We said goodbye to our precious dog 3 days before Christmas and a month shy of her 19th birthday.

 

Merry Christmas and condolences to any who have cause to mourn. Our little Chenoa couldn't quite make it to her 19th birthday. One of our neighbors called her "The dog of a lifetime." Everyone knew she was special.

Talk about mellow! She only barked when the doorbell rang, making sure we knew someone had come to say hello. And when other neighborhood dogs barked and got aggressive, she just looked at them with a curious expression on her face.

Three years ago in October, she had a herniated disc in her spine, and the vet said we should consider putting her down. My sports chiropractor Russ Harward came to the resuce. Utah is only one of five states where a chiropractor can work on an animal without a referral from a vet. Russ adjusted her spine and bought us over three more years.

So today, Rita and I are having a mellow but heartfelt Christmas.

Part III: BigFix Gets a "Cease and Desist" from a Game Manufacturer

 

Who would have thought that the term "BFG" was copyrighted/trademarked?

So instead of continuing to run this ad with "BFG" on the gun, we wrote "BIGFIX" on the gun. Sigh.

Sincerely,
Rick Bennett
Ad Hit Man

Part 2: Big Fix Continues to Pound the Competition

 

Between their patents and killing all the competition in a particularly snarky way, Big Fix quickly took over the end-to-end/single-console security business.

Sincerly yours,
Rick Bennett
Ad Hit Man

Part I: Getting Big Fix on the Map

If you're wondering why I write sci-fi novels, Big Fix is a prime case in point. This is the start of a campaign that eventually saw computer-security client Big Fix acquired by IBM.

I found a sci-fi artist in Canada named Daryl Mandryk, and this is the start of a wonderful campaign that shook up the world.

Stay tuned.

Sincerely yours,
Rick Bennett
Ad Hit Man

Me and Artist Peter Max, making a $25K investment turn into $500K in gifts to the Data General sales force.

After I ran for the US Congress (and lost), Data General hired me to do advertising and "special projects." My literary agent also represented famous artist Peter Max, and we did a $25,000 deal with him.

He delivered an original piece of artwork, with 250 signed and numbered prints for awards to the Data General sales force. I told the recipients that they could hold the art prints for one year, and then donate them to schools and libraries after getting them appraised. The art prints appraised at over $2000 each, and that gave the sales guys (all high-income/high-tax-bracket people) a great tax write-off. The company had the option of donating the original at a much higher price, getting the same tax write-off.

I say "To heck with gold pens and special wristwatches. Give your high-performing salespeople something of REAL value."

As I was exiting Data General and heading to Silicon Valley, I did another art deal with Peter Max. The first year went over really well with people.

Sincerely yours,
Rick Bennett
Ad Hit Man