A Writer to Remember

Walter Lord was a copywriter at J. Walter Thompson when he started to write A Night to Remember, a slim 200-page book he'd publish in 1955.


Moment-by-moment, A Night to Remember recounts the courage and craziness of the crew and passengers aboard Titanic.


I remember devouring Lord's book when I was 10.


Hundreds of thousands of other readers do, too.

From the opening sentence, the book gallops through the three-hour horror.

Imagine if Spielberg, not Cameron, had made the 1997 film, and you get a feel for A Night to Remember.

Lord's 2002 obituary in The New York Times cited one reviewer's take on the writer's technique. He called it, "a kind of literary pointillism" so fashioned "that a vividly real impression of an event is conveyed to the reader."

The success of A Night to Remember—rave reviews, on the best-seller lists for months, a Book-of-the-Month Club selection, and TV and film adaptations—allowed Lord to quit his copywriter's job for full-time authoring.

He used the same "you are there" technique to retell stories like the attack on Pearl Harbor, the battle at the Alamo, and the integration of Ole Miss.

But none of those books quite compare to his first blockbuster.

HISTORY BUFFS' NOTE: Next month marks the 100th anniversary of the sinking of Titanic.

Officially Awesome

I am delighted to announce that I am now officially awesome.


I have attended South by Southwest.


Not since my days in the Cub Scouts have I tried so hard to earn a badge.


"South by" is, without doubt, among the rockingest events you could ask for.


Lots of people have tried to describe it, with limited success.


Now I understand why.


During my visit, I had the privilege of participating in a closed-door meeting with South by Southwest's executive director, Mike Shea.


Shea described South by Southwest as "dozens of micro events under one tent," plus dozens of micro events "outside the tent."


And not only are there dozens of out-boarding events, there's a swelling crowd of attendees refusing to pay the registration fee.


This so-called "Badgeless Movement" thinks of itself as anarchist. But in my book it's really just a collection of cheapskates.


I feel a bit sorry for them.  


Yes, they may be awesome.  


But they're not officially awesome.

A Tagline is a Terrible Thing to Waste

Because they have to work in many ways, good taglines are hard to write, says Branding Strategy Insider.

But a tagline is a terrible thing to waste.

A tagline must not only convey your brand's unique value, but must do so credibly, memorably and tersely, Insider says.

The most common mistakes marketers make with taglines are:

• Claiming something trite (for example, "excellence")
• Saying something catchy, but without meaning
• Communicating only the brand's product category
• Touting a benefit any brand in the category must deliver
• Making promises indistinguishable from competitors'
• Using too many words

Insider cites these examples of crummy taglines:

We’re glad you’re here (City of Chicago)
We get you there (Delta Airlines)
A good place to sit and eat (Denny's)

And some good ones?  Insider cites:

Don’t leave home without it (American Express)
A diamond is forever (DeBeers)
A mind is a terrible thing to waste (United Negro College Fund)

What's your favorite tagline?

Does Opening Your Mouth Put You behind the Eightball?

If you can't sum up your idea in eight words, you'll find yourself behind the eightball, says executive speaking coach Allison Shapira.

Writing in The Boston Globe, Shapira recounts a conversation she had with a venture capitalist.

The VC told her he cuts business people who want his attention no slack.

“Within the first eight words, I’ve decided whether or not to keep listening,” the VC said.

If the individual's "core innovation" isn't stated in her first eight words, "it’s probably not there."

The VC's take-no-prisoners rule-of-thumb points to the need for good opening lines, Shapira says.

But how do you develop one?

First, Shapira suggests, decide what you want your discussion to accomplish.  What do you want your listeners to know or do?

Next, brainstorm possible opening lines.  A good opener is simple, unusual, concrete, emotional or storylike.

Last, but not least, write down the products of your brainstorming and put the list aside for a few days, so you can consider it at liesure.

"Good openers are part preparation and part inspiration, and you need time for both," Shapira says.

The Idea Killers

In the Harvard Business Review, branding bigwig David Aaker explains why business execs always seem to kill new ideas.

In a nutshell, they can't step over their own pessimism.

That hardly makes them poor performers.

But it does make them human.

Ten years ago, two psychologists, Amos Tversky and Daniel Kahneman, received the Nobel Prize for proving that people, given a choice, will predicatably choose the road most traveled.

They'll do so because the probable outcome of a safe bet feels a lot rosier than the probable outcome of a long shot.

"There's evidence that firms are no different," says Aaker. 

"They overinvest in incremental innovation, and underinvest in innovations that would create 'must haves' that would define new subcategories, which, with rare exceptions, are the only innovations that create real growth."

Business execs' predilection for pessimism typically manifests itself in four ways, Aaker says:

Execs overvalue safe bets. "An innovation that will provide a predictable increase in the sales and profitability of an existing business will be more attractive than an alternative that will offer a chance at a large profit platform."

Execs undervalue vision. Without the customary hard data, execs can't imagine how a novel idea might pay off.  "Estimation of the prospects for substantial or transformational innovation will depend on some uncertain market factors. And, the estimate usually needs to be based on insight, not data."

Execs underfund innovation. Inside most companies, it's the established business units that get all the R&D money. "Their business executives will already have a list of incremental innovations that they believe will further their business. They're unlikely to tee up major innovations that don't fall into their space."

Execs eschew other innovators. Executive nay-sayers love to point to other innovators' blunders to justify their dismal views, even though "market size estimates based on existing flawed products can be biased downward."

If human hard-wiring is the enemy of the new, what's the way out?

Execs need to shake their bleak attitudes, Aakers says.

"Biases against game changers need to be neutralized."