Lightning doesn't always strike twice. My ad running Linus Torvalds for president was a smash hit. This one flopped for my client.

 

Linus was flattered and spent the afternoon at my client's booth signing copies of the ad. Marc Benioff, however, was irritated by this USA TODAY ad that had everyone at Dreamforce asking him about his presidential bid. Of course, it didn't help that the ad invited people to stop by Reachable's Dreamforce booth to get a copy of the ad for Marc to sign. Sincerely yours, Rick Bennett Ad Hit Man

This billboard that never ran was my suggestion to a preacher with the same name as me who found my rickbennett.com website.

 

I got a call one day from a fellow named Rick Bennett who found me by googling his own name. He was a preacher in Mineral Wells, Texas and wondered if I could help him promote his ministry. I asked him a few questions and determined that he didn't "pass the plate" to his congregation. I was impressed that he wasn't involved in what my own church calls "priestcraft," or charging for "the word." I suggested he run this billboard in Texas.

Helping him consider damage control, I told him that his competition in "The Bible Belt" would probably crucify him on some fence posts, but that it wouldn't kill him. Having recently had a bicycle accident myself, I told him his body would probably go in to shock when they drove the nails into his hands, and that some Good Samaritan would definitely find him and take him to a hospital. After which he could claim in his sermons that he knew how Jesus felt.

Alas, he never ran the ad, although he subsequently ran for mayor of Mineral Wells, TX. If you're ever driving through Texas, you might stop in his little town and look up Preacher Rick Bennett. Say, "Hi!"

Sincerley yours,
Rick Bennett
Ad Hit Man

How I took over a Linux tradeshow and had Linus Torvalds spend the day sigining copies of this cheap/regional WSJ ad.

 

Yep, I know. Linus can't run for president because he's not US born. But he sure loved this ad, and showed up at the Linuxcare booth to meet everyone. And he stayed to sign copies of this ad. Because I needed the ad to run on a certain day, we paid the WSJ about $15K for the SFO edition. I could have gotten a "remnant" rate of around $3K if I'd given them a 3-day window. Sincerely yours, Rick Bennett Ad Hit Man

One of my other clients was acquired by the government and went dark thereafter. It is reported they run security at the White House. I thought this was a cool headline…

 

Learn.com didn't get invited to the White House. They were acquired by Taleo which was then acquired by Oracle.

Sincerely yours,
Rick Bennett
Ad Hit Man

For $7,000 I got my client the automaker's attention.

 

My client was Scott Smith, CEO of KIDZ MAGAZINE. He wanted automakers to advertise with him. Did you know Detroit has the cheapest billboards in the world? I got this on a major highway near the GM HQ. Result?

Not only did the the Saturn division of GM request a meeting, but so did Toyota. Evidently, they had teams snooping around Detroit, too.

Here's the link to the video we produced for the landing page: https://lnkd.in/gMjr9jCU

Sincerely yours,
Rick Bennett
Ad Hit Man

My filmmaker friend Jeff Hays wanted to promote his new film with a WALL STREET JOURNAL AD. Here's what I created for him.

 

Interestingly, for you fledgling filmmakers, this movie was funded by what Jeff calls "an under-represented" group of people in the medical community. If you find such a group, they will be the source of your funding. Selah. Sincerely yours, Rick Bennett Ad Hit Man

How do you reach a major prospect who'll be at the same trade show?

 

A little known trick is to buy "remnant" ad space in a regional edition of USA TODAY. Call it $3,000 for Chicago. My client, IRM, had been trying to get through to the CEO of McCain Foods. I created this ad which ran in USA TODAY. Many hotels put the newspaper on the doorsteps of their visitors. Result: EVERYONE came by the IRM booth. Everyone except McCain Foods. And their CEO didn't even come to the trade show. The good news: IRM was quickly acquired by another entity. Selah. Sincerely yours, Rick Bennett Ad Hit Man

My dog taught me how to live each day with joy.

Chenoa, 1/20/2007-12/22/2025. She died just a month shy of her 19th birthday. I miss the mutt and was pondering today the lessons she taught me.

She taught me how to love unconditionally. How to forgive. How to be loyal. How to serve others. And how to find joy every single day.

Sure, I anthropomorphized her in my novel THE LAST WILL AND TESTAMENT OF HARLEY AND HIS DOG (https://lnkd.in/gpGpWvD9). When my wife got her, I vowed to never EVER be mean or thoughless toward her. I achieved that goal. She was my buddy.

