书城英文图书人性的弱点全集(英文朗读版)
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第44章 The Movies Do It. TV Does It.

PRINCIPLE 10:

Appeal to the nobler motives.

Why Don’t You Do It

Many years ago, the Philadelphia Evening Bulletin was beingmaligned by a dangerous whispering campaign. A maliciousrumor was being circulated. Advertisers were being told that thenewspaper was no longer attractive to readers because it carriedtoo much advertising and too little news. Immediate action wasnecessary. The gossip had to be squelched.

But how?

This is the way it was done. The Bulletin clipped from itsregular edition all reading matter of all kinds on one average day,classified it, and published it as a book. The book was called OneDay. It contained 307 pages—as many as a hard-covered book;yet the Bulletin had printed all this news and feature material onone day and sold it, not for several dollars, but for a few cents.

The printing of that book dramatized the fact that the Bulletincarried an enormous amount of interesting reading matter.

It conveyed the facts more vividly, more interestingly, moreimpressively, than pages of figures and mere talk could have done.

This is the day of dramatization. Merely stating a truth isn’tenough. The truth has to be made vivid, interesting, dramatic.

You have to use showmanship. The movies do it. Television doesit. And you will have to do it if you want attention.

Experts in window display know the power of dramazation.

For example, the manufacturers of a new rat poison gave dealersa window display that included two live rats. The week the ratswere shown, sales zoomed to five times their normal rate.

James B. Boynton had to present a lengthy market report. Hisfirm had just finished an exhaustive study for a leading brand ofcold cream. Data were needed immediately about the competitionin this market; the prospective customer was one of the biggest—and most formidable—men in the advertising business. And hisfirst approach failed almost before he began.

“The first time I went in,” Mr. Boynton explains, “I foundmyself sidetracked into a futile discussion of the methods usedin the investigation. He argued and I argued. He told me I waswrong, and I tried to prove that I was right.

“I finally won my point, to my own satisfaction—but my timewas up, the interview was over, and I still hadn’t produced results.

“The second time, I didn’t bother with tabulations of figuresand data, I went to see this man, I dramatized my facts.

“As I entered his office, he was busy on the phone. While hefinished his conversation, I opened a suitcase and dumped thirtytwojars of cold cream on top of his desk—all products he knew—all competitors of his cream.

“On each jar, I had a tag itemizing the results of the tradeinvestigation, And each tag told its story briefly, dramatically.

“What happened?

“There was no longer an argument. Here was something new,something different. He picked up first one and then another of thejars of cold cream and read the information on the tag. A friendlyconversation developed. He asked additional questions. He wasintensely interested. He had originally given me only ten minutesto present my facts, but ten minutes passed, twenty minutes, fortyminutes, and at the end of an hour we were still talking.

“I was presenting the same facts this time that I had presentedpreviously. But this time I was using dramatization, showmanship—and what a difference it made.”