Fwd: The Truth Behind Those 5G Television Commercials…

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On Feb 27, 2020, at 1:02 PM, Casey Daily Dispatch <subscribers@exct.caseyresearch.com> wrote:

Trouble viewing this e-mail? Click here to read it online Editor's note: Regular readers know that Strategic Investor editor E.B. Tucker has been pounding the table on 5G technology and its global rollout. So today, we're sharing a piece from Casey Research friend and former tech executive Jeff Brown. He covers all sorts of ground-breaking technologies in his Bleeding Edge newsletter… including the details of the 5G rollout. Below, he answers readers' most common questions about 5G… including whether you can believe the hype, what's ahead for the wireless technology, and what you should do to prepare in the meantime… The Truth Behind Those 5G Television Commercials… By Jeff Brown, editor, The Bleeding Edge In 2020, we'll witness the rise of a revolutionary new technology… It will be a cornerstone for other bleeding-edge innovations like self-driving cars, robotic surgeons, and advanced augmented and virtual reality applications. I'm, of course, talking about the rollout of 5G networks. For readers who don't know, 5G will deliver mobile speeds that are, on average, 100 times faster than today's 4G networks. For over a decade, I worked as a technology executive for the likes of Qualcomm, NXP Semiconductors, and Juniper Networks. I've been directly involved in the rollout of previous mobile networks like 3G and 4G. And I can tell you with certainty that 5G won't just be evolutionary, it will be revolutionary. With 5G, you'll be able to download a two-hour movie in 10 seconds. Dropped phone calls and slow-loading web pages will be things of the past. You've undoubtedly seen commercials for 5G services. Perhaps you noticed that 5G networks were live at Hard Rock Stadium during the Super Bowl in Miami. 5G is getting very "real" in 2020. Cristiano Amon – president of telecommunications company Qualcomm – predicts that 5G will be live in every metro area in the U.S. by the end of 2020. But for all the promise of 5G, there are still a lot of questions. Today, I'm going to answer the top three questions readers have about these next-generation networks. Recommended Link In the Markets: What should you do about the 'Corona Crash'? If there's any kind of stock crash, most Americans will be blindsided! While many will run scared, what you're about to see could be the biggest opportunity of your lifetime. And please do NOT share this video with anyone... if it goes viral, there could be consequences. Click here now to see it   Question No. 1: Are These 5G Ads True? You've likely seen a commercial like this over the past few months: Wireless carrier T-Mobile claims to have the first nationwide 5G network. The first question most readers have: Are these ads accurate? The answer is yes… and no. 5G network architecture has changed compared to 4G. 5G operates over higher frequencies than the previous wireless generations. It requires far more towers. For major metropolitan areas, this could mean one small cell phone tower on almost every street corner. T-Mobile's rollout strategy takes advantage of its lower radio frequency (RF) spectrum in the ultrahigh frequency (UHF) band. The lower spectrum provides miles of coverage for each base station compared to the higher frequencies. But these lower frequencies don't enable 5G's top speeds. Using the lower end of its 5G RF bands, T-Mobile will be able to cover a larger percentage of the U.S. population in a shorter time frame. But this means T-Mobile will not be able to deliver one gigabit per second (Gbps) speeds (100 times faster than most 4G) right away. 100 megabits per second (Mbps) speeds are far more likely. Over time, T-Mobile will still have to build out the rest of its 5G small-cell network to bring its customers one Gbps speeds. Why would T-Mobile go this route? From a marketing perspective, T-Mobile will be able to claim nationwide 5G coverage by the end of 2020. From a financial perspective, it is much less expensive to build out the lower-speed 5G network instead of the dense small-cell architecture from the beginning. T-Mobile is dealing with its merger with Sprint and large debt loads. It makes perfect sense for it to take a "capital-light" approach to 5G at first. It is hoping that the 100 Mbps speeds with nationwide coverage will help increase its customer base, thus