Wizard of Ads Monday Morning Memo

By: Roy H. Williams
  • Summary

  • Thousands of people are starting their workweeks with smiles of invigoration as they log on to their computers to find their Monday Morning Memo just waiting to be devoured. Straight from the middle-of-the-night keystrokes of Roy H. Williams, the MMMemo is an insightful and provocative series of well-crafted thoughts about the life of business and the business of life.
    ℗ & © 2006 Roy H. Williams
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Episodes
  • Hollywood’s Broken Angel
    Jan 20 2025

    Her name was Lillian Millicent Entwistle, “Peg” to her friends. She was born in 1908.

    At the age of 19, Peg married Robert Keith, 10 years older than she. Then she discovered that he had been married before and had a 6 year-old son. The couple was soon divorced.

    “I’ll move to a new place and get a new start,” she thought. “Goodbye, New York. Hello, L.A. I’m going to become an actress.”

    But hopes and dreams are fragile things and hearts are easily broken.

    At the age of 24 “She decided she’d failed,” says David Wallace, author of Hollywoodland. “She was very dejected and one day in 1932 she came up to the Hollywood sign, found a maintenance ladder by the ‘H,’ climbed up to the top and presumably took one last look over the city she had failed to conquer, and jumped.”

    Her body was discovered two days later by a hiker.

    A handwritten note was found in her purse. “I am afraid I am a coward. I am sorry for everything. If I had done this a long time ago, it would have saved a lot of pain.”

    A letter arrived at her home on the same day her body was discovered. It was from The Beverly Hills Playhouse. They wanted her to star in their next production.

    Are you ready for this? It was to be a play about a young girl who loses all hope and commits suicide in the final act.

    Peg, if only you could’ve hung on. Things are never as bad as they seem. But now all we have left of you is a photograph and a note.

    Remember that 6-year-old son of Robert Keith you heard about in the second paragraph?

    That boy, Brian Keith, grew up to be a famous actor, best known for his role as “Uncle Bill” on the hit TV show, “Family Affair.” He also played the perfect Teddy Roosevelt opposite Sean Connery in “The Wind and the Lion,” (1975).

    I have seen that movie 14 times. Brian Keith made Teddy Roosevelt come alive for me.

    Brian Keith shot himself in 1997.

    Yes, hopes and dreams are fragile things and hearts are easily broken.

    Be gentle with the hearts that have been entrusted to you.

    Roy H. Williams

    Mike Frick started a side hustle as a way to help his college-student son earn extra cash. Today that business sells its products nationwide to construction sites, quarries, farms, mines, and the US military. “Our products are simple, durable, and cost effective,” Mike tells roving reporter Rotbart. In spite of heavy competition from Chinese knock-offs, Mike and his company continue to thrive by manufacturing their products only in America. It’s a story of focus, humility, and fantastic success. Because that’s how we roll at MondayMorningRadio.com.

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    4 mins
  • What are Thoughts Made Of?
    Jan 13 2025

    I asked Google, “What are thoughts made of?”

    Google said, “According to current scientific understanding, thoughts are essentially made up of electrical signals generated by the firing of neurons in the brain, which communicate with each other through chemical messengers called neurotransmitters; essentially, a thought is a complex pattern of neural activity within the brain, triggered by sensory input, memories, and other factors.”

    Google’s answer to my question is true, but it isn’t useful. My goal is to place a thought into the mind of another person. I want to change what they are thinking and feeling.

    In 2003 I proposed a theory that has come to be known as “The 12 Languages of the Mind.” It explains how thoughts are constructed from pre-thought particles.

    Stay with me. This is about to get interesting.

    A neuron is a nerve cell, the basic unit of the nervous system. It is responsible for sending and receiving electrical signals. A synapse is the tiny gap between two neurons. This is where information is transferred from one neuron to another through the release of chemical messengers called neurotransmitters. Essentially, a neuron is the cell itself, and a synapse is the connection point between two neurons where communication occurs.

    Sounds a little bit like a computer, doesn’t it?

    A computer is of little value without an operating system.

    The 12 Languages of the Mind are the operating system of the brain.

    Let’s look at it another way.

