your slogan could be, “You CAN teach new dogs old tricks.”

Want more examples? Humorist Loretta Laroche titled her new book, “Squeeze the Day: 365 Ways to Bring Joy and Juice into Your Life.” Dallas-based speaker Michael David Hoffman presents a program for salespeople called “You Lost Me at Hello.” A financial advisor has a business motto of, “Grow me the money.” See how this works?

To learn how to re-arrange clichés to come up with your own appealing elevator intro or sound-bite slogan, visit www.SamHorn.com for info on Sam’s three hour POP! Stand Out in any Crowd CD series.

George Mason Coach is a Genius with Words

2006-03-30T07:29:00.000-08:00

If you're a Final Four fan, you're already familiar with the "Cinder-fella" story of this so-called "commuter college" basketball team beating fomer NCAA champs and #1 ranked UConn to make the semi-finals of this year's college basketball tournament to be held in Indianapolis on Saturday night.

Their unlikely win captured everyone's attention because people love David-beats-Goliath stories of underdogs toppling giants against all odds.

What has POP'd out of this story for me though is not just the sheer joy of these "overlooked" players and their rabid fans going to the Big Dance . . . it's Coach Jim Larranaga's ability to say the right thing at the right time.

A clip on ESPN showed him prepping his players for this weekend's matchup. He told them, "I don't want to hear anything that's not positive coming out of your mouth."

This is a coach who practices what he preaches. When UConn came back in the final seconds to tie the game and force it into overtime, George Mason's players could have lost hope. Their coach could have yelled at them for blowing their lead and chastised them for losing concentration in the final minute.

Instead, Larranaga gathered them in a huddle and said, "Fellas,I want to tell you one thing. There's no place I'd rather be right now than here with you guys playing this game. You lapsed on defense for five seconds, so now we have to beat Connecticut for another five minutes."

The George Mason players promptly went out and did just that.

Why? Because their coach focussed their attention on their DESIRED behavior vs. their DREADED behavior.

My ConZentrate book points out that the mind is literal and does what it's told. Instead of registering conceptual, contradictory words such as "Stop" or "Don't," it cherry-picks and zooms in on words that conjure up images. It can't register the opposite of an idea; it imprints and produces what it "hears."

What does this mean for you? When golfers tell themselves, "Don't hit it in the lake," guess what the mind hears? Right, "Hit it in the lake." When tennis players tell themselves to "Stop hitting off your back foot," guess what they're focusing on? When a coach tells his or her players, "Don't choke," what mental image is planted in their mind?

Yet, before every Super Bowl, you see NFL coaches claiming solemnly, "We can't afford any turnovers. I've told the team, 'No fumbles.'" Yikes.

As we move into spring and many of us head for the links, courts, diamond, pool, or playing field, keep this in mind. Tell yourself and your players what you WANT to do vs. what you DON'T want to do. Use words that focus your mind on your DESIRED vs. DREADED performance and you and your team are much more likely to play your best.

Like to learn how to set up the peak performance state of flow called ConZONEtration? Visit www.SamHorn.com to buy an autographed copy of ConZentrate. Billie Jean King said it's, "full of practical advice on how to gain the mental edge so you can fulfill your potential and perform your best."

Invent a Trademark-able Term to "Own" a Topic

2006-03-15T08:35:00.000-08:00

So, I'm in Toronto to present POP! to the Canadian Association of Professional Speakers and I'm reading the local newspaper.

What POP!'d out? An article featuring an invented word that names a cultural phenomenon that's getting a lot of press and that was part of the plot of the #1 rated movie this past weekend, "Failure to Launch."

The trend is that thousands (millions?!) of 20-somethings are returning home to live with their parents. There are a lot of reasons for this -- including that many can't afford to live in the style to which they've become accustomed and their moms still do laundry and cook hot meals.

The problem is, there are many "topic experts" about these "boomerang" kids. Boomerang is too generic a word to "own." If you're an infopreneur, you don't want to be one-of-many, you want to be one-of-a-kind. When you're one-of-a-kind, there is no competition.

Ian Pierpoint achieved just that by coining a Half & Half word that combined the yin-yang aspects of these 20-somethings. They're half adults and half adolescents. They're ADULTESCENTS!

Voila! When you invent a new word, you don't just have a clever title; you have a trademark-able term that is yours and yours alone. You can now build a buisness empire that generates income for years to come. You can license people to teach your proprietary methodology. The media will seek you out for interviews because you've pioneered a unique approach to a ubiquitous topic.

