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The Greatest Mind Hacks in Marketing History

My First Million

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  • Tova Perfume Launch
    • Gary Halbert created a successful perfume campaign for Tova Borgnine using China Musk.
    • The campaign involved a dramatic reveal, charitable auction, and full-page ad with a provocative headline. Transcript: Craig Clemens About teasers. Because it is a very strong line and it’s worthy of discussion. But I’m going to start with my favorite headline of all time. And that was written by a copywriter named Gary Halbert. And the way it came about, was contracted by a woman named Tova Borgnine, who was the wife of movie star Ernest Borgnine. Before our time, but apparently if we went to our parents and grandparents and we said Ernest Borgnine, they would be like, oh yes, he was a Brad Pitt type of the time. So his wife wanted to come out with a perfume and she asked Gary to figure it out for her. So Gary doesn’t know the first thing about perfume, but he knows a ton about marketing. At the time, he was a legendary copywriter, had many, many successes. And so he’s brainstorming on what to do as he’s walking through the mall one day and he sees a kiosk where there’s these little oils and things like that. Did you ever walk by that kiosk? Of course, there’s always like a very smooth talker right there. Yeah, make your own perfume, right? And so he goes up and he’s like, hey, what are these creations of perfume? Do you make them yourself or whatever? And they say, oh, yes, the essential oils are put together to make your own perfume. And he says, is there one of them that outsells all the rest? And they’re like, oh, yes, China Musk. China Musk is the bestseller by far. He says, why doesn’t someone take China Musk, put it in a fancy bottle and call it XYZ perfume? And they’re like, well, that’s a great idea. No one’s ever done that. He says, OK, give me some China Musk. So he takes the China Musk and he walks over to the jeweler that he knows. And he says, Mr. Jeweler, I would like you to put this in a fancy glass gold bottle that is shaped like a tea. Puts it in the bottle. And then he sits on it for like three months. Calls Tova Bargnin and he goes, Tova, I have spent the last three months traveling the world in search of the finest perfume. And I think finally, after sampling literally thousands, I’ve discovered it. I want to bring it over to your house right now and have you smell it. He brings it over. She’s just in awe of how great the China Musk smells. And she decides she wants to launch it. And she wants to do the launch party at her friend Candy Spelling’s Boutique on Roteo Drive. Candy is a wife of Erin Spelling, the big producer. And Gary says, that is far too small. We are going to rent out the entire bottom floor of the Century Plaza Hotel. And she’s hemming and hawing. She’s like, how are we going to fill that with people and this and that? And he says, you know, trust me. So she actually strokes the check, rents out the entire bottom floor of the Century Plaza Hotel, and Gary takes it a full-page ad in the LA Times. And the headline is this. Wife of famous movie star swears under oath. Her new perfume does not contain an illegal sexual stimulant that was the headline in big letters and then the subhead said and she is so confident in this she’s willing to prove it by Giving away 10 000 sample bottles on this day at this time at the Century Plaza Hotel. So they put up the ad and, you know, will it work? Who knows? And the phones at the Century Plaza Hotel just start ringing and ringing by people wanting to know about this event. And this kept going and going and they realized it was going to be chaotic. So the fire department comes the day of and they like shut down the street. They figure out this way to get all the cars in. And thousands and thousands and thousands of people show up and crowd into the lobby of the Century Plaza Hotel with this big reveal. He has two in-shape gentlemen with tuxedos get a briefcase, handcuff it to their wrist and walk it in through the crowd, bring it onto the stage, opens it up. And in there are the 12 sapphires representing all 12 ingredients in Tova perfume and Tova auctions off each Sapphire for charity, brings in a few hundred thousand dollars. The next day the phone rang with unsolicited offers from, you know, Macy’s Robinson’s May, all the department stores at the time, Barney Sachs, et cetera, et cetera. It was the best-selling perfume in the world that year and went on for many, many years. I think now you’ll find it like at CVS behind, you know, photo counter or something like that. But it still, I think, exists. Wow. Yeah. So look for the tea, Tova Perfume. Speaker 3 Do you guys remember (Time 0:01:48)
  • Marketing Embeds
    • The “illegal sexual stimulant” line is a powerful marketing embed.
