The Main Ingredient

James Vicary, pulled a hoax on the American people as a way to promote his advertising agency.  He reported that he flashed the words “Drink Coca-Cola” and “Eat popcorn” on the screen for a millisecond during a movie in a theater, and caused large numbers of people to visit the concession stand. He called the effect Subliminal Advertising.  Subliminal means that the effect functions below the threshold of consciousness. Years later, when others failed to duplicate his results, he admitted that he made the whole thing up. Read More

As I sit here writing this column against the deadline, I’m reminded of my days as a young advertising copywriter when I occasionally needed a deadline as motivation to finish a boring project.  The deadline did more than motivate me to finish -- more often than not, it was what finally stimulated enough creative thinking to move me forward -- in other words, it motivated me to think outside of the box. “Thinking outside of the box.” Boy, has that phrase become overused. Read More

I love this quote by Gandalf the Gray from the book Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien, “When we despair we cease to choose well.  We give in to short cuts.”  It’s so true and we all know that we have been guilty of it at some point in our lives. Read More

The sweet strains of a Puccini aria cut through the Saturday night clatter of the busy Italian restaurant in New York City, but it wasn’t coming from the aging voice of the Sicilian baritone who was hired to belt out favorites like Funiculi-Funicula. It was a soprano whose crystal clear voice filled the room. Within moments all the ambient noise came to a halt. Diners stopped eating and talking, busboys stopped clearing tables, the cooks even came out of the kitchen. Singing on the tiny stage was the skinny moon-faced waitress from Ohio. Read More