“You are standing in the snow five and one-half miles above sea level gazing at a horizon hundreds of miles away. It occurs to you that life here is very simple. You live or you die. No compromises. No whining. No second chances.
“This is a place constantly ravaged by wind and storm, where every ragged breath is an accomplishment. You stand on the uppermost pinnacle of the earth. This is the mountain they call Everest. Yesterday it was considered unbeatable. But THAT was yesterday.
“As Edmund Hillary surveyed the horizon from the peak of Mount Everest he monitored the time on a wristwatch that had been specifically designed to withstand the fury of the world’s most angry mountain. Rolex believed that Sir Edmund would conquer the mountain and especially for him they created the Rolex Explorer.
“In every life there is a Mount Everest to be conquered. When you have conquered yours, you’ll find your Rolex waiting patiently for you to come and pick it up at Justice Jewelers. I’m Woody Justice and I’ve got a Rolex for you.”
The radio advertisement above contains 180 words and takes precisely 60 seconds for a professional voice artist to read. It was created for Justice Jewelers in Springfield, Missouri. On the strength of advertisements such as this, owner Woody Justice has grown his business manifold in both volume and floor size since its start back in 1984. Today, Justice Jewelers’ Superstore includes a 5,000 square foot showroom and a drive up repair window.
The man who wrote this classic radio ad – often cited by advertising and marketing professors across the country – was recently a guest on my weekly radio show, Newsroom Confidential.
Roy H. Williams is a master wordsmith. I imagine if the Royal Typewriter Company were still producing its classic manual machines it might very well create one especially for him, just as Rolex did for Sir Edmund.
Roy has a lot to teach communications executives and journalists. I have read all of his books and attended several of his incredible on-site academy sessions and I still can’t get enough of his insight into the ways to effectively touch and influence human behavior.
Roy’s medium has always been radio and he is the expert on designing radio ad copy that “breaks through” all the dissonance in our lives. His best selling books – The Wizard of Ads, Secret Formulas of the Wizard of Ads and Magical Worlds of the Wizard of Ads – all include the word “Ads” in their title.
Yet they aren’t really about advertising at all. They are about influence and how to best exert it. They are for PR executives who want to understand how to get journalists to best pay attention to their messages. They are for journalists who need to understand how small nuances in word selection can have a dramatic impact on their readers and viewers. Roy’s books and seminars are for people who need to rejuvenate their own creative genius.
On my radio program each week, I feature a three-to-five minute broadcast edition of Roy’s Monday Morning Memo. The free weekly email version is read far and wide by people in numerous professional positions. Like me, they understand that Roy’s message has a universality to it that transcends the advertising and marketing professions and delivers actionable insights into human nature.
Although Roy has never achieved the kind of public acclaim of a Leo Burnett or David Ogilvy – he never fancied himself a Madison Avenue type -- he is every much as great a creative genius and pioneer as they. (And his large following and client list continues to grow rapidly.)
I have described Roy’s two and three-day courses as a “spa for your brain.” And the description is perfectly apt. Those who make the pilgrimage to Roy’s 22-acre Wizard Academy campus on the outskirts of Austin, Texas return renewed. I would choose a couple days with Roy over any PR association meeting and/or meet-the-journalists confab that anyone else tries to sell to communications executives (including my own events).
Roy spent an hour with me on the radio and we talked about influence, word selection, public relations and much more. I encourage you to download the audio and listen to it when you next need fresh inspiration.
“The biggest myth in contemporary history is we remember more of what we see than what we hear,” Roy told me.
Friday, October 6, 2006
© 2006 TJFR Group, Inc.