Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[Benjamin Liu]

Maybe a year ago I got an email with a link to a marketing video.  I've long since deleted it and I forgot who the marketing guru was, but I've seen his name before.  The videos was an ad for a copywriting course IIRC.  


In the video the speaker told a story about how he was given a sheet of paper with a short bio and list of qualifications by a MA video company and he had to turn it into a sales letter, turning it into an impressive story and tell the customers what the videos would teach them.


He mentioned that in part of the story the instructor was in a bar with a nickle in his pocket and had to fight skinheads, and IIRC that was in TRS' letter selling Chris Clugson's videos.


His point IMO was that you don't really need to know much about the product to write persuasive copy.


That tells me that many of these sales letters are lies, especially if the copywriter gives a long list of bullet-points on what the videos cover and all he saw was a page with a bio and qualifications.  I'm pretty sure many of these guys make up the meanings of the info in the bio sheets they get.  

I've seen some pretty funny MA mistakes as well, such as an instructor being a 4th Degree Black Belt in Yondan.

[Hock]

The guys at TRS who wrote the ads had no experience in fighting. They just followed formula ad writing somewhat geared for the subject matter.

They did not butcher me too much when they did my films but they butchered Mike Gillette. Their sales pitch was to sell Gillette as a skinny shrimp who fought crazed, crack-head, meth dealers.

They neglected to mention that Gillette actually looks like Mr. Universe.

But they decided on that sales pitch and off they went a written'...

Hock

[Joe Hubbard]

Didn't TRS portray you as a cop who worked the streets of Texas, Oklahoma and Australia?  I remember reading that and thinking that you were some sort of Lt. Brannigan character.

Saying that, the TRS a was how I first heard of Hock.  I never bought that particular video, but it was that ad that took me to Hock's website and introduced me to what he was doing.

Joe

[Hock]

I have that ad buried in a file somewhere. I have the first page of two pages. I think is said South Korea not Australia in which case that was true. I was teaching in Australia twice a year back then and I think they said that, or got that mixed up?

It did say,
    - "He has more black belts that Imelda Marcos has shoes"
    - I was a "murder beat, street cop, a Dirty Harry style..."
    - I had over "1300 felony" arrests - (it's actually about 1500 of ALL types of arrests)
    - I was constantly enhancing my "skills to face "knuckle-draggers from Chicago, and..."
       other nefarious cities? Wha?

The ad was largely about giving away a knife with the video package. The knife was written up as a "gorgeous neck knife. (yeah, gorgeous?)  Of course the knife was coveted by "Special Forces and the infamous, Black Bag community." Probably 8 cents a knife wholesale from Pakistan. Back when Pakistan use to make half the shit found in the US.

The ad copyright wasn't too, too too bad. I didn't like the finished edited version of the two films. It sort of misrepresents my doctrine and is out of context. But like Joe said, a lot of people saw the ad.

Hock

[Joe Hubbard]

It's like you said to me when we did that those Budo projects, "You can't buy that sort of advertising because it's too expensive."

If I remember correctly that TRS ad was at least a 2-page spread and ran for months and months.  Hock was actually one of the last guys who had that sort of advertising from TRS- nice timing!

Joe

[Hock]

Those were too big of ad campaigns to sustain the cost ratio. I think they tried another guy or two after me and then quit that concept. Then they started harassing the public through emails and land mails.

They made some terrible choices picking the people and topics. I remember Mike Gillette pitched them about 8 fantastic ideas and TRS would instead select some "Demetri DogPoo" guy, a total unknown from nowhere with a dead end, repeat of something they've done with somebody else. They also kept using a few folks they did not like at all.

TRS essentially did golf and weight lifting videos and didn't miss the lost "MA" market.

The footage they didn't include in the video set? Awesome. We left the studio and took to the streets in San Diego for knife fight scenes. 6 guys and I choreographed the scenarios. But they were deemed way too violent. Probably were. In one Tom the Arnold Barnhart tackled me, we went airborne, crashed into and dented the side of a pick up truck. Beyond just a pop out repair job. Stuff like that. Lot's of killing stuff. I'd love to have that footage but will never get it. Ten years ago, anyway.

Hock

 

[Benjamin Liu]

I remember those ads.

They seemed confused about the knife.  They called it a "G-45 Woo" and showed a picture of a G-45.  The G-45 and Woo are two different neck knives made by Newt Livesay, and at the time Newt sold the Woo for $25.00 and the G-45 for $20.00 IIRC.

[Hock]

And the Pakistani versions were 8 cents each....

Hock

[whitewolf]

And probably made of Tin-WW