Here's the auido book of first 20% of my sci-fi novel THE LAST WILL & TESTAMENT OF HARLEY AND HIS DOG.

 

If you're into audio books, I think this is a passable job of computer-generated voices.

Sincerely yours,
Rick Bennett
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The 2nd-greatest ad in all of human history: Tony Schwartz's DAISY

 

A video from one of my guerrilla warfare lectures.

Sincerely yours,
Rick Bennett
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How I used Final Cut Pro to change the name of the Armageddon commet to Bill Gates

 

Before the days where AI could do anything whimsical. Sincerely yours, Rick Bennett Ad Hit Man

I always liked granting a "Get Out of Jail Free" to my client's clients.

 

Remember this, old friend Adam Joseph?

Sincerely yours,
Rick Bennett
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With book reviews like this, you'd think I'd have a best-seller.

 

Just goes to show that I haven't cracked the code. Yet. Sincerely yours, Rick Bennett Ad Hit Man

Finally a great book review from the hard-boiled former editor for Robert Ludlum, Clive Cussler, and Hunter S. Thompson.

 

"…wonderful fun to read, from start to finish…convincing and compelling for even a skeptical cynic like me…winner here…thoroughly credible…a wonderful vision…a splendid conception, brilliantly executed…deep, spiritual piece of work…" Alan Rinzler (former editor for Robert Ludlum, Clive Cussler, and Hunter S. Thompson. My literary agent asked former editor Alan Rinzler to look at one of my early novels. He didn't like it. I asked if it needed editiing. He said it needed a blowtorch. Yikes, that bad? Conventional wisdom, I later found out, was that you should burn your first million words. I took that to heart and paid attention to "learning my craft." The same agent submitted my manuscript for DESTROYING ANGEL to Rinzler for his critical review, and he gushed over it. One of the biggest ironies of my life is that I never swung a movie deal for a book that could have made the careers of many women actors. Sigh. Sincerely yours, Rick Bennett Ad Hit Man

A wasp decoy that replaces the wasp killers that capture and then starve them?

 

I'm getting soft in my old age. Last year we replaced the wasp death traps that torture them in favor of decoys. The theory is that wasps are territorial and will not venture into other wasp's nests. These decoys seemed to do the trick. We did the same thing with vole repellant, rather than the chemicals that not only kill the voles but the predator birds that eat the dead voles. My wife just stuffs moth balls into the vole holes. Moth balls drive voles off our property. I call this positive messages (advertising) to pests. Sincerely yours, Rick Bennett Humane Ad Hit Man

“It's not whether you win or lose, it's how good you looked doing it!” David Lee Roth of Van Halen

 

My buddy Charlie Engar and I had a bike ride that didn't interfere with showing up at Arlyn Anderson's son's wedding reception. It was down the hill from us, so we just dropped in. Arlyn had his photographer queued up to get this photo, which he sent to us. Standing behind me, Charlie died last year of a brain tumor. The day before he died, I showed him this photo from my phone. He laughed one last time. Sincerely yours, Rick Bennett Ad Hit Man

My creative for Post Modern Computing scared them so badly, they never hired me. Maybe my pitting them against Microsoft's OLE was a bad idea?

Sigh. Sincerely yours Rick Bennett Ad Hit Man

The old TV show HAVE GUN WILL TRAVEL inspired this headline.

 

Interestingly, MR Rangaswami and Jorge Lopez went on to spectacular careers as VC/Indiaspora founder and Gartner guru respectively.

Sincerely yours,
Rick Bennett
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Forest Gump, another image that has become iconic.

 

"…helping so many ordinary systems professionals become extraordinarily successful." Great message. Very successful ad.

Sincerely yours,
Rick Bennett
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Regards to MR Rangaswami

Want to crash a trade show? Offer to print door hangers or key cards for hotels in the city hosting the show!

 

I've done this twice and had great success.

Sincerely yours,
Rick Bennett
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The Godfather movie inspired a lot of one-liners, like "the offer they couldn't refuse."

 

That horse head in the bed created a memory I wish I didn't have.

Sincerely yours,
Rick Bennett
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How I raised over $7,000 for my explorer scouts' Summer activities.

 

Simple. We sold advertising to people to go on cards that were then delivered to every home in town. Hey, who wouldn't put emergency numbers over their phones (that is, when everyone had landline phones)?

Sincerely yours,
Rick Bennett
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My philosophy of guerrilla warfare advertising, circa 1994.

 

Enjoy.

Sincerely Yours,
Rick Bennett
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I say too many "Uhs" and "Ahs" when I'm thinking on my feet in this interview with Tom Schwab. Apologies!

 

Tom has a great podcast, but I'm much better when presenting from my own script. I've got to remember free-form interviews require thinking before speaking. Forgive me.

Sincerely yours,
Rick Bennett
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Okay, I couldn't resist using my fake nose/glasses to nail the Forté competition

 

Also one of my favorite copy lines: "Nobody else can do this. Everybody else is trying."

Sincerely yours,
Rick Bennett
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A guaranteed way to get a cease-and-desist letter from 20th Century Fox?

 

Well, the customer agreed to let us tout the customer relationship. I couldn't resist using a 3D rendering program to do this visual. But the 6-point type saying "All other trademarks acknowledged" didn't cut it.

But Sun Microsystems like it. They acquired Forté. Then Oracle acquired Sun. And I got to cash in all my stock options. Cool.

Sincerely yours,
Rick Bennett
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One of my most successful early efforts got written up in the WSJ, Business Week, and got a ceast-and-desist from Star Wars.

 

My client had a file conversion business, and I created a passport. Science Fiction author and computer geek Jerry Pournelle (who later became a friend and endorsed my first novel) wrote it up in a Business Week story. And the WSJ picked up my "soul-catcher clause". Oh, and Lucas Films took issue with my not recognizing their intellectual rights from the first Star Wars film.

Success is like a drug. You keep trying for the next hit.

Sincerely yours,
Rick Bennett
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