A Technique for Producing Winning Advertising,

Copywriting, and Marketing Ideas

Dear , 

I suspect I’m a lot like you. I’m constantly on the lookout to try to produce, find, or steal winning ideas.

Years ago, I used to beat myself up looking for that one perfect idea. I can’t tell you how many times I would look down my list of headline ideas and say to myself, “That’s no good, that’s no good, that’s not good, that’s OK.”

I can’t tell you how much stress that would cause me.

Thankfully, I stumbled upon Roger von Oech’s Creative Whack Pack in the late 1980s, an illustrated card deck of 64 creative thinking strategies that, as the publisher puts it, “will whack you out of habitual thought patterns and enable you to look at your life and actions in a fresh way.”

Roger would know; he’s not only the best-selling author of A Kick in the Seat of the Pants and A Whack on the Side of the Head but also an internationally known creativity consultant whose seminars and products have enriched the lives of millions of people.

A quick look at the companies that have hired him for his ideas on stimulating creativity and innovation and you’ll see why: Coca-Cola, GE, Disney, Intel, MTV, Microsoft, NASA, Apple, Citigroup, and the United States Olympic Committee.

So as I flipped through the card deck, I ran across one emblazoned with the headline “Use Good Ideas” that spoke to me.

It said…

“Don’t let your search for the great idea blind you to the merely good idea,” advises Bob Metcalfe. “Reject everything except for the very best and you will end up with nothing.” Educator Donald Kennedy has similar feelings: “A lot of disappointed people have been left standing on the street corner waiting for the bus marked perfection.”

What good ideas can you use?

And boy did this “whack on the side of the head” speak to me!

It led me to see a bigger picture—that I didn’t have to come up with the perfect idea; a good one would do.

It also led me to believe that each of my begged, borrowed, or stolen ideas had their own intrinsic promotional value. It was at this point that I started ranking my marketing and copywriting ideas as I created, copied, or stole them.

As I would then lay them out, I began to see combinations of ideas that were even better than my original idea.

Not so surprisingly, Roger had a card for that too: “Combine Ideas,” which said,

“The time has come,” the walrus said, “to talk of many things: of shoes—and ships—and sealing wax of cabbages—and kings.”

Combining unusual ideas is at the heart of creative thinking. The ancients mixed soft iron with even softer tin to create hard bronze. Gutenberg combined the wine press and the coin punch to create movable type and the printing press.

What different ideas can you combine?

I often wonder if Steve Jobs had one of these little Creative Whack Packs on his desk as I revisit Roger’s card no. 18, “Think Something Different,” which reads…

Scientist Albert Szent-Gyorgyi said creative thinking consists of looking at the same thing as everyone else and thinking something different.

• The first person who looked at waste saw dust and thought “compressed fire log” did this.
   
• The first person who looked at packaged baking soda and thought “refrigerator deodorant.”
   
• The first person who looked at an oyster and thought “food.”

What different ways can you think about your idea?

That’s where the Creative Whack Pack really helped me separate the wheat from the idea, the chaff, and I started integrating many of Roger’s lessons into my own mental digestive process so that I would not beat myself up trying to come up with the perfect idea.

Some of the top idea-starters from the Creative Whack Pack were:

            •           Solve the Right Problem

            •           See the Obvious

            •           Focus on the Truth

            •           Don’t Force It

            •           Pause for a Bit

            •           Loosen Up

            •           Think Like a Kid

            •           Be Whacky!

That’s what I liked most about the Creative Whack Pack. It gave me the “kick” I needed generate new idea, trust my gut, and look at what I was doing in a fresh and exciting way.

You see, as marketers, copywriters and advertisers, we’re on the constant hunt for new bold and winning ideas.

Because there’s a lot at stake riding on the outcome of our ideas, the pressures on us to mentally produce winner after winner after winner. The pressure can create a huge roadblock to developing a winning idea.