    • It subtly suggests the product is desirable and effective without explicitly making such claims. Transcript: Craig Clemens Shit must be amazing. So I need to come up with a name for this because my favorite part of the headline is the last part. And it’s like the secret marketing embed or some shit like that. You know, it’s like the hidden secret message that even the reader doesn’t know they’re receiving. But when you read that, you’re like, wait, okay, it doesn’t contain an illegal sexual stimulant. Does it contain a legal one? Like what is in this fucking thing, you know? And I always wanted to rip that headline and do it for like a new taco stand or something. You know, I think it’s universal that you could be like, you know, a new restaurant owner swears on her oath. His tacos do not contain an illegal addictive stimulant, you know, as he’s willing to give away a thousand free tacos to prove that there’s nothing weird in here. Shaan Puri And they’re just that good. They’re just that good. Actually, that’s a, that’s a, that’s a great ending to it too. Um, and then it had actually the, the sort of the offer or the call to action, which was giving away so many samples at this time, at this place. Craig Clemens Exactly. It’s proof that this is going to work, you know, a risk-free offer. You’re going to get this for free. Right. And if you don’t like (Time 0:07:29)
  • Viagra’s Clever Disclaimer
    • The “four-hour erection” disclaimer in Viagra ads is a clever marketing embed.
    • While seemingly a warning, it actually reinforces the desired outcome of the product. Transcript: Craig Clemens Embeds. And about the same time, this came out, I think, in the 90s or something like that before I was in marketing. But about the same time I learned about this, another marketing embed hit the world. And I think this is another of the greatest lines in marketing history. Okay. And that is, Sean, I’m sure something you can personally relate to. If you get an erection lasting longer than four hours, call a physician immediately. So we’ve all heard it. We’ve all heard it. It’s the end of every Viagra ad. And if you’re a guy that’s having trouble getting it up, you’re thinking about this and you’re like, fuck, this could actually be a four hour erection. I’ll be happy with four minutes, man. And it’s such a great line. So you think that, so I always heard (Time 0:09:10)
  • The Busy Signal Tactic
    • Changing the infomercial call to action to “If you get a busy signal, please call again” was revolutionary.
    • It created a sense of urgency and high demand, encouraging more sales. Transcript: Craig Clemens Okay. So are we on number two or that was number two? No, that was number two. Okay. Oh, okay. Okay. So maybe there’s going to be five, four. I don’t know how many we said there was going to be. Okay. Shout out to another one. I just remembered that’s really big. When infomercials first aired, the call to action was, please call now. Operators are standing by. Do you remember? Yes, I’ve heard that. Copywriter that created this and it changed the entire world of infomercials. And I think the entire world of selling. And she changed that line to please call now. If you get a busy signal, please call again. And if you think of the picture in your mind, you know, of operators just standing there waiting for the phone ring no one’s buying this fucking thing to call now you you probably get a Busy signal please keep calling please keep trying you know the offer is going to stay around for this many minutes please keep trying to call it just gives the the uh image of the phones Flying in the room and everyone’s trying to place their orders and it’s like hi to man and you know it gets you excited and you when you get through and you hear that person answer, you’re Relieved. You’re like, oh, I got through. Right. I’m going to get the special offer. Is the special offer still available? Yes. It is still available. It’s like that feeling of relief. So that was a big line. I’ll give a shout out to that. (Time 0:12:12)
  • Trump’s “Eating the Cats”
    • Trump’s “they’re eating the cats” comment, though inaccurate, effectively highlighted the scale of immigration in small towns.