For more information on how to go to the head of your class by inventing a trademark-able Half & Half term, buy Sam's 3 hour POP! CD series at www.SamHorn.com.

Who POP!'d Out at the Oscars -- and Why

2006-03-08T06:49:00.000-08:00

The most notable person at this year's Academy Awards was not super suave Best Supporing Actor winner George Clooney - this generation's Cary Grant. Neither was it lovely Keira Knightley - stunning in her burgundy Vera Wang gown. It wasn't even Best Actress winner Reese Witherspoon's "I just want to matter" acceptance speech.

It was self-deprecating, first-time Emcee Jon Stewart, he of TV's Daily Show fame.

Stewart anticipated the "Prove yourself to me" attitude of the in-house and at-home audience and mocked his supposed last-choice status with an amusing opening montage with former hosts bowing out of Master of Ceremonies duties, e.g., Billy Crystal and Chris Rock in a pup tent (shades of Brokeback Mountain) saying they were "busy right now."

He then cemented his "just glad to be here" approach by skewering himself with, "Tonight is the night we celebrate excellence in film, with me, the fourth male lead from Death to Smoochy."

This was a classic "poke fun at yourself before other people do" gambit that accomplished its purpose of winning over the audience.

What's that got to do with you?

Will you be speaking to a group that is questioning your credentials? Are you hosting an event in which the audience is likely to have their mental arms crossed?

Instead of taking umbrage at their lack of respect, it can be smarter to show humility and a lack of hubris.

Spoofing yourself is a time-honored way to neutralize objections. It has worked for everyone from Ronald Reagan ("I will not make age an issue of this campaign. I will not exploit for political purposes my opponent's relative youth and inexperience") to Ben Affleck (anticipating the ribbing he'd receive for his recent "Bennifer" breakup with Jennifer Lopez, he started his Saturday Night Live appearance by holding up t-shirts with possible new love matches including BOprah and Benyonce'.)

Art Buchwald said, "I learned early in life that when I made people laugh, they liked me. This is a lesson I will never forget."

Wise man. Next time you face a resistant group, show you have a sense of humor about yourself, and audience members will be more likely to laugh with you rather than at you.

Want specific Fun Fu! responses you can use to defuse tense situations? Visit wwww.SamHorn.com and check out Chapter 2 of Sam's Tongue Fu! book (St. Martins Press) to discover how you can handle hassles with humor rather than harsh words.

Who Was the "Real" Winner at Torino?

2006-02-27T22:05:00.000-08:00

As the 2006 Winter Olympics wrap up, let’s review what caught our favorable attention and why.

Suffice it to say, it wasn’t any of the pre-selected celebrities (think Bode Miller) who didn’t perform to their potential or “gold-medal” script.

What really broke out was the refreshing USA Network TV program, Olympic Ice, a breezy, irreverent show in which host Mary Carillo didn’t take herself or the sport too seriously.

Rather than showing formulaic, sappy profiles (set to sentimental music) of the hardships endured by the individual athletes, Carillo and her guest experts shared amusing, honest, no-holds-barred commentary on the pitfalls and pratfalls happening on and around the rink.

What can we learn from this?

The public is yearning for “real” people who tell the truth, love their work and dare to be in the moment. We relate to them more than the slick, unemotional hosts delivering pre-polished sound-bites from a tele-prompter.

Keep this in mind the next time you speak at a conference, emcee an event, or are interviewed on TV. Delivering a perfect speech is not what wins buy-in.

Robert Frost said, “No tears in the writer, no tears in the reader.” Paraphrase that to say, “No enjoyment in the speaker, no enjoyment in the listeners.”

What do you want your audience members to feel? If you want them to be engaged, you need to be engaged. If you want them to care deeply about your topic or cause, you need to care deeply about your topic or cause.

What will help you POP! out of the plethora of speakers, emcees, and media guests, is to feel passionately about what you’re trying to say or convey. What will make a lasting positive impression is for you to connect with your audience – rather than speak at them.

For other tips on how you and your message can stand out in any crowd, visit www.SamHorn.com for a free article and to find out when Sam will be speaking in your area.

Who’s Standing Out on American Idol & Why That Matters to You

2006-02-24T08:53:00.000-08:00

On the first “elimination” show of this season’s American Idol on FOX, a talented singer named Patrick was surprisingly voted off the show.

