The Lure of Exclusivity
Beware the siren song of privacy, privilege and riches!
Vol. 6, Issue No. 13 | July 6, 2010 By Denny Hatch
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IN THE NEWS
Exclusivity at Viva Cala Mesquida Resort, MallorcaDeep in the secluded luscious greenery of Cala Mesquida, it isn’t traffic I hear when I awake, but the gentle sounds of waves and the coercing murmurs of sea breeze. This is as far as one can get from bustling urban life, raucous tapas bars and skyrocketing shopping malls. I open the curtains of our deluxe apartment to a jaw-dropping sea view, and an inviting Jacuzzi right on our patio.
A sea of turquoise blue and a multitude of ragged cliffs lining the coastline, Cala Mesquida is a secluded and unspoiled corner of Mallorca that thrives under year-round sunshine and natural architecture. Secretly tucked within the craggy coastline of the bay is the Viva Cala Mesquida Resort, a lavish property poised right on the cliff’s edge.
—Nellie
WhyGo Spain travel website, June 17, 2010
For years I have been preaching that successful advertising efforts must contain at least one of the key copy drivers: fear, greed, guilt, anger, exclusivity, salvation, flattery. “If your copy isn’t dripping with one or more of these,” said Seattle guru Bob Hacker, “tear it up and start over.”
“Why don’t you put these into a book,” asked my wife Peggy, “so the marketers and writers can see actual examples how they are used?”
“Great idea,” I said. Last month DirectMarketingIQ.com published “The Secrets of Emotional, Hot-Button COPYWRITING,” by yours truly, with the invaluable assistance of the brilliant Who's Mailing What! Archivist, Paul Bobnak.
Of the seven drivers, “exclusivity” may be the most overused and corrupted word in the English language. For example, when I entered “exclusive” into Google, I was instantly informed of 30.4 million new entries in the past 24 hours.
Nellie’s paean to the hilltop resort in Mallorca (see “IN THE NEWS” at right) is harmless enough. “On the secluded bay, there are no other resorts besides Viva Cala Mesquida and its jointly owned Club and Vanity Hotel Suites,” she writes a couple of paragraphs later. “Such exclusivity gives guests plenty of privacy and privilege.”
“Privacy and privilege.” Isn’t that what many folks crave in this epoch of Internet social media, Web cams, street-corner security cameras, paparazzi, GPS tracking devices and thousands of behavioral databases where your most intimate demographic and psychographic secrets are being rocketed around the country hundreds of times a day?
If you can persuade people that you offer privacy and privilege―along with the opportunity to get rich―you’ve got yourself a tidy little (or maybe a very big) business.
Here’s how some entrepreneurs did it.
Joel Nadel
In the mid-1980s―in my early years of collecting junk mail for the newsletter, WHO’S MAILING WHAT!―I began receiving some truly exotic #10 envelopes with return addresses in the upper left corners that indicated they were mailed from London and Zurich. If you click on the first image in the mediaplayer at right, you can get a sense of the mystique these seemingly international envelopes created.
Takeaways to Consider
- “Privacy and privilege.” Isn’t that what many folks crave in this epoch of Internet social media, Web cams, street-corner security cameras, paparazzi, GPS tracking devices and thousands of behavioral databases where your most intimate demographic and psychographic secrets are being rocketed around the country hundreds of times a day?
- The lure of exclusivity—of privacy, privilege and wealth—is an emotional hot button for people in every demographic stratum from ordinary folks all the way up to the ultra rich and famous. Look at the luminaries that fell for Bernie Madoff’s siren song: L’Oreal billionaire Liliane Bettencourt. Kevin Bacon, John Malkovich, Larry King, the estate of John Denver, Henry Kissinger, Eliot Spitzer, Jeffrey Katzenberg, Elie Wiesel, Fred Wilpon (owner of the New York Mets), Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ) and Steven Spielberg.
- If you can persuade people that you offer privacy and privilege—along with the opportunity to get rich—you’ve got yourself a tidy little (or maybe a very big) business.
- “The right offer should be so attractive,” said great direct marketing guru Claude Hopkins, "that only a lunatic would say no.”
- At the same time, “exclusivity” may be the most overused and corrupted word in the English language. For example, when I entered “exclusive” into Google, I was instantly informed of 30.4 million new entries in the past 24 hours.
Websites Related to Today's Edition
Viva Cala Mesquida ResortJoel Nadel: “Liechtenstein Is Worlds Away from Boca Raton”
“An Oasis Rich in Shady Operators”
Bill Bonner Website Based on Exclusivity #1
Bill Bonner Website Based on Exclusivity #2
Dr. Frank R. Wallace & Neo Tech
Nouveau Tech Mailing (PDF)
In the box, Search by archive code #: Enter: 105-704495-0904
“The Secrets of Emotional, Hot-Button COPYWRITING”
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