    • It sparked widespread discussion and brought attention to the issue. Transcript: Craig Clemens To see this book. All right. Okay. Number three. Number three, four. I can’t remember which one. Which one? They’re eating the dogs. They’re eating the cats. They’re eating the pets of the people who live there. I have that song in my head now, too. The TikTok reboot. They’re eating the dogs. People of Springfield, please don’t eat my dog. Okay, this line was said to have lost Trump the debate and possibly the election. And what happened over the following week, in my opinion, won him the debate and possibly the election. The 20,000 immigrants that had been legally migrated to Springfield, Illinois, town of Springfield, Ohio. Yeah. Springfield, Ohio, town of 58,000 was torn apart by the fact checkers, torn apart by every news station in the world. These 20,000 legal migrants in this town of 60,000 are not eating dogs. They are not eating cats. That is complete BS. Let me say it again. These 20,000 migrants that were moved into this little town of 60,000 people that probably didn’t vote to have them moved in, probably didn’t know they were coming in, maybe some of Them wanted them maybe some of them didn’t. They’re not eating dogs. They’re not eating cats. But what does it say to the entire world? Yes, large amounts of immigration, migration, whether it’s legal or illegal, is happening in small towns and places like Springfield, Ohio. Right. I had never known this was happening. And, you know, some people want that and some people don’t. Lot of moderates don’t want the small town that they live in or their parents live in or, you know, they grew up in to have such a huge change in population, in demographics, in, you know, The style of how businesses are run, et cetera. And it spread that message worldwide that, wow, there really is a lot of immigration happening. And yeah, some people thought it was great and some people didn’t, but it got that message out because before that you hear about, you know, oh, there’s, you know, the number was always Different, right? There’s 8 million people that came in under Biden. There’s 20 million people that came in under Biden. And this is a big number. Can you visualize 8 million people? I can’t. But I can visualize 20,000. I’ve been to a football game. It’s 20,000 in the stadium. And I can visualize 58,000. And I can put the simple math together. That’s one third of the population. And that is a change. And so it paints a picture. (Time 0:15:22)
  • Diamonds Are Forever
    • De Beers’ “A diamond is forever” campaign linked diamonds to everlasting love, transforming engagement ring traditions.
    • This brilliant marketing increased diamond engagement ring adoption from 10% to a much higher percentage. Transcript: Shaan Puri One of the greatest lines. Craig Clemens Okay, so now we can go to the chat GPT line. Shaan Puri Yeah, what would they say? And it really is. Craig Clemens And this is something that everyone knows about, but not a lot of people know where it came from. So you’ll know the line instantly when I say this, but, you know, in the 1940s, only about 10% of brides got a diamond engagement ring. De Beers diamonds had an interesting run. They were quite popular in the early 1900s as like a flex, not as a wedding ring, but, you know, in other jewelry or on like a lapel or, you know, necklace, earrings, things like that. And then the depression happened around the same time as diamond mining got really good. So they had an oversupply of diamonds and then they had people losing money. And then we should talk about Joseph Devine to the greatest art dealer of all time, because he invented the American art market. So people were spending money on art and things like that, you know. And so taking more away from that luxury sector to go into another one. And it was a female copywriter, Francis Gearty, who was at an agency that De Beers hired. And the story goes is like she was frustrated and she was like, you know, I don’t know, at her last last down her last penny or something on one night she is working on this campaign and can’t Think of anything and then wakes up in the middle of the night with this line a diamond is forever and what is interesting is that was the tie-in to engagement before that the engagement Ring would be like a plain band a gold band you know sometimes it would be like like an offering like a cow or like uh land or things like that and an engagement is temporary anyways like Shaan Puri By definition an engagement is like a temporary period of time so that’s true diamonds are forever yes is like an exact contrast to that yes and it’s an embed because it then shows that Craig Clemens If someone doesn’t present a diamond, maybe they’re not in it forever. Right. Right? And what woman wants a half commitment? Right. Shaan Puri Ladies out there, do you want a half commitment from your man? You know, so. They went to Hollywood and they basically were giving directors diamonds, saying in the key moment, in the climax moment where the man professes his love, he’s got to give her a diamond Ring. And they embedded it in Hollywood, in movies, by literally bribing the directors in order for them to show that. So then you’re watching the movie and that’s now because that now influences culture that I guess that’s how you do it. The big romantic gesture is to literally get down on one knee and hand her a gold, you know, a diamond ring. Yes. That became used kind of top down influence also to do it. Right. And then scarcity. Right. Because they limit the supply. So all the core marketing things, you know, influence, social social proof, that frame diamonds are forever scarcity. Craig Clemens They kind of used all of (Time 0:22:52)
  • Lab-Grown Diamonds
    • De Beers strategically entered the lab-grown diamond market, lowering prices to maintain the perceived value of mined diamonds.