improving its own financial position. So the next time you see one of these commercials, you'll know that the claims are technically correct. But it's not "true" 5G. Recommended Link This will make Nancy Pelosi's blood boil... President Trump may be the most important thing to ever happen to the stock market… And the profits of American investors. But he's not tired of winning yet. In fact, he has a shock in store for Americans. A secret plan that will add rocket fuel to the already hot tech market… The Democrats don't see this coming -- Question No. 2: Should We Buy 5G Phones Now? "When should we buy a 5G phone?" That's the next question I hear from readers all the time. Remember, the smartphone we use today won't be able to access 5G. Consumers will have to purchase a 5G-enabled phone if they want to gain access to these new networks. More and more options are hitting the market, like Samsung Galaxy S10 5G, Samsung Galaxy Note10+ 5G, LG V50 ThinQ, Huawei Mate 20 X 5G, and Motorola's 5G Moto Mod, to name just a few. But here's my recommendation: Hold off for now. Some of the early 5G phones use modems that could soon be obsolete. These chips are only able to access certain radio frequencies used by 5G. The Samsung Galaxy Note10+ 5G, for instance, uses Qualcomm's X50 modem. These modems can tap into the ultrahigh 5G frequencies. However, these modems can't make use of the lower high-frequency networks favored by providers like T-Mobile that I mentioned above. To put it simply, many of these early phones won't be able to make full use of the networks. And as a final consideration, the answer will also depend on whether your hometown is an area that will receive 5G wireless network coverage this year. Obviously, if you live in a town that doesn't have 5G coverage yet, there isn't much point in having a 5G-enabled phone. But for readers who live in a market with 5G, my strong preference would be for the 5G iPhone, due out in the fall. Apple, as a company, puts a strong emphasis on security and user privacy. Compare that to Android, which actively collects user data to better target us with ads. Question No. 3: But What About 6G? We're just at the beginning of the 5G era. But already, several investors are curious about 6G. This question shows a lot of forward thinking. Industry experts met at the first major 6G gathering in Finland back in March 2019. That led to the launch of the 6Genesis Flagship Program (6GFP). It's an eight-year, $230 million project to develop, implement, and test the key technologies needed for 6G. But why are industry experts already talking about 6G with 5G just now gaining steam? The answer is that wireless technologies are about a decade in the making. It's a complex development process that requires an incredible amount of collaboration in the industry. To develop a next-generation wireless standard typically requires more than 100 companies working together and contributing their intellectual property. Believe it or not, we started working on 5G way back in 2010… just as 4G was being rolled out. So the new focus on 6G this early is normal. The same is true for each wireless generation. 6G will require small cell architecture like 5G. Except it will need even more cell towers and base stations in order to operate at even higher frequencies. That's just what's needed to get the deep network penetration necessary to deliver higher speeds and larger bandwidth. We can expect 6G speeds to be about 10 times faster than 5G. That puts us around 10 gigabits per second. In other words, 6G would be, on average, about 1,000 times faster than today's 4G. That might seem unnecessarily fast. For how we use today's wireless networks, it is. But with more bandwidth and higher speeds come applications that utilize the newfound network capabilities. And we can expect artificial intelligence (AI) to be deeply sown into 6G networks. AI will help manage what will be incredibly complex wireless networks. And it will enable incredible services even above what 5G will bring. Of course, you won't hear me talk about 6G much in the next few years. That's because there are no 6G investment opportunities yet. It's still a decade out. So we are laser-focused on 5G right now. The 5G boom is just hitting the sweet spot as we move into 2020. I'm not exaggerating when I say that this is a "once in a decade" investing opportunity. One day soon, we will wake up to a world powered by these 5G networks. Thanks to 5G, technology like