A new interview - with Linda Caroll

Hi Martin,

Thanks, that was another very insightful interview!

Here is one part of your interview which stood out for me....

BizE-zine: What do you think is the secret of great advertising?

LC: While I've never bought an ad for my own business (it thrives on word of mouth and referrals) - I create ad strategies for my clients daily.

I believe that good advertising must surprise the viewer.

People see the same old lines and ads and buzzwords all the time. If you can surprise them, make them laugh, make them curious - or just make them feel emotion that's when you get response.

What this made me think of is what Joe Sugarman calls the "slippery slide" approach to advertising.

His approach is that the ONLY job of the headline is to get you to read the sub-headline.

The ONLY job of the sub-headline is to get you to read the first line of text.

The job of THAT line is to get you to read the next line.... and so on. Of course, in there somewhere is also a sales message....

Joe Sugarman describes this approach in his book "Advertising Secrets of the Written Word," and it's also described in "Outrageous Marketing" by Jon Spoelstra (who was one of Joe Sugarman's students).

Or I guess the "surprise" can be the "A" in the well-known "AIDA" formula for advertising (Attention, Interest, Desire, Action).

Martin, I was wondering if youy had any comments on this - on the value of surprise? It seems to be a different approach from the one which focuses on BENEFITS in the headline, for example....

And also (this kind of relates to the copyright discussion elsewhere here).... In an interview, who owns the copyright?

For example, I know with photos, the photographer owns the copyright (not the subject).

So, if it is an AUDIO recorded interview, does the person making the recording own the interview? Or does the person being interviewed partly own it (since it's their words)? If you know more about this, I'd be grateful if you could shed light on this topic....

Again, thank you for these fantastic and enlightening interviews!

- Dien Rice