Seducing Strangers How to Get People to Buy What You're Selling (The Little Black Book of Advertising Secrets)

How to get someone, somewhere, to do something.
 
The job is using words, pictures, stories, and music to seduce strangers. In the industrial, mass-media, consumer economy of the past, the job was called advertising, and “Mad Men” did it. In today’s service-based, social media-focused, information economy, the job is called life, and everyone does it.
 Here’s how you can do it. And do it better.

Josh Weltman is the advertising consultant and a co-producer on the hit show Mad Men. A creative director for more than 25 years, he’s worked on advertising and marketing campaigns for both global brands and boutique clients. He lives with his family in Los Angeles, California.

Foreword by Jon Hamm ix
Introduction: The Job That Was Once Called Advertising 1
 
Part One
The Secret Purpose of Advertising 5
The Job of Advertising Is to Make People Happy 7
Does Advertising Work? 9
The Truth About Liars 12
You’re Brought In to Back Off 17
Do You Want to Sell or Seduce? 22
Throwing Speedballs 25
Brands Aren’t Magic—They’re Math 31
One Question, Four Answers 37
Dissecting a Frog Is Easy; Making One Is Hard 41
 
Part Two
Four Secret Ways Out of the Box 45
The Four Fundamental Questions 47
What Is It? Introductory Ads 51
The Curious Case of Soviet Jeans 53
Why Do I Need It Now? Limited-Time Offers 55
What Makes It Different? Differentiating Ads 60
A Shade Different—Belle Jolie 67
Who Else Thinks It’s Good? Mutual-Love-and-Respect Ads 71
It’s Not About Me—It’s About You 75
Going Negative in a Zero-Sum Game 81
Surviving When Outgunned and Surrounded 87
How Low Can You Go? 91
What the Hell Do We Do if Something Goes Right? 94
 
Part Three
Secret Motives, Agendas, Traps, and Techniques 99
Choose, Align, Anticipate 101
Bottom Line or Top Line? 103
What’s My Motivation? 106
Big Ideas, Killer Ideas, and Big Idea Killers 109
Advertising Is a Toolbox: Pick a Tool 113
The Sizzle Sucks. The Steak Rocks 115
No More Content for Me—I’ve Had Enough 117
Three Reasons to Take a Job; Pick Two 122
Great Idea! Now Sell It!. . 125
Making You Work for You. 128 Show How the Idea Will Rock Their World 130
The Upside of Downside 133
They Didn’t Come to See the Props 135
You Are the Solution—Not the Problem; Act Like It 137
What Have They Got to Lose? 139
Be Willing to Walk Away a Winner 141
Final Thoughts on Presenting 143
 
Part Four
The Secret Story of Online Seduction 145
A Medium Message 147
Building Babel One Bit at a Time 149
The Mission of Mini Media Moguls 154
Metcalfe’s Law 157
Techno Trekkers: Four Stories of One Hero 159
Excuse Me, Would You Please Get Out of My Movie? 164
Going Viral Is the Internet Applauding a New Possibility 167
Captains of Empathy 169
A Trout, a Swiss Army Knife, an iPad, and YouTube 171
 
Acknowledgments 177
About the Author 179