With the 10th Breakthrough Advertising Bootcamp beginning this week, I went to the “Wayback Machine” (not the one that “Explores more than one trillion web pages saved over time”) …but the Wayback Machine called my blog archive.
My blogs do go way back—12 and-a-half years– but 500+ blog posts (with lots of repetition with purpose) are less than a trillion by my calculation.
Sorry I haven’t been around long enough to write a trillion…yet. 😊
The first year I began writing these Sunday missives—2014—I had no idea where they would lead.
All I knew was that I had over three decades of cumulative experiences that needed to be shared.
One thing they did lead to was writing two books.
So, there’s that.
But having the exclusive rights to the greatest book ever written about copywriting, marketing and human behavior was only a gleam in my eye “way back then”…although one of my first posts was about that book and its author.
I’m sharing an updated version of that post with you below…one of my favorite stories about that illustrious author.
And…twelve years later that gleam has become reality.
It’s not only about having the publishing rights…it’s that I’ve been able to create a global franchise (appropriate hyperbole)…which I am very proud of. More on that in the P.S.
Exposing an entirely new generation to Breakthrough Advertising (and Gene Schwartz) …while at the same time, reintroducing an entire industry to a lost classic…with training to boot…has been the privilege of a lifetime.
The rest of this post is an update from my Wayback Machine.
I was blessed to know Gene Schwartz…and not just casually, either.
Gene was my friend, mentor and business partner…and I learned so many lessons from him.
Those of you who don’t know who I am talking about, Eugene “Gene” Schwartz was one of the most successful and prolific direct response copywriters who ever lived.
His classic book, Breakthrough Advertising may be the most important book ever written on copy and creative.
Not to mention his other lost classic, The Brilliance Breakthrough (which I also have the exclusive rights to) …but that’s a topic for another day.
Breakthrough Advertising was important enough for Marty Edelston and I to re-publish it as a “Boardroom Book” (Boardroom Inc. was the company Marty founded in 1972 which I helped build with him) …when we saw a live bid on eBay for an out-of-print copy at $950.
But it is ironic that we decided to only print small batches of copies (no more than 250 at a time) …not to sell but to share freely with family and friends within the direct marketing industry…while we were running a $100 million company, half of which was book sales.
Ironic or stupid? 🙁
I guess we wanted to share Gene’s brilliance—not sell it—figuring all boats rise once applied.
And decades later, that is exactly what has happened.
I’m playing the same game today although I am selling the book now. 😊
Whether we left money on the table or not, it made us feel good (which has value too).
Anyway…
Calling it a book about “copy and creative” does it a disservice… it is the most timeless book ever written on human behavior as well.
The fact that not one word has been changed from its 1966 version proves that point.
Gene passed away in 1995.
The number of people alive today who worked closely with Gene and can teach what he taught from firsthand experience, you can probably count on one hand.
Simply because I am still alive, I am one of those lucky few.
I don’t say this to be dramatic or to brag.
What is so special about simply “surviving” anyway?
Well, it is better than the alternative.
And it has enabled me to share stories and lessons that exist nowhere else.
Not in any book, course or on any YouTube channel.
[Note: That line was from 2014. I realize I’ve been busy since then…getting many of those stories and lessons into my blogs (like today), my books, my courses…and yes, on YouTube. So there.]
Here’s one, which I first published in 2014, that is indicative of Gene’s brilliance.
During the 1980’s, Gene wrote many of Boardroom’s most successful direct mail packages–and he also wrote some of the biggest winners for Rodale Books (publishers of more health books than anyone at that time).
And here’s the kicker:
Boardroom and Rodale never paid him a dime for any of those landmark packages.
Here’s how that came to pass…
Gene had his own company called Instant Improvement which published books on eclectic health topics which were sold with some of the most famous direct mail packages ever written.
[Note: I created a Gene Schwartz swipe file with all of them as part of the “franchise” I mentioned above. Another key element of the franchise is outlined in the P.S.]
Classic headlines included “How To Rub Your Stomach Away” and “The Tao of Sexology.”
Instant Improvement was a small but mighty company…and Gene became mighty because he understood that without being able to mail the best lists of other health book buyers, he didn’t have a business.
In fact, it was understanding what Gene understood about the list being the most important part of the marketing puzzle that propelled my career to where it is today (wherever that is). 😊
His house list was quite small–while Boardroom and Rodale had the most responsive and largest lists in the category of health book buyers.