Why?

As Simon Cowell explained in his typical cut-to-the-chase style, “You have a good voice and you’re a nice guy. You just didn’t do the one thing necessary to go through to the next round. You didn’t stand out from the crowd.”

Yet another reminder that “Talent is important; it is not enough.”

Whether you’re applying for a job, running for office, or competing for a contract, it’s important to remember that credentials will only get you so far.

How are you POPing out of the pack? How are you memorable? What are you saying or offering that no one else is? How are you giving decision-makers a compelling reason to select you over the other choices?

The premise of my presentations on POP! Stand Out In Any Crowd is that it is our responsibility to clearly, concisely, and compellingly differentiate ourselves from competitors.

Marilynn Mobley, author of the excellent www.remainrelevant.blogspot.com, sends me items that POP! out in her search for organizations that are keeping themselves visible and commercially viable. A recent example is a Disney-sponsored community service program. There are thousands of volunteer groups. How could Disney make theirs unique? Call it VoluntEARS.

That’s a great example of POP! This “stand out in any crowd” name is:

Purposeful - It plays off and reinforces their brand icon of Mickey Mouse.
Original - No one else calls their community service program this.
Pithy - It is succinct and easy to repeat which means it’s easy to remember.

I’m nominating VoluntEARS to the 2006 POP! Hall of Fame.

Do you have a business slogan that is Purposeful, Original, and Pithy? Do you have an elevator introduction that gets you noticed and remembered? Have you given your product a name that helps it POP! off the shelf?

Submit it to me here or at www.SamHorn.com and you could be featured in an upcoming blog entry and nominated to the 2006 POP Hall of Fame.

Valentine's Day? Bah, Humbug!

2006-02-13T17:43:00.000-08:00

A primary premise of POP! is, “Don’t state the obvious; state the opposite.”

What’s that got to do with Valentine’s Day? When considering retail and media opportunities, ask yourself, “What’s normal about how people approach and celebrate this holiday? How can I be (positively) ab-normal?”

Most stores, newspaper columns, web-sites and TV shows are focusing on how people can make this day as romantic as possible with their loved one.

What about all the people who don’t have a loved one?

As reported by Olivia Barker in the Feb. 13 issue of USA Today, Valentine’s Day is the third biggest gift-giving holiday, (after Christmas and Mother’s Day). Smart entrepreneurs and organizations are keeping that in mind and capitalizing on the vast market of singles who may be spending the day alone.

For example, there’s a “snarky” Valentine e-card with the punch-line “Valentine bites” available at www.americangreetings.com. Those going solo can indulge in bittersweet “commiseration candies” imprinted with “Table for 1” and “I don’t care.” Available from www.despair.com

Perhaps you have a friend who’d appreciate the “Cupid can’t aim” t-shirt from www.LegalMatch.com, or the “Love is a Bear” teddy bear that proclaims “Love stinks” and “My girlfriends are more fun” at Hallmark stores.

In my 3-part POP! CD series available from www.SamHorn.com, we call this The Contrabrand Technique. It suggests that one of the best ways to differentiate yourself in a saturated marketplace is to ask, “How can I be counter-intuitive? What could I say that flies in the face of current wisdom? How can I introduce a product or idea that swims against the tide?”

Steven Johnson wrote a book called "Everything Bad is Good for You" in which he says video games are actually healthy for teens because they provide a cognitive workout that increases motor control. His “Say what?!” claim earned him a lengthy article in The Washington Post in which he freely admits, “If this makes people mad; it’s achieved its goal. I could have written a more balanced book, but that’s the kind of book nobody listens to.”

I’m not suggesting you state falsehoods or be deliberately sensationalistic. I am suggesting that if you’re following the crowd and saying/doing what everyone else is, you will blend in instead of break out. Look at your project, process, proposal, or product. Where can you challenge the norm? (www.samhorn.com)

What POP!'d Out at the 2006 Super Bowl?

2006-02-06T17:54:00.000-08:00

My original plan was to select the best ads of Super Bowl Sunday and explain why they stood out. Really. That was my intent. Then I watched the game.

I took notes on all 60 plus commercials. I waited, pen poised, for the winner that would break out of the dreck. It never happened. What I saw were really expensive ads ($2.5 million for 30 seconds) that fell flat or were flat out offensive. Some were confusing or mildly amusing -- but had no point.

