Bond Halbert's Blog

Kevin informs me I have a blog on this website so let’s make it a cool blog.

This blog is where we can cover stuff related to marketing but not necessarily my father. Sure I will tell stories about him and bring him up all the time.

However, sometimes it is best to leave his name out of it. Nobody on earth knows better than I do how Gary thought but even I can’t be 100% certain what he would think all the time.

Since this blog is more about me, we won’t be sending out announcements every time it is updated so go ahead and check back if you like it and ignore it if you don’t.

Today is Columbus Day. When I was a kid we had it off and often there were activities related to the Pilgrims landing at Plymouth Rock.

After years of tearing apart the claim that he was the first to discover America it no longer holds the same marketing cred it used to enjoy.

There is a marketing message in this and I’ll get to it soon.

If you don’t know now, you will soon learn I collect watches. Last night I was reading about a hot debate regarding who came up with the very first automatic chronograph (basically a watch with a stop watch function you don’t have to wind)

It seems a number of companies got together to provide the components to make the watch but of course one had to be the first to market.

Hamilton beat everyone to the punch and got one on the shelves faster than anyone else did.

They should have played that up more and now. The other companies who helped develop the first one advertise themselves as inventors of the first chronograph and it helps. I wanted one of the other companies watches because I thought it was THE first to develop a chrono you don’t have to wind.

The Hamilton in question is rather average looking but much more interesting to me knowing it is the first auto chrono. Over the years Hamilton let others take the same title without saying a word.

Collectors now say things like the first commercially available and the first reliable and the longest lasting when talking about these watches made by the different companies.

After finding this out, I want the watch which was first brought to market.

This is what happened to Columbus. The last couple decades saw all the qualifiers to the claim that he discovered America.

My brother once asked, when two people meet, who discovers who? Of course no Indian wants credit for discovering Columbus.

Anyway, over the last few decades we all learned and came to accept there is no way Columbus was the first to discover America. Evidence suggests he didn’t even know he wasn’t in India even after he left.

So maybe he gets credit for the first white man to discover America? Wait what about the Vikings or even people from Siberia?

Now his title is looking really sketchy.

Then you consider the immediate affects the “Discovery” had on local people and it starts to lose its luster.

Don’t get me wrong. I love America through and through but there is a marketing lesson here.

When you make a claim make it the best claim you can and make it often.

I never knew Hamilton was the first to market and this means others don’t know it either.

All collectors know which watch was the first on the moon because Omega screams it at the top of their PR lungs.

Also, the point of this story is you CAN’T make claims you can only back up with a lot of qualifiers like first successful rocket ship ever made if that rocket sat while another was successfully launched into space.

When people find out a company is willing to really push that envelope they risk a reputation for making questionable claims.

People who learn the truth will now question everything said by the company which claimed to be the first when they were third to market.

This is also true of Columbus. I question the knowledge of all the people who told me Columbus discovered America. They weren’t lying but they could very easily be passing along debunked intel.

I’m pretty sure Columbus is the first modern European to sail to America, think he was in India and sail back to Europe.

Maybe Amerigo who the continent is named after was the first to realize it was a new continent to modern Europeans.

By the way First means a lot.

My dad used to say tell me there are tons of runners who have now broken the 4 minute mile and the only one of note is the guy who did it FIRST!

Columbus got a lot of play out of being called the first and imagine how long he would have been famous had he been called the second person to discover America?

When you can, take credit for those milestones DO SO!

Ask your self if you, your company, or your product are the best, fastest, first, greatest, newest, hottest, most anything etc.

A qualifier or two can help.

Maybe you are the first Pizza joint in Mesa Arizona or the largest club in Omaha.

Start with world’s first or greatest etc. and work your way down until you are telling the 100% truth.

Don’t go overboard and become the First Paintball Course on the east side of the city open later than 10 pm. It gets ridiculous very fast.

These titles mean a lot to prospects. You naturally assume the first has been around the longest and therefore probably knows the most.

The biggest makes you think they are the most popular and therefore pretty good and they have the best prices because we all learned about buying power from Walmart and Costco.

Even saying you are the best is often subjective, but people assume you have to be at least really good to get away with saying you are the best.

Gary Halbert Is The Greatest Copywriter Who Ever Lived!

I can say that for several reasons.

First and foremost, I believe it.

Second, everyone else who would could even be considered for the title needs qualifiers like best in a certain market such as diet, golf, finance etc.

Third, the very best copywriters alive today studied my dad’s work and most of them learned their craft from him.

Best is obviously a subjective term, but I have a solid argument and enough people who agree to make the claim and not look dumb defending it.

In the end Columbus may not be the first to discover America but he gets a nod from me for great marketing. He sold the queen of Spain on giving him ships, sold people on the idea they wouldn’t sail off the edge of the earth and he managed to get to claim to be the first man to discover America.

Happy Columbus Day,

Bond