self-driving cars, holographic telepresence, and virtual reality applications will be the norm. And investors who didn't invest in the 5G opportunity early will wonder how they could have possibly missed it… Regards, Jeff Brown Editor, The Bleeding Edge P.S. Some investors may be skeptical of the potential of 5G. Is it really revolutionary? Is the investment potential really that extraordinary? I spent a decade working as an executive in the telecommunications industry. And I can tell you the answer is yes. But the time to take a position is now. By the end of 2020, 5G will be widespread. Hundreds of millions of 5G devices will be sold. And the largest investment returns will be gone. That's why I've been preparing my readers right now. Details right here. Reader Mailbag In today's mailbag, readers continue to react to Doug Casey's controversial idea to abolish nationalized healthcare. Some agree with Doug, claiming it only adds to society's sense of entitlement: Without writing in detail, I agree with Mr. Casey's thesis in favor of personal responsibility for one's health, medical expenses, and, indeed, all personal expenses. Obviously, however, his solution of simply eliminating all governmental responsibility for "healthcare" is no longer feasible in a society already conditioned to "entitlement" from cradle to grave. At present, we're on a collision course. However, I believe those who face reality can make valuable daily progress in building liberating mental, physical and spiritual health. At 92, my own life is full, active, purposeful, and often joyous, none of which could be true without fairly continuous obedience to the laws of health, as summarized by Mr. Casey. – Cohleen Doug's right. How can we assemble enough support to start? Then, what would be the next logical steps? This is a gigantic problem that will require a serious coordinated effort over a considerable amount of time. Thank you, Doug, for your thoughts. – David But others think there's something else to blame for rising health care costs… Insurance companies wanted to charge higher premiums, so they inflated claims and inflated what they paid doctors. And naturally, doctors lapped it up.You can't back down from that. Before that, I could go to a doctor with 30 bucks and get something done, and be done with it. Those were the days. You're coming across as abusive and crudely sarcastic in this writing. – Emily I certainly don't think that Medicare was the worst thing to happen – I'd say that huge tax cuts for billionaires were the worst. No, we shouldn't abolish nationalized health care. What about the person who is in a car accident, or who has a baby, or who is born with a heart defect? "Tough noogies"? I have a feeling that you never help anyone except yourself. – Suzanne What do you think? Is Doug right that the government shouldn't be in charge of healthcare? Or do you agree with readers who say his plan is too harsh? Join the conversation by emailing us at feedback@caseyresearch.com. In Case You Missed It… Jeff Brown Just Revealed THREE Early Stage Tech Deals. Did You See? Jeff Brown revealed an entirely new way to invest in the tech market. Of the trades he's made in this market, 100% have gone up… but he didn't stop there. He tested his system against 87,600 hours of historical data and it still had a 96.5% success rate. How? It's extremely selective. Out of 1,345 available investment choices… 88 passed muster. Of those, 85 went up (494%... 617%... 793%... 884%... 2,293%... even 11,764%). Now, Jeff has revealed details on three of these investments you can buy right now. It's not too late. Click here for all the details. Casey Research 55 NE 5th Avenue Delray Beach, FL 33483 www.caseyresearch.com FACEBOOK TWITTER To ensure our emails continue reaching your inbox, please add our email address to your address book. This editorial email containing advertisements was sent to stevescott@techacq.com because you subscribed to this service. To stop receiving these emails, click here. Casey Research welcomes your feedback and questions. But please note: The law prohibits us from giving personalized advice. 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Fwd: Silicon Valley (Case study)

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On Feb 17, 2020, at 12:01 AM, Bryan Kreuzberger <support@breakthroughemail.com> wrote:

