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The Back Story Behind Gary Halbert's Famous Social Security Ad

5 April 2010 Posted by: Doberman Dan (11 comments)

Monday, 9:54 PM

Dear Friend,

This one was suggested by a subscriber. I hope you enjoy it.

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11 Comments »

  • dobermandan (author) said:

    Thanks, David. There's more stories like that if anybody cares to hear 'em.

  • Tammi Kibler said:

    Hi Dan,

    We are definitely listening. I love this story and how it demonstrates the importance of creating ways to leverage existing demand rather than trying to create demand from scratch. Great stuff.

    Tammi

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  • David Parsons said:

    Great back story about the Halbert Social Security ad. Just love that kind of stuff. Gives us an idea of how the "great one" dished it out.

    I for one was fascinated to learn that he wasn't always so taken up by great and wonderful prose but rather more concerned with clarity so it could be understood by many.

    That's what made him great.

    Telling us about that stuff and delivering a usable lesson in it is what makes Doberman Dan a great place to be.

    Keep truck'n on Dan

    David

  • Mel Collins said:

    Dan,

    Halbert was good at telling stories… so are you.

    Whatever the need was, Halbert would fill it.

    Sometimes he spotted a need and created the product to fill that need… as in the story you just told… sometimes he took an existing product and molded it… repositioned it… to fill the need that was always there… but nobody else saw.

    They say that genius is the ability to see something that was always there but nobody else could see… and then taking action. That's why people say things like "why didn't I think of that"…

    The action is to take that need and create a story with detail after detail…punishing detail… that addresses and fills the need. That's what Halbert and Schwartz did… that's what Makepeace does… that's what you do… the prize is in the details…

    Keep 'em coming!

    Mel

  • Niels said:

    Dan. I am sucking this up. Any story you care to share, I love to hear. These backstories are great and to learn how they represent opportunities is just priceless.
    You are not stopping at 30 days are you?

  • dobermandan (author) said:

    The more videos I do, the more ideas it gives me for more videos.

    At the end of the 30 days I don't plan on stopping… but I probably won't keep up the one video a day pace. I'll back it down to 2 or 3 a week. It's a lot of work to plan, shoot, edit and post these!

  • dobermandan (author) said:

    Thanks, Mel!

  • dobermandan (author) said:

    Thanks, Tammi.

    Halbert was a master at leveraging existing demand.

  • DaveC said:

    Great story Dan

    Thanx very much for sharing these. I could listen to Sir Gary of Halbert back stories all day…

  • Donnie said:

    I am becoming obsessed with back stories like this one. Halbert was definitely a genius, the definitive marketer.

    The more and more I get into direct response, the more the history and anecdotes It's also fun to become part of the narrative, as we create similar stories for our clients and for our own products.

    Great stuff, Dan. Keep it coming!

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