And unless you are taking a break, loosening up, thinking like a kid, and, of course, getting whacky, you’re going to burn yourself out.

Frankly, it is that free time away from my work I have found to be the most productive in developing winning copy and marketing ideas.

When you think about it, this is no different from a farmer who allows his land to lie fallow, to naturally replenish its nutrients—rather than keep it under constant production, ultimately stripping the soil of its crop growing nutrients.

Your mind works the same way. Which is why I learned a long time ago to take some time off, stop trying to force it, think like a kid, and, of course, BE WHACKY!

Truth is, your subconscious mind is constantly recording and storing all sorts of ideas and bits of related data. By allowing your mind the freedom to pause, it can free up your subconscious to think outside the box and bring to fruition ideas that you hadn’t thought of before.

One of my best examples I can think of was an idea that I came up with for one of the subscription-based investment advisories. I had just come back from vacation when it occurred to me that a subscription to a newsletter was the same as a membership in a club.

So I pitched my publisher this idea: “How about instead of us offering the $199 newsletter for $99 as we always do, we transform this newsletter into a club? This way we can give prospects the $199 newsletter for FREE—all for simply joining our $99 investment club.”

KA-CHING! This promotion continues to resonate as that companies’ control piece for the past eight years—all by changing the offer.

Another example:

Back in 2000, a newsletter publisher asked me to create a promotion for his general interest publication. The problem was that nobody wanted a general interest publication.

None of the ideas he was generating were taking hold.

When I got back from taking some time off, I pitched him this idea: “How about we change the positioning of this piece to technology? Everybody wants technology stocks and 400% gains. Nobody wants general interest. They want to get rich now.”

His reply: “But we are a general interest publication and most of our techs are rated “avoid.”

My reply was, “Then we will tell them to avoid the ones that will send them to the poorhouse and buy the ones that will make them rich.”

My “Boom or Bust for Technology Stocks?” captured over 40,000 new readers and was that publications’ best promotion ever.

And there are many other creative winning ideas I’ve developed, because I used the Whack Pack to…

            •           Imagine How Others Would Do It

            •           Focus On The Real Truth

            •           Look to the Past

            •           Listen to That Hunch

            •           Ask What If?

… and, of course, by follow Oech’s advice to “Use a Good Idea, Combine Ideas, and Think Something Different.”

Together, they can provide you, too, with a proven technique for producing winning advertising, marketing, and copywriting ideas.

Another Great Way to Find Winning Ideas 

Create a swipe file of ideas you can use to "steal ideas" for whatever project you are working on.  That's what I did when I started my copywriting career.  I collected winning samples from all the great copywriters.   

I would always search through them for headline starters... transitions... calls to actions...order form closes etc...

I would memorize them like a high level judo black belt would memoize thousands of attacks and defenses in order to hit high percentage throw while avoiding getting thrown. 

Using this base of knowledge, I was able to test and refine key principles of direct response copywriting that have yielded over $100 Million in sales.  

All by assembling a swipe file of high level copy, assimilating that knowledge, and applying it to my own projects. 

The result was control after control after control--for 30+ years. 

If you have not yet assembled your own swipe file, I would recommend you do so now.  It will be the fastest way I can think of for you to up you copy skills. 

If you are looking to jump start your success, I invite you to make my swipe file a part of yours. 

Volume one features 10 of my favorite promotions.  The same ones that I use to coach my copywriting students on my Million-Dollar Copywriting Formula.

Each one has been hand-picked by me to give you a bank of winning headlines, leads, transitions, and arguments that you can turn to whenever you need inspiration for your next email, landing page, or video sales letter.

They include:

• The Great Retirement Betrayal. This was my first grand slam promotion. As you'll see, it's written like a grandfather whose only goal is to make sure you don’t get ripped off by bankers, brokers, and the government. When you read it, you’ll see how you, too, can add this same friendly/fatherly tone to your sales letters, landing pages, and webinars. 
   

