This Steve McQueen movie BULLITT made me decide to go into advertising.

 

In 1968, I was in college majoring in mathematics. The BULLITT scene where the bad guys were following McQueen changed my life. Suddenly, McQueen turned the tables and sneaked behind their Charger in his Mustang. What did the goons do that changed my life? The Charger driver calmly buckled his seatbelt, ready for business. How did this change my life? Simple. Until this point in my young life, I'd ignored the public service messages singing, "Buckle up for safety, buckle up…" What a waste of air time. But the role model of serious people getting down to business behind the wheel by buckling up was GREAT. From that point on, whenever I got behind the wheel of my car, I buckled up. Now THAT WAS ADVERTISING THAT WORKED. Hollywood morons insisted that people don't emulate characters in movies and sued ClearPlay for allowing people to edit what comes into their homes. They said it violated the right of writers/directors to have their creative output altered. What unadulterated crap. Congress actually told Hollywood to back off…or else. Good call. Thanks, BULLITT. Seatbelts have saved me more than once. Sincerely yours, Rick Bennett Ad Hit Man

My wonderful history with HORROR MOVIES and the new technology that lets me create memories for my grandkids.

 

When I grew up in Sheridan, Wyoming, my parents owned a drive-in theater. I saw every movie between 1952 and 1963 at least three times. My favorites were horror movies like Frankenstein, Dracula, and the Werewolf. Naturally, when I raised my own children, I delighted in watching Friday night's CREATURE FEATURES, or KOLCHAK THE NIGHTSTALKER, or taking them to ALIEN. In that first ALIEN, I noticed they all had their hands over their eyes. So I said, "Hey, you know Tom Skeritt isn't going to die, because he's the star." The signed and uncovered their eyes just as the alien monster killed him. Heh heh. Signorey Weaver was the star! I went home that night with black and blue arms from getting punched. Early on, I told the kids how I learned to deal with nightmares about monsters. I'd turn around when the monster was about to pounce and say, "Let's go have a peanut butter sandwich upstairs." In the history of advertising, that original Frankenstein movie (where the little girl was picking daisy's by the stream) inspired the greatest political ad of all times: Tony Schwartz's DAISY commercial, which ran only one time on one network and completely destroyed Barry Goldwater's presidential campaign. Now, thanks to ClearPlay on-the-fly DVD movie-editing (I put them on the map with their first WSJ ad), I created a new family tradition with my grandchildren: I play the cleaned-up (no foul language from Woody Harrelson) movie ZOMBIELAND. One of the great lines from the movie involved zombiekiller rule #2: DOUBLE TAP. In fact, in her church talk prior to leaving on an LDS mission for Chile, my granddaughter Aimee was challenged to use the term "double tap" in her farewell talk. Not only did she cleverly use it, but the other speakers that Sunday mentioned it in their talks. Double tap. Words to live by. Interestingly, one of my Wall Street buddies ran a brokerage firm. While he was at lunch, is brother Sean Cunningham met with his team and funded the movie FRIDAY THE 13TH. I still remember that knife going through Kevin Bacon's heart from underneath the bed. Besides ZOMBILAND, I haven't seen a horror movie in over 30 years. It's just no fun, now that the kids are grown. In fact, most of my grandkids are married with their own children. But it's about time for me to introduce my growning heard of great-grandchildren to the edited version of ZOMBILAND. Sincerely yours, Rick Bennett Ad Hit Man

When I was 8 years old, I wanted to be Harry Houdini.

 

The 1953 movie where Tony Curtis played Harry Houdini inspired me. My folks owned a drive-in theater in Sheridan, Wyoming. I saw every movie that came out between 1950 and 1963 three times. I became an official member of the magicians union (kids sign up for every mail-order scam going). I read all the biographies of Houdini. I begged my dad to borrow some handcuffs from the police, which he finally did (he was a lawyer). He even took me to jail, where they locked me up, handcuffed in a cell. Getting my handcuff lock pick out of my butt cheeks was tough, given that I'd been cuffed from the front. But I managed and amazed the local constabulary. I still have my own set of handcuffs with which I amaze an occasional Sunday School class to this day (no, I don't do the butt-cheek-pick routine any more). But I guess showmanship and wonderful magic caused me to gravitate toward entertaining guerrilla warfare advertsing. Have a great Memorial Day weekend. Let me know if you'd like to see some real magic. Sincerely yours, Rick Bennett Ad Hit Man

Heaven help us from being deluged with AI-generated recruitment ads! The dead giveaway: "We're looking for story tellers."

I've been checking out new technology companies needing CMOs and VPMs. I have yet to see anybody who claims total uniqueness. In fact, all the "About this Job" postings look to be generated by the same AI engine. How long, oh gosh, how long…?

So I guess I'll hunker down and rip out another sci-fi novel. Sure, I use AI to do research and to generate proof-of-concept Python code. But no AI has ever touched my creative writing. And it never will. Sincerely yours, Rick Bennett Ad Hit Man

My best guess on the reality of UFOs/UAPs is in my novella TABERNACLE CHOIR ALIENS.

 

No, I don't contend these guys are in the Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square in Salt Lake City. That was just window dressing. I contend the City of Enoch is about to return to Earth. I wanted to post this in advance in case I'm right.

You can get the audiobook at TABERNACLE CHOIR ALIENS

Sincerely Yours,
Rick Bennett
Ad Hit Man