Sam Horn - POP! Stand Out in any Crowd

“I plan on living forever. So far, so good.”

Did that coffee mug slogan cause you to smile?

That’s what it’s supposed to do.

Smart marketers know one of the best ways to get a sale is to get a smile. When customers find something amusing, they find it appealing. And when they find something appealing, they’re often motivated to buy it.

The following ads from the past week have ALL brought a smile to my face. Hopefully they’ll bring a smile to yours and prove my point that creating a slogan that elicits a smile is one of the best ways to make your message “stick and sell.”

1. A half-page ad in USA Today for the World Golf Championship in Doral, Florida featured a HUGE picture of the masterful Tiger Woods with this smile-inducing slogan, “The bigger the fish, the badder the pond.”

2. Another half-page ad in USA Todayfor Amtrak’s National Train Day on May 10th says “Get Your Choo-Choo On.”

3. AT& T invites you to stay connected to NCAA’s March Madness with a full page ad in USA Today showing people wearing their favorite college basketball team jersey. The slogan says, “Don we Now Our Game Apparel.”

Now, those aren’t hilarious, but they’re not serious either. Serious = boring.

Do you have something to sell? Run your marketing message by several people and watch their face. If they look confused or their face stays blank, it needs more humor. If their eyes light up and the edges of their mouth curl up, you’re on the right track.

Want more ways to create marketing messages that “stick and sell“?

Visit www.SamHorn.com for info on my one-day POP! Your Business, Book and Brand workshop at Washington DC’s historical National Press Club.

Every year, the Global Language Monitor runs a HollyWORD survey to identify the top ten memorable phrases from movies.

This year’s winners?

#3. George Clooney’s line from Michael Clayton: “I’m not the guy you kill; I’m the guy you buy off.”

#2. Daniel Day-Lewis’ snarl from There Will Be Blood: “I drink your milkshake.”

And the top spot goes to Javier Bardem’s coin-flipping catchphrase “Call it, Friendo” from No Country for Old Men.

Are you thinking, “Big deal.”

Actually, it IS a big deal.

As Hollywood director Garry Marshall (Pretty Woman) said in his keynote for Maui Writers Conference (www.MauiWriters.com ), “Film directors know that if people walk out of your movie repeating a phrase they heard, that movie will make money.”

Why? It means audience members are taking the movie home with them. They’re talking about it around the water-cooler, in the office, to their friends; which means they are serving as free viral marketers and word-of-mouth advertisers for you.

What are some famous movie money phrases you can repeat word-for-word? I’m guessing you still remember:

Jack Nicholsen - “You can’t handle the truth.”

Arnold “the Governator” Schwarzenegger - “I’ll be back.”

Clint Eastwood - “Make my day.”

Tom Cruise in Jerry Maguire - “You had me at hello.”

“Here’s looking at you, kid” from Casablanca.

The fact that you still remember those phrases means those movies have “legs.” Of all the thousands of films made in the past few decades, they’re the ones still being talked about. They’re the ones that live on.

What’s that mean for you?

When you speak, do audience members walk out repeating something you said, telling others about an idea you introduced? When people finish reading your article, book or blog, can they repeat an insight you made, a suggestion you shared? After hearing your song or seeing your commercial, can they repeat your catchphrase, word-for-word?

If not, everything you said or wrote just disappeared. People might as well not have heard it, seen it or read it. Because if they can’t remember it, what good is it?

Want to know how to create a money phrase that gets your message repeated and remembered? Want to know how to create headlines that get your articles read - titles that get your books bought - slogans that get your cause funded - brands that position you as as top-of-mind?

Sign up for my POP! Your Business, Book and Brand workshop at Washington DC’s historical National Press Club on April 25th. Invest in a day to develop Purposeful, Original, Pithy money phrases that get you and your priority projects noticed, remembered and bought.

Email us at Carey@SamHorn.com for a description of the workshop, a registration application, and to receive a free article with 3 Ways to Create a Money Phrase that Pays.

I had an opportunity last week to Emcee a conference at Microsoft and to deliver the opening keynote. There were more than 150 high-level female managers from Oracle, KPMG, Intel, Hewlett-Packard, Wells Fargo, Semantech, Deloitte, etc.

The topic was CLOUT! Power, Influence and Authority for Women Leaders. Based on interviews with executives across the country, I shared 10 Behaviors that Undermine Clout — and 10 Behaviors that Add Clout.

One of the points was the power of lightening up instead of tightening up.

Many of the male decision-makers I talked with told me they feel women in upper ranks tend to take themselves too seriously. Perhaps they’re so intent on proving themselves, they lose their ability to take a a joke.

I illustrated the advantage of rolling with the punch-lines rather than taking offense with the following example.

Have you seen the movie Charlie Wilson’s War with Tom Hanks and Julia Roberts?

Charlie Wilson was a Texas legislator. As a Washington Post article revelaed, Wilson arrived in Congress with his cowboy boots and big booming laugh. He soon met another freshman Democrat — Colorado feminist Patricia Schroeder — and sent her a gift. She opened it and found a picture in a pink frame which showed a tombstone that read “Wife of Davy Crockett.” He had included a note that read: “In Texas, we don’t even let women use their first name on their tombstones.”

Schroeder thought, ‘Who IS this Neanderthal?” and stormed into his office to give him a piece of her mind. The second he saw her march in, Wilson burst out laughing. She realized, “He’s spent his whole life figuring out how to pull people’s chains — and now he’s pulling mine.”

She started laughing too and they became fast friends. After that he called this high-profile feminist “Baby cakes” - except on formal occasions, when he addressed her as “Congressman Babycakes.”

Pearl S. Buck said, “Perhaps one has to become very old before one learns how to be amused rather than offended.”

Why wait?

If someone is trying to “get your goat,” it’s in your best interest to give as good as you get. Come up with a come-back so people can’t push your hot buttons. Once you demonstrate you have the ability to take a joke, people will laugh with you rather than at you.