Steve, This email is a story about one of our clients. I can't share their "real name" due to NDA's. I changed the dates and personal details to keep it confidential. Enjoy! In October 2015, Mike Hucks was hired to run marketing for Japple, a new software company that recently landed contracts with EA Sports, Sony, Facebook, and Google. Japple made it easier for companies like Google to develop, run and host Virtual Reality applications. Virtual Reality was so data-heavy that as one Google executive said, "It felt like it was going to break the internet." Japple fixed that. On Mike's first day at Japple, there was an article in the San Francisco Chronicle, they raised $22M in series B funding. They earmarked part of the funding for marketing, thus Mike's role. Mike or "Huck" as he was known, was tall, athletic and looked every bit a salesman, even though he considered himself more a marketer. Mike was from Boston and Catholic. Unlike his brothers and sisters, who no longer attend church, he went every week, even on vacation. The CEO of Japple, Bill Rexberger, on the other hand, had a reputation as a tyrant. His subordinates called him "Tyrannosaurus Rex," which he played up. He was a former sales guy from Oracle, that resigned two years prior to starting Japple, or as people inside Oracle said, "He was asked to leave." Bill could be likable (ish) when he wanted something. As the Japple Controller said, "Before I was hired Bill was nothing like what people said about him. He was so kind, and patient. Then I began working for him. In our first all-hands meeting, he screamed at an engineer who accidentally turned off the site (for seven minutes). He told him to 'GET THE FUCK OUT." He turned to his assistant to call security and clear out his desk. I was so embarrassed, I considered not going to work the next day." Bill rarely saw his kids or wife, commenting to one employee, "Anyone can be a good dad, few people have it in them to be billionaires." Japple had a president, Bill's brother who ran operations. The CTO, who used to work with Bill at Oracle, ran development. Everyone envied the engineers because they worked in the Burlingame office, 15 miles from Bill's outbursts. The board knew about Bill's reputation but forgave him because he delivered. The sales team was mostly 20 somethings, recruited from HP and Salesforce, with the hope of being on the next rocket-ship. Everyone in San Francisco had a friend who was a former employee #22 at "insert the next hot-startup," and was now buying a ski-in-ski-out condo in Squaw Valley or cashing in stock to fix up a Victorian. VR had potential, and the employees, like the investors, knew it. They openly shared that Japple could be the next 'billion' dollar company. A former EA Sports engineer, who was recently hired to run QA testing at Japple said, "Why would you want to stare at a screen when you could be on the screen in VR?" Mike went to NYU undergrad and got his MBA at Columbia. Unlike the rest of his graduating class, Mike didn't go to Wall Street. He didn't particularly like finance or marketing for that matter. He spent most of his career in New York at a series of media and cybersecurity startups. Mike was 47 and had a string of close misses. One startup had a $350 million offer. The CEO and board passed on the deal, holding out for more money. With a 1.4% stake, Mike would have made $4.9 million, more than enough to move to Cape Cod and become a high-school lacrosse and history teacher, his dream. Instead, the company went bankrupt 9-months after the offer. Every Christmas Mike would get Christmas cards from his Columbia friends with pictures of their families in St Barths, or the Hamptons. Whenever he and his wife visited them in the Hamptons, his wife spent most of the car ride home complaining about all the things Mike wasn't providing. Her mom thought she should have married a banker. Mike didn't care about the money. He just wanted to win, at least once. He was tired of hearing about twenty-something engineers, fresh out of college making tens of millions. When he accepted the Japple offer, Bill gave him one directive, develop a marketing plan to triple revenue—by the end of the year. Japple had raised $35 million in VC funding from the "Who's Who" of Sand Hill and Bill along with the board only cared about one thing—growth. As Mike looked at different marketing channels, he met with the sales team to understand where the leads were coming from. The deals came from Bill's network and board referrals. Both of which dried up. The consensus was if they wanted clients they