• One Nation Under China is one of my best examples of using the Trojan Horse.  Written like a highly-charged news article, it slowly walks you down the order form using a combination of fear and greed.  It is one of my best examples of using the news hook to move your readers to do a swan dive to the order form. 
   

• Tap the Hidden Wealth Inside Your Paycheck was written and targeted at regular everyday people who are trying to get ahead in life and just don’t know how.  You’ll read how I speak to them in a to-a-friend-from-a-friend tone.  This launch package beat a well-known A-list writer’s effort and was money for me for two years.   
   

• The One Stock That Will Make You a Marijuana Millionaire is one of my best examples of using a single stock story to sell a subscription to an investment newsletter.  The big takeaway here is how I use undeniable proof to make the case for owning this incredible stock.   Another two-year control. 
   

• The New Science of Getting What You Want was self-promotion for a book I authored 15 years ago.  In it, you’ll read how I use my credibility, track record, and the dream of achieving success to walk the reader to the order form.  You’ll also see how I integrate a no-risk money-back guarantee throughout. 
   

• The Fast Money 2020 $1 Million Giveaway is the transcript for a highly successful two-person webinar/VSL. You’ll see how I use a conversational back-and-forth style to keep viewers engaged in learning the secret trading strategy that will make them rich. 
   

• Oil Time Bomb to Blindside U.S. Investors was one of my favorite all-time promotions.   REASON:  It uses my famous “either-or” news approach to bring in readers on both sides of the argument. Prospects read every last word to see if they are right.  This was a three-year control using various headlines and was converted to a highly successful VSL. 
   

• The Lightning-Fast Profits Summit is the transcript for another highly successful trading service VSL I wrote.  Here you will see one of my biggest secrets at work:  How explaining how the trading mechanism works to prove to readers that this system will make readers money.    So powerful, you may forget this is an example and subscribe! 
   

• The Retirement Club is one of my legendary email promotions that ran in various formats for over a decade using a simple e-vite and landing page that transformed a publication into a club by repositioning the offer.  
   

• The Master Key to Marijuana Profits relaunched a struggling publication to incredible success.  The key to success was taking a macro-economic view and then drilling down into the individual stock picks. 

Individually, you’ll see first hand:

• My headline formula for grabbing readers by the throat

• How I use subheads and bullet points to keep the readers' interest throughout each promotion

• How I drop “cookies” throughout each piece to build desire. 

• How I close sale after sale with time-proven calls-to-action that work! 

Together, you’ll find 233-pages filled with dozens of headline, subhead,  landing page, and call-to-action ideas and offers you can use to keep your copywriting strategies fresh and engaging.  

My hope is that you can use the structure and format of my winning promotions as a step-by-step guide to writing your next big winning email, landing page, or VSL. 

Considering my $100 million track record, you would think it would cost an arm and a leg to own copies of my top swipes.  

Nothing could be further from the truth.  When I tell you how little it coes, you'll be truly amazed. 

In fact, the regular price for all 10 swipes is a shockingly low $325, or $32.50 each for a winning promotion, that, together generated millions of dollars.  Ideas that you swipe as much material out of it as you want! 

However, for a limited time I am offering it to you for just $260--that's 20% off the regular price and a small investment to pay to get your hands on the same techniques I have used to generate over $100 million in subscription sales. 

There's just one catch. 

My introductory offer ends in 24 hours. 

When you consider that each one is packed with 38-years of copywriting knowledge and million-dollar results, this is an opportunity I would take advantage of now before this opportunity expires. 

You have my word--if you are willing to spend a few minutes each day studying and learning my techniques, you will achieve the same kind of succes I have achieved and may will never write any other way again. 

So is it a deal? I hope so.

Because tomorrow the price WILL revert to $325 and the window of opportunity will close. 

So what are you waiting for?

Click here to add my $100 Million Copywriting Swipe File to your library today. 

I promise it will be one of the smartest copywriting decisions you make in 2022.  

All good wishes, 

Doug D'Anna