    • This tactic effectively countered the threat of cheaper, ethically sourced alternatives. Transcript: Craig Clemens They kind of used all of it. Yes. And now there’s this big debate going on between lab-grown diamonds and mine diamonds. Have you heard of this? It’s fascinating. Because I think they’re 10%, 20% of the price or something like that. Shaan Puri It’s probably price control among the companies. 50% to 80% cheaper. It’s the exact same rock. You could look at them under a microscope. In fact, it could be argued it’s more perfect. It’s nicer, a, it’s a more perfect thing. And so you can get a big rock for this, but then the smartest, the thing that I guess De Beers did was that they, they, so this is a big problem. They’re like, okay, if there’s lab grown diamonds that don’t have these social issues with mining blood diamond type of stuff, and it’s just as good, if not better. This is a problem. And so what they did, the genius of their business strategy was they got into the lab grown business and just flooded the market with cheap lab grown diamonds. So they lowered the price intentionally. Like crappy ones? Good, good (Time 0:25:50)
  • Bencivenga’s Worms
    • Gary Bencivenga’s fishing example illustrates how to improve marketing by focusing on benefits, reasons why, and offers.
    • Kids selling worms increased sales by highlighting local sourcing and offering bonuses. Transcript: Shaan Puri I had never heard of. And he has this, uh, little example, little exercise that I love and I want to share, which is like, I don’t know if you remember this from, from learning his stuff, but he, he gives this Example of kids going fishing. So it’s like a lemonade stand type of example. So it’s like, kids are going fishing, uh, there are, they go to the fishing area and they want to sell bait. They want to sell worms. So they go V1 is basically like basically worms for sale, 99 cents or whatever. Right. And so they go there. Not much sales. Come back home. Luckily, the neighbor is a copyright. It’s like the story. Neighbor’s a copywriter. He says, hey, you know, why don’t we level this up? And he goes, you know, first lesson of marketing. You don’t sell the product. You sell the benefit. So buy these worms, catch more fish. So they go back day to sell a little bit more with, you know, these worms will help you catch more fish. Now they have a benefit. He goes, okay. They come back. They’re like, Hey, what else you got? How can we make even more? And then they go to the next level where they were like, he’s like, well, why do they catch more fish? And I think it’s Ogilvy who has this great quote that he was all about like the reason why marketing. And they go, Ogilvy, you seem to be a big fan of this reason why marketing. And he goes, is there any other? Is there any other way to sell this besides that? It’s all, you know, it’s crazy if you don’t use that. So then the kids go out and they’re like, well, why would I, why do our worms catch more fish? Oh, because these are local worms from the local soil. And what you don’t know is that fish prefer worms that are from their local soil. And it’s more attractive to them, not these imported things that you find on the shelves. We have the local ones start selling more, right? And then they go to the next level. It just shows like layering on these like master marketing techniques. I love that example. (Time 0:27:10)
  • Persuasion Formula
    • Study Gary Bencivenga’s Persuasion Formula, which emphasizes problem, promise, proof, proposition, and a “Cracker Jack” secret.