Chenoa slept in our bed with us for all that time. I groomed her every two weeks (I hired a groomer to show me how to do it in our home, because she panicked when I took her to an outside service.) And I bathed her every week. She had hair, not fur, so my wife wasn't allergic to her.

Like I say, I deeply miss her, and hope we'll meet in the next life. New twist to religion, eh?

Peace, my friends.

Rick Bennett
Smitten by a Dog

How I crashed Akamai's annual customer conference

 

My client, InStart Logic, had a BIG competitor and a limited ad budget. Their competitor, Akamai, had their annual customer conference in Miami. I created this billboard for just two locations in the Miami airport, both on the escalators to baggage claim, that reached 100% of the arriving passengers. Talk about going viral! Tens of thousands of hits on the website, and lots of business for InStart. The following years, Akamai made sure this advertising space was used by THEM. How's that for getting into the heads of the competition? Sincerely yours, Rick Bennett Ad Hit Man

My Edgar client just became CEO of McGraw Hill

 

While serving on the Safeguard Scientifics board of advisors, I became friends with Philip Moyer, CEO of Edgar Online. The consummate professional, I knew this guy was going places. I created this ad for Edgar Online, and have followed my "bet" for a few years.

Philip became CEO of Vimeo. And then, last week, he was named CEO of McGraw Hill. Congrats Philip!

I sent him a note suggesting that, in a perfect world, McGraw Hill would make my novel DADDY'S LITTLE FELONS the textbook for cyberprivateering. Maybe if I introduced him to Sam Jacobs, the editor-in-chief of TIME MAGAZINE (who published my op-ed piece on cyberwar: see https://lnkd.in/gXkKUKMZ) they'd see that this is an idea whose time has come.

Sincerely yours,
Rick Bennett
Ad Hit Man

CRIMINAL DEFENSE ANYONE? Here's my successful law firm ad.

 

Okay, it was for my late father, DICK BENNETT, who died about five years ago. He practiced criminal defense law until he was 90. This ad ran in the Seattle-area Yellow Pages and not only buried him in business, but won awards from the Washington State Bar Association for three years running. Yeah, that was back in the days when the Yellow Pages were the only directory access to which defendants had access after their arrest.

We also advertised on matchbook covers, which Dad donated to bars (go figure). Talk about a media goldmine: drunk drivers also smoke and need matches.

My favorite copy is at the end: "Don't let DUIs and family spats land you with a cell MATE who'll show you the true meaning of…HARD TIME."

I keep waiting for a personal injury law firm who wants to absolutely shake up the whole industry. Yep, I've got a TOP SECRET way for you to put everybody else out of business.

Sincerely yours,
Rick Bennett
Ad Hit Man

One of the great professional ironies of my career: Why hasn't ORACLE FINANCIAL SERVICES SOFTWARE LIMITED or Microsoft acquired CONNECT AND SELL?

 

I created this billboard to run near the Oracle HQ in Redwood Shores, CA. To this day, CONNECT AND SELL is the most unique calling technology anywhere on Earth. Simply, for pennies per call, they can connect you directly with any decision maker, anywhere. Everybody else is trying to offer this to the SDRs and professional sales people, but nobody else is doing it.

Owning a lot of stock in this company, I'd hoped for a payday. Alas, no sale. And they let the URL lapse. You can find them at www.connectandsell.com.

Sincerely yours,
Rick Bennett
Ad Hit Man

ClearPlay fought Hollywood…AND WON!

 

ClearPlay fought Hollywood…AND WON!

Several Hollywood entities brought lawsuits trying to bar ClearPlay from filtering movies people displayed in their homes. They said it impinged on the directors'/screenwriters'/etc. art. CEO Bill Aho argued the we have the right to determine what enters our homes. Congress finally stepped in and said Clearplay is right. Competitor VidAngel had a problem, because they altered the videos and sent them back to the buyer (they have since adopted the streaming model of on-the-fly editing). In fact, Bill Aho left ClearPlay and became the CEO of VidAngel.

I created this WSJ ad that put ClearPlay on the map. Hey, I struck a blow for decency and morality! I still use ClearPlay so I can see movies that would not otherwise make it into my home.

My favorite show for the grandkids is ZOMBIELAND. With the exception of Woody Harrelson using the "F" word in almost every scene, the movie is great fun and has become a tradition around grandpa's house.

My "guilty pleasure" is to bring in my neighbor and former Navy Captain to binge-watch the JOHN WICK movies (keep the violence, kill the profanity and nudity). We both love our now-deceased dogs, and vow to "go John Wick" on people who are cruel to doggies.

Sincerely yours,

Rick Bennett

Ad Hit Man