would be at the upcoming VR trade shows. And if Japple wanted to be the next Snapchat, they needed to move fast. To round out his plan, Mike added a new website, content strategy and paid search. He also wanted to hire Propeller, a highly regarded PR firm, which Mike knew from New York. He estimated the marketing budget needed to triple revenue was $750,000. He doubled it, just to be sure. Japple had enterprise-length sales cycles, which would make tripling revenue that year difficult, if not impossible. Their fastest deal took six months to get through legal, and many times their sales team was still working on contracts 18-months later. The trade show schedule was in the spring, which was only weeks away. Fortunately, some of the higher end sponsorships were still available. Mike asked the trade show organizers to come up with a couple of "BIG PACKAGES." Over a series of emails, Mike negotiated the price down from $90,000 to $40,000. On the day of Mike's presentation about his marketing to the board, he reserved the conference room and walked in 30 minutes early. Bill was already there. Bill's said, "You're not going to disappoint me are you, Huck? I'm expecting to be impressed." Bill said it without looking up from his iPhone. As Mike presented, Bill paced the room like a Dad waiting for his daughter to come home from a date. When Mike finished, Bill said, "If I approve this budget, is it gonna work?" Mike said, "Yeah, 100%." "You need to triple revenue next year, are you sure?" "Yes, my only concern is it's a new product, so I don't have a lot of data to go off of." "I assume you've taken that into account." "Um, yeah…I just…" "Mike you can't fuck this up." Mike realized at dinner, he forgot to eat all day. "Startups," he thought. A team of eight salespeople traveled to Boston for their first tradeshow. They paid a sizable chunk to have the new booth shipped overnight. When they got the booth quote, they considered renting a U-Haul and driving it themselves to save money. The first day, they hosted a cocktail hour to kick off the event. The final day Bill gave a keynote during the lunch break. Everyone who stopped by their booth loved their demo. The show was a huge success. In the first three months, Mike lived in the airport. He racked up enough Delta points to send his family on vacation to Hawaii. He was living in hotels, working double shifts. Most nights were spent on the phone with the PR team or working on the website redesign. Propeller got Japple articles in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal and TechCrunch, which Mike's wife cut out and put on the fridge so his kids wouldn't forget him. Japple was burning $1.5 million per month and was far from profitable. They had a strong pipeline, but they were having trouble converting the deals. The trade shows were great for visibility, but they weren't providing enough leads. Mike calculated the cost per lead at $2,000 was a lot higher than he expected. (He kept this to himself). In the same period, Bill hired ten new salespeople (still no VP of Sales) and the team spent most of their time cold calling. Despite all their efforts cold calling they still didn't have enough leads. In Q1 of 2016, they missed their number and there were only two remaining trade shows scheduled for the rest of the year. Fortunately for Mike, the board pressured Bill into hiring a VP of Sales, Jeff Minksy, a former Microsoft guy who relocated from Seattle and worked with one of the Board members. Before Microsoft, Jeff worked at an ADP competitor and was known a grinder, an "Eat what you kill" kind of guy. Jeff was supremely confident, some people said overly. Jeff wanted to build out an SDR team and put sales in charge of outbound. He hired two guys to lead it. Mike was more than happy to give it up, between the travel, PR, and website projects, his plate was full. Mike was looking for any way to get leads. He increased the search spend from $3,000 to $15,000 a month. They missed their Q2 goal. There wasn't enough search traffic and the SDR team wasn't doing as well as Jeff expected. But Jeff always seemed to have a good reason for it, "they bought the wrong data," "they were changing systems because of deliverability," "they needed better subject lines." After the Q2 board meeting, Bill sent Mike an email and asked him to come in at 8 A.M., which wasn't unusual but based on Mike's performance (or lack thereof) he made sure to back up his computer the night