Oh well. As Groucho Marx said, “We should learn from the mistakes of others; we don’t have time to make them all ourselves.”

So, I’ll point out one commercial that has already reportedly achieved its purpose (one of the prerequisites of a POP! marketing message – Purposeful, Original, and Pithy), then I’ll dissect what went wrong with the others and show how you can avoid making those same mistakes with your business.

A Dove ad showed young women expressing shame about their body. The “ethnically correct” spot showed a variety of wistful girls sharing their desire to be thinner, prettier, even blonde. The ad ended with a website viewers could visit to learn more about Dove’s innovative efforts to help women feel proud of and grateful for their body, regardless of color, size or shape.

USA Today reported 7,000 people logged on to www.campaignforrealbeauty.com within ten minutes of the ad being shown. Those are tangible results.

What was your favorite ad? Did “The Magic Fridge is back!” ad make you laugh out loud? Did the shorn sheep “streaker” get a giggle? Did the ad featuring the mom and daughter arriving at the hospital room right when the intern with the shock paddles announced “That killed him” shock you?

Quick. Who were the sponsors of those ads? Were you moved to take any action as a result of seeing those ads? Will you check out their website? Buy their product? Do you even know the name of the product that was featured?

Simply said, if people see your ad and can’t remember your name, that ad has failed. How can they find your product in the store? How can they refer your business to a colleague? How will they locate you on the web?

One way to create a memorable marketing message is to place your name in your slogan so it’s imprinted in peoples’ brain every time it’s read or said. For example, fill in the blank, “I wish I were an _______ _________ weiner.” Did you say, “Oscar Meyer” even though you may not have heard that jingle in years? Now that’s a purposeful, high-payoff slogan that POP!s.

Check back Thursday for more Super Bowl ad lessons-learned. (www.samhornpop.com)

What's the Best Super Bowl Ad of all Time -- and Why?

2006-02-05T09:16:00.000-08:00

Pop of Mind #1: What’s the Best Super Bowl Ad of All Time – and Why?

A quick introduction to explain who I am and the purpose of this blog. I’m the author of Tongue Fu! (St. Martins Press) and the upcoming book POP! Stand Out In Any Crowd (Perigee, Sept. ’06).

I’m also the 14-time Emcee of the world-renowned Maui Writers Conference, a consultant and award-winning speaker with a 20 year track record of helping individuals and organizations break out instead of blend in.

Twice a week, I study the top newspapers, magazines, and TV shows to see what POP’s out. I then write about it in this brief blog, explaining why it POP’d and how you can use that to help your offering get noticed, get bought.

The premise of POP! is that you need Purposeful, Original, Pithy marketing messages to stand out in today’s saturated, time-starved society.

The good news is, you don’t have to spend millions of dollars or hire a branding company to develop an attention-getting title or tagline that gets your idea or invention the support and sales it deserves. As 4-time Pulitzer nominee Fawn Germer says, “You don’t have to be a creative genius to use Sam’s techniques, but using her techniques can make you a creative genius.”

So, what’s the best NFL Super Bowl commercial of all time? I select Coca-Cola’s classic ad featuring football player “Mean Joe” Greene. Why? It memorably and favorably imprints the sponsoring product by telling a “roller-coaster” story in less than 60 seconds.

A “roller-coaster” story takes us for a ride and delivers a satisfying emotional pay-off. The ad shows an exhausted, mud-covered “Mean Joe” limping down the tunnel after a game. An innocent-faced boy calls his name. “Mean Joe” glowers. The boy offers his Coca-Cola. Joe pauses, takes it, glugs it down, starts walking back to the locker room. Dejected, the boy begins to leave. Suddenly, Joe turns back, says “Hey kid,” and throws his jersey to him. The kid brightens in wonderment and says a heartfelt “Gee, thanks Joe.” The ad ends with “Mean Joe” flashing a huge smile, holding the bottle of Coke.

“Roller coaster” stories take us on the classic Hero’s Journey, as described by Joseph Campbell. The protagonist leaves home, goes out in the world, encounters a challenge, triumphs, and returns home victorious.

Does your marketing message, ad, article, web copy, or sales presentation take people on an emotional roller-coaster ride? If so, good for you. If not, include a meaningful “before and after” story that engages your target audience.

Check this blog on Monday, Feb. 6 when I’ll explain which TV ad POP’d out of the 2006 Super Bowl – and how you can apply that insight to your project.