    • Applying these principles can significantly improve your advertising ROI. Transcript: Craig Clemens What’s it end with like, you know, buy two cans of local worms, get a free bobber. Exactly. It’s like, there’s like an offer. Shaan Puri So he’s like you know juice it with an offer and i think maybe i’m mixing up two of the stories but like he did a kind of a sensational headline too which was like local fishermen accused Of cheating uh because he catches the most fish reveals reveals his simple secret right and it’s like oh why we gotta know because there’s a guy who catches way more fish than everybody Else people accused him of like you know using nets and other other methods no no no he’s just fishing like the rest of us but he uses the local worms right so he gets to the best of it yeah I love gary’s persuasion formula he’s got this very very simple thing and it sounds like when you first read it you’re like okay i didn’t i didn’t get anything revolutionary then i go Look at my ads i’m like okay i’m not doing any of these things. And then you start doing them and your ROAS starts going up. So he’s got the five Ps. And so the first one is problem. So what’s the problem that the person has? And he says, no problem, no sale. Like you can’t sell someone something that they don’t do. Have some Advil. I’m not hurting. Why would I want your Advil? Yes. So problem. Then the next one is promise. So what’s the promise benefit that this product is going to give you? Proof that it works. Then there’s proposition, which is your offer. And then I call the last P product because he talks about the Cracker Jack secret. And he talks about how in a box of Cracker Jacks, they always had like a gift at the bottom. And he’s like, you know, even if you give someone the Cracker Jacks and they’re hungry right now or whatever, he’s like, I’ve never seen somebody just throw it away and not get the little Gift out of the bottom. And he’s like, so you want to have the Cracker Jack secret in your, in your ad, basically. And that was his thing. And then you can juice them up. Right. So those are the P’s and then he’s got the U’s. And if you, if you stack those together, he literally has a formula where it’s like urgent problem. And that’s 25 points. Unique promise. That’s another 25 points. Unquestionable proof. Another 25. User-friendly proposition. That’s the last 25. And then the Cracker Jack secret is the bonus 20 points. If you stack that whole thing together, you get to 120. (Time 0:29:00)
  • Study Ads Relentlessly
    • To write better ads, immerse yourself in the advertising world.
    • Study existing ads, pay attention to trends, and understand what resonates with different demographics. Transcript: Shaan Puri I was going to ask you one last thing, which is what’s the best way to get great at writing ads? If I wanted to go from, you know, okay to good or good to great, what do I do? I do a lot of it. I’m assuming practice is a big part of it, but is there a better way to practice? Okay. Craig Clemens This is funny, man. You have to be studying ads. So right now, we’re at a, we’re at an event. Yeah. An event. We call it hoop group now. Hoop group, high level group. And I meet this guy who’s got a 13 million YouTube channel. And I’m like, what’s your channel? And I go to type it in. There’s like five people behind me and they type it in and they see the ad pop up. And they’re like, come on, Craig, you don’t subscribe to YouTube, right? You can’t afford the 50 bucks or whatever, you know? And I’m like, are you fucking kidding me? An advertising guy is going to turn off the ads? Right. I sometimes load up YouTube topics to get the ads on purpose. Like I would watch the ads all day long if I could, because I need to know what the lay of the land looks like. Shaan Puri One of my best friends who’s a great marketer and has made probably personally made, I don’t know, $200 million. And his business is all are just Facebook ads. But like, that’s like his take home that he’s probably made. And he switched his gender and age on Facebook. So he’s a 45 year old woman. And I was like, why does it say you’re a 45 year old woman? And he was like, so I could see the ads dummy. Why would I want to see the ads of a 28 year old dude or whatever? You know, like that was, that would be terrible. I’m, I know who I need to sell to. This is the golden customer. And like, I need to, I need to have my, I need Facebook to be showing me what they’re, what they’re seeing. Absolutely. I was like, wow, that’s genius. Yeah. And then I also hang out in a lot of biohacker circles. So I find the things that people are doing at Burning Man and on Venice Beach. Craig Clemens And when they catch fire in these little circles, you can tell they’re like ready to go mainstream. I like it. You know, and sometimes I get (Time 0:46:27)