before. The next day, Bill said he expected Mike to deliver 150 PQL's (Pre Qualified Leads) by August 30th. Mike's best month was 38 PQL's. And that was after two trade-shows. Bill went on to tell him he expected 150 PQL's each month and if he couldn't do it, he needed to start looking for a job. After the meeting, Mike called a couple of the CMO's he knew, from a CMO advisory board he was part of. Because of the immediacy, his only option was outbound. They shared thoughts on how he could improve his in-house SDR team. A couple of the CMO's tried outbound agencies which seemed to help. Mike got a couple of referrals. He started calling around looking at cold calling, and other outsourcing options. Later that night he hedged his bet. He called back to a couple of recruiters who had "exciting opportunities he would be perfect for." He thought there is no harm in getting a cup of coffee. In June 2016, I got an inquiry from Mike on our website. In our first meeting, I explained the pros and cons of building it in-house versus outsourcing. Mike found out about us from one of our clients who used our system. Mike said, "I never respond to people I don't know, but there was something about the email that your clients sent that intrigued me. I couldn't put my finger on it." I smiled through the phone. Within a week of meeting, Mike faxed over a signed contract. He bought 120 meetings per month for $22,000/month. He canceled two trade shows for the following year to pay for it, much to the disappointment of the trade show salesman. As we rolled out Mike's campaign, we interviewed their customers to find key phrases, language and trigger events to use in their campaigns. Bill hadn't been to any of our meetings and when I presented the copy to them, Bill was concerned the copy didn't look like Japple's other materials. At the end of the meeting, Bill said, "Listen I didn't hire you, but from what I understand you offer a money back guarantee, so I'm willing to at least give it a shot." On the car ride home, I told the account manager assigned to Japple, "We might not be working with Japple long." We built the list of targets for Japple, starting with an account based program targeting CIO's, CEO, and CTO's because "C-Level" decision makers shorten the sales cycle. In the first month, we sent over 60 meetings (PQL's), including several CEOs of companies like the Royal Caribbean and Citrix. Although Mike was happy, he wanted more. We told him he could expect to ramp it up over the next couple of months. Campaign (After 6 months):

Month 1 2 3 4 5 6 Meetings 60 85 115 135 155 160

In the first month, the team quadrupled their pipeline. At month four, Japple closed a $1.5 million deal, which was the fastest sale they had to date. At month six, Mike doubled his spend with us, contracting 240 meetings which made Japple our largest account. He also bought our "Drip Campaign" program. We launched two industry-specific campaigns, one for gaming companies, and another for entertainment. In the first year, they added $75 million to their pipe, $22 million of which they closed. Campaign (After 12 months):

Month 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Meetings 60 85 115 135 155 160 245 250 260 275 235 255

Mike missed his goal of tripling revenue, but he kept his job. For now. At their sales offsite, Bill rolled out bigger goals for 2017. He asked (and by asked I mean told) Mike to double revenue. Jeff, on the other hand, didn't make it. The cold calling effort flopped and Bill became allergic to his long list of excuses. They're now on their 3rd VP of Sales since we started working there. Since we started, we helped the sales-team improve their in-house SDR effort, which gives Mike more control and on average another 120 leads per month. Japple just raised another $40 million, and although they are growing, Mike's far from retiring. He is volunteering as an assistant coach for his son's 12 and under lacrosse team, who recently won the Northern California Junior Lacrosse championship. Mike, unfortunately, missed the finals because of a work trip. Despite all Mike's success, Bill tells him his days are numbered (half joking—half not). A few months ago Mike was in New York for a work trip and had lunch with a friend. The friend asked how his new gig was. Mike said, "It's a spiritual journey." He wasn't kidding. -- Thanks, Bryan Kreuzberger P.S. In this email I experimented using the story format. Tell me what you thought of it...