    We know that all the matter in the universe is made from just 3 primaries: protons, neutrons, and electrons. These form atoms, the smallest units of matter.

    Atoms of elements combine to create molecules of compounds; two atoms of hydrogen plus one atom of oxygen create a single molecule of water, H2O.

    There are 118 different kinds of atoms organized in The Periodic Table of the Elements. We can create new substances because we now understand the constituent components that underlie all the matter in the universe.

    Just as protons, neutrons, and electrons can be arranged to form matter, The 12 Languages of the Mind can be arranged to communicate thoughts and trigger the emotions, opinions, and reactions that follow those thoughts.

    Symbols are one of The 12 languages of the Mind. Motion is another.

    Hydrogen + Oxygen = Water.

    Symbol + Motion = Ritual.

    Our material universe is created from just 3 primaries.

    Likewise, all the colors we see are created from just 3 primaries, red, yellow, and blue in subtractive color, red, yellow, and blue in subtractive color. But red, green, and blue in additive color. It depends on whether your eye is absorbing the light waves, which is additive, or whether you are seeing reflected light from a substance that has absorbed part of the light spectrum. That is called subtractive color.

    Created from 12 primaries, how much bigger is the universe of your mind?

    Your body contains about a 100 million sensory receptors that allow you to see, feel, taste, hear, and smell physical reality. But your brain contains about 10,000 billion synapses. This means you are approximately 100,000 times better equipped to experience a world that does not exist, than a world that does. It is these

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    7 mins
  • Consider if you will…
    Jan 6 2025

    The Wizard Academy tower sits on a plateau 900 feet above the city of Austin. The view from the stardeck is stunning.

    When you attend our free public seminar on the afternoon of March 17, you will be in Tuscan Hall just 500 feet from the tower. If you have some extra time on campus, perhaps Dave Young will be willing to press the button that lifts you from the underground art gallery up to the stardeck so that you can look around.

    This is what I will teach you in Tuscan Hall:

    1. How to create a magnetic personality for your brand. It’s easier than you think.
    2. How to use personification to breathe life into all your corporate communications, beginning with your advertising.
    3. How to use character banter and magical thinking to help customers understand that your company has beliefs, values, motives, can make choices, and that it has life.
    4. How to gather these techniques into an operating plan that will integrate this magnetic new personality into every touchpoint of your business.
    5. How to measure the trajectory and momentum of your rejuvenated brand.

    You’re going to have a good time. I will include lots of examples of PowerSelling ads that have lifted people to new heights.

    Q: PowerSelling. What is it?

    A: PowerSelling is an advertising technique that makes your name the one people think of first – and feel the best about – when they need what you sell.

    Q: Does it work for B2B? (Business to Business)

    A: Not really. B2B requires tight targeting and significantly more logic than is required to win the hearts of the public. [NOTE: If today’s memo feels different than the typical Monday Morning Memo, it is because this is probably the first example of B2B writing that you have ever seen me write. Are you noticing the additional logic? – RHW]

    Q: Does it work for Direct Response offers?

    A: No. Direct Response offers are built almost entirely on features and benefits, the so-called “value proposition,” enhanced by an urgent call-to-action, usually with a final bit of “added value” if you “act now.”

    Q: So what’s it good for?

    A: PowerSelling is for products and services that have a long purchase cycle and a relatively high price tag; things like diamond engagement rings, legal services, medical services, and home services like plumbing, air conditioning, roofing, and electrical. PowerSelling is strictly B2C (Business to Consumer) and it almost always employs mass media; television or radio, sometimes with billboards added.

    Q: Will there be recordings made, or perhaps a livestream?

    A: Sorry, but no. The Wizards of Ads® have little desire to debate – or educate – a world full of traditional ad writers that have been trained on the tripe that is taught in college.*

    You are going to learn the explosive techniques that will make your advertising leap off the launchpad with fire and smoke as you begin your journey to the stars. You will feel your acceleration grow to the point where your cheeks are pulled back and your eyes become slits as the corners of your mouth touch your earlobes.

    Or maybe you are just smiling.

    If you are ready for the ride of your life, be in Austin on March 17th.

    Roy H. Williams

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    “Running a big company is like...

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    5 mins

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