Since Boardroom and Rodale needed world class copy and Instant Improvement needed world class lists, these three direct marketing results leaders comprised the most powerful group of allies since World War II…(excuse the appropriate hyperbole again…but it was a huge alliance).
Gene exchanged copy for names…even though he could have commanded the highest fee of any copywriter at that time.
Because he did the math:
Even if he charged $100,000 to write a promotion (which is probably double of what the top gun copywriters charged at the time), the 750,000 names he received instead (his “price”) were worth so much more.
First, because we gave him segments of our list that were always the best-of-the-best names, names he could get nowhere else (he was an “insider,” a VIP, with “selection privileges”); but more importantly, mailing them was like earning compound interest because he was playing a long game (i.e. he wasn’t looking for one sale per buyer but multiple sales per buyer).
This made $100,000 look like chicken feed compared to what he earned on the most responsive 750,000 buyers of health books anywhere in the world.
Gene, having multiple products (i.e. dozens), was one key to the expansive nature of this compensation arrangement; but it was also about Gene’s abundant mindset, knowing that cash comes to you in different ways, and it’s not always about simply getting paid for a product or service.
This amazing relationship—what I called the “triumvirate of health mailers”– led to millions of books being sold and a much more efficient way to get the best health information distributed to as many people as possible.
Boardroom and Rodale were able to mail millions of names using Gene Schwartz controls for years…even after his death…and Gene was able to mail millions of Boardroom and Rodale names “on exchange” at an acceptable return on investment (shorthand for huge profits) for his much smaller books.
But there was nothing “small” about Gene Schwartz…I never met a man who played larger.
He traded his extraordinary talent for the asset he needed most at the time…and money was a strategic by-product, not the starting point.
And that brings me to my quote for this week:
“Reciprocation is about you, then me, then you, then me…and be the first to give service, information, concessions”
-Dr. Robert Cialdini
Understanding how to be a true partner with those you work with leads to exponential growth and true business building…
…which beats a series of “revenue events” by a mile.
When I say that I was a close friend of Gene Schwartz, it makes me smile; when I say I was his partner to help build three multi-million dollar businesses, businesses that had as their mission to disseminate the most useful and life-saving health information to consumers, I know I made a real difference in the world…which also makes me smile.
And today–when I have now sold over 15,000 copies of his masterpiece, Breakthrough Advertising, in over 75 countries( including licensing the book in Japan, France, Italy and Brazil in those languages)–I am continuing to make a difference (through Gene’s work) and continuing his legacy with humility and enthusiasm.
Of course, this also means I’m just old…but as Marty used to say, “I like getting old because now I know so much.”
Thank you, Gene, for being one of the wisest entrepreneurs I ever met.
And for writing my favorite book about human behavior (with a nod to copywriting and marketing). 😊
Warmly,
Brian
P.S. O.K…it’s time to decide.
To keep doing your marketing the same old way or put the genius of Breakthrough Advertising and Gene Schwartz to work for you.
Maybe the same old way is good enough for you, but why wouldn’t you want to be in a room (i.e. on a Zoom screen) with up to 100 other people with the same opportunities and challenges you are facing…and interacting with them…contributing to them…and have them contributing to you.
Our 10th Breakthrough Advertising Bootcamp begins Tuesday May 12th and runs through Thursday May 21st.
Six, 90-minute calls…of teaching, learning, interacting, connecting.
All recorded so you can keep up…and then you can make them a cornerstone of your direct marketing library forever.
Like a mini mastermind over 2 weeks…with documentation. 😊
And you’ll come out the other end with an action plan for next steps on whatever product or service you are most focused on inside your business.
At an insanely low price.
Plus…access to two calls of my Titans Xcelerator Mastermind…an additional bonus for registering for the Bootcamp.
There is also a private Facebook Group to share ideas during the Bootcamp…and to make friends for life (which happens in every Bootcamp).
That’s “friends with benefits” (and not THAT way). 🙂
It’s the benefit of people who will be a sounding board for you and your business during the Bootcamp…and on into the future.
Plus hot seats, office hours, special guests.
It’s the ultimate no downside/all upside proposition…and you only have 2 days to take me up on it.
(You can join after May 12th , and we will send you all the previous recordings so you can catch up quickly…but why not sign up right now?)
Please join us.
I’ve got a lot more Gene Schwartz stories too. 😊