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Fwd: 6 dead legends (in search of an audience)

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On Feb 2, 2020, at 3:05 AM, Brian Kurtz <brian@briankurtz.me> wrote:

Steve   Shortly after leaving Boardroom in 2015, I was offered an opportunity to co-write and edit a book with my friend Craig Simpson.   I was already considering my own book (which became Overdeliver in 2019)--but when Craig told me about what he was planning, I couldn't say no…it was too good to pass up:   "We are going to explore in depth the groundbreaking work of six Legends of advertising, marketing, and copywriting and bring to life some of their most important techniques and concepts, many of them implemented almost 100 years ago. The thesis will be that what they invented is actually the foundation all marketing is based on today. If we want to work most effectively, we have to go back to the source."   I believe that Chapter Two of Overdeliver on "Original Source" was the continuation of the book Criag described above, The Advertising Solution.   After all, you gotta know where babies come from…   I have talked about my life's mission to be the bridge between all of the eternal truths of direct marketing of the past and how those truths can be applied to everything we deem as state-of-the-art in the multi-channel marketing world in the present…and on into the future.   And it's amazing how much the six Legends profiled in The Advertising Solution realized the importance of measurability, testing, and what makes people tick (and buy) without a computer, the Internet…or yes, even Facebook.   It's funny (not "ha ha funny")  that most of the people I grew up with in direct marketing in the 80's and 90's sort of gave up when the Internet came along…too much to learn and too much to adapt to…and a traditional "retirement" looked more attractive to many.   And as I have said in the past, too many of my mentors (the teachers I grew up with) are dead.   That is, when I was in my 20's and 30's I gravitated to folks in their 60's and 70's (because they had all the accumulated wisdom)—but unfortunately they are no longer with us.   It was those people who would never have given up and they would have embraced the Internet…but unfortunately they ran out of time.   I see this whole "Internet thing" differently since I am still a young man…and I believe it will catch on. :)   The Internet is the ultimate direct response medium—with infinite possibilities which can give us immediate feedback and tons of applications.   But I needed much more education.   Lucky for me, the education I had gained during the first 20 years in the business was all applicable to everything I would learn over the next 20 years…and beyond.   And that initial education was my golden ticket into the rooms where it's happening now.   I just needed to connect the dots.   I also re-defined "retirement" in the words of entrepreneur coach Dan Sullivan:   I am retired from all of the things I'm not good at and I'm retired from all of the things I don't like to do; and I am retired from people I don't want to hang out with anymore.   I may not be good at online marketing but I do like it a lot—so I realized I need to never retire from being a lifelong learner (i.e. student).   And that's a big reason why I said yes to The Advertising Solution.   I found it fascinating once I dug in how much these six legends understood, clarified, and demonstrated principles that have become the lifeblood of all we do in marketing today—both offline and online.     What that means is, regardless of what type of promotions you are doing today, whether it's direct mail, email marketing,  blogging, social media or anything else, these are the principles you must understand—and use.   They are as vital and practical today as they were when they were first put forward.   But then you must put them into practice through all the marketing channels available today. I am on a lifelong quest to convince everyone that this is true. I'm getting there.   I am a student in one way or another of these six incredible men—true heroes to me (and so many others)—and now I am a student of everyone who is inventing and creating today as well.   * * *   I think there's a theme here worth noting about the six "old timers":   The universal truths they wrote about are timeless.   Yes, some things will sound and feel outdated since they are not talking about social media or anything digital, but consider how much of their work has stood the test of time—it transcends technology.   One of my favorite quotes is from one of the great advertising men of all time, Bill Bernbach (which I quoted in both The Advertising Solution and Overdeliver):   "Adapt your techniques to an idea, not an idea to your techniques."   It's not "I want to advertise on Adwords or Facebook"; it is "I have an idea—what platform or medium is most conducive to working for that idea?"   I don't want to get too dramatic here, but these six guys are the "builders of the pyramids," creating something incredible without the use of modern technology.   And I am not going out on a limb to say that if these six Legends were alive today, they would see the Internet as the ultimate direct response medium (as they should).   They would have a field day applying their genius to marketing online (especially because they would not have to pay for postage).   I admit that the books and newsletters that these Legends left us can be a little difficult to get through--they were often written in a style that sounds a bit foreign to us today.   The Advertising Solution takes the essence of each of these greats and makes it easy for you to understand, assimilate, and start applying in your own work.   Basically, we created, in one volume, a way for you to access these Legends without having to read everything they wrote.   A checklist for the ages.   And if you want more from any of them, their writing and wisdom is readily available.     Warmly,     Brian     P.S. Below is a quick synopsis of why Craig and I chose these 6 Legends…as an addendum:   Claude Hopkins "invented" Scientific Advertising; and knowing that he wrote his masterpiece in 1923 and that it still holds up to this day tells you a bit about how influential he was then…and now.   His book is one of very few on a short list I recommend to anyone beginning a marketing career today.    (Note: You can get a free PDF of the illustrated and annotated version of Scientific Advertising at the resource page for The Advertising Solution—along with swipes and videos from the Legends.)   In one of the later editions of the book, it was said that, "Hopkins is hopelessly out of date, and amazingly current."   And I admit, as did the writer of the foreword of that edition, there are things that Hopkins wrote about that have been disproved in various ways, but the fact remains that he was all about "scientific advertising" in a time when there was very little "science" available (i.e. the ability to track and create automated metrics wouldn't happen until decades later) is astounding.   Robert Collier wrote the Robert Collier Letter Book in 1937—a dense read—with lessons in writing sales letters for a lifetime.   While it is not talked about as the "must read" as often as the masterpieces from Ogilvy, Caples, and Hopkins, Craig and I learned as much studying how Collier dissected the construction of the sales letter.   One of the most exciting things about what Craig and I have done with Collier's opus, a somewhat forgotten classic, is that we were committed to distilling the gems into usable advice and techniques for anyone writing sales letters today.   Collier, despite being relatively unknown (and less read), might have been the premier sales letter copywriter—ever. It is so satisfying to expose Collier's wisdom to a new generation.   John Caples was probably the first person to understand direct marketing measurement, metrics, and testing methodology. Tested Advertising Methods is in its fifth edition and is still a must read for anyone who writes copy or promotes anything in any medium. The fact that this "bible" of proven advertising techniques has continuously been updated to reflect all of the changes in marketing today tells us that Caples was clearly on to something.   David Ogilvy was a direct marketer trapped in a general advertiser's body. He was a true creative genius and pioneer who understood "direct marketing" before it was ever talked about separately from "advertising."   He did not, however…   "…regard advertising as entertainment or an art form, but as a medium of information. When I write an advertisement, I don't want you to tell me that you find it 'creative.' I want you to find it so interesting that you buy the product."   Gary Halbert is a Legend in this book who I had the pleasure of meeting, and his influence has expanded even many years after his premature death. We lost him way too early.   Over the years, I have met dozens of copywriters he mentored, some of whom are the best copywriters in the world today. Through his writings and interviews he continues to influence the marketplace in a major way.   When I started in the newsletter business in 1981, I read a Halbert quote that guided me and helped me grow one of the largest consumer newsletters ever, Bottom Line/Personal.   He simply said:   "People subscribe to your newsletter for what they think you will do for them; they re-subscribe because they like you."   That shaped the way I acquired new subscribers and how I renewed them…sort of like "they come for the information and stay for the inspiration." And renewals are everything.   I know Halbert influenced everyone he touched.   I don't know of one great copywriter working today who has not studied Halbert in some form…learned from him…and continuously re-read the incredible body of work he left behind in swipe files readily available to everyone.   Gene Schwartz, the one Legend I knew well and someone I can call a mentor, was (and still is) as influential as anyone who has written copy or marketed products in the history of advertising.   Schwartz was a true Renaissance Man, as well-read as anyone I have ever met, and someone who really understood what made people tick—and buy.   Schwartz was able to get into the psyche of all the audiences he wrote to…and the clients he worked with intimately.   His landmark book, Breakthrough Advertising, is considered the most important book ever written on copy, creative…and human behavior.   Written in 1966, not one word has been changed in the current edition…and it remains 100% relevant and is considered a masterpiece and a must read for anyone in m effectively. I know many copywriters today who follow Schwartz's methodology almost like a religion.   As I said last week, Gene Schwartz didn't write copy—he assembled it.  The copywriters who say they learned their craft from him (and from Breakthrough Advertising) are some of the best writers our industry has ever seen. And they tell their students and followers to read Breakthrough Advertising (and The Brilliance Breakthrough) before embarking on their career.   P.P.S. Oh…I almost forgot…   If you want to buy The Advertising Solution with all the free resources go to:   www.TheLegendsBook.com       If you no longer wish to receive our emails, click the link below: Unsubscribe   Brian Kurtz, P.O. Box 12 Westport, Connecticut 06881 United States