His name was Rab. He died in Bengal, the land of tigers, in 1941. On his way out the door, he said, “Faith is the bird that feels the light when the dawn is still dark.” When Rab was sixteen, he published a book of poetry under the pseudonym Bhānusiṃha, which means “Sun Lion.” Those poems […]

“In the late summer of that year we lived in a house in a village that looked across the river and the plain to the mountains. In the bed of the river there were pebbles and boulders, dry and white in the sun, and the water was clear and swiftly moving and blue in the […]

“He understood the leprosy of the leper, the darkness of the blind, the fierce misery of those who live for pleasure, the strange poverty of the rich.” – Oscar Wilde, speaking of Jesus in “De Profundis”. Oscar Wilde was 7 years old when Rab was born in Bengal, India.Strangely, I believe they would have been […]

  “The limits of my language mean the limits of my world.” – Ludwig Wittgenstein, Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus (1921) “Uttering a word is like striking a note on the keyboard of the imagination.” – Ludwig Wittgenstein, “Philosophical Investigations” (1953)

    George Orwell wrote “1984” in this exact house on the island of Jura in the Highlands of Scotland. Two famous Shakespearean actors – husband Timothy West and wife Prunella Scales – crafted “Great Canal Journeys,” this fabulous series of documentaries, when they were in their 80’s. This excerpt is from Season 6, episode […]

  “This is a thin place. Only a tissue divides the material world from the world of the spirit.” – George MacLeod, speaking of the Isle of Iona in the Highlands of Scotland. This small isle, just three miles long by one mile wide, had a huge influence on the establishment of Christianity in Scotland, […]

“The Wise Men” by the weird, wacky, and wildly talented Marcel Flisiuk. If you would like to contact our main man Marcel, you can reach him at marcelflisiuk@yahoo.com – Aroo, Indy B.

  Talya Rotbart is shepherding our roving reporter and his deputy, Maxwell, this week in Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy, that lovely city where the 2026 Winter Olympics will be held. The Rotbarts are being escorted by Maxwell’s sister, Avital, and her husband Ben, who live in vivacious Vicenza, Italy, just two hours away. The roving Reporter […]

“Travel is not compulsory. Great minds have been fostered entirely by staying close to home. Moses never got further than the Promised Land. Da Vinci and Beethoven never left Europe. Shakespeare hardly went anywhere at all – certainly not to Elsinore or the coast of Bohemia…. Travel, which was once either a necessity or an adventure, […]

“In my somnolent state I also thought about the Czech Republic. The border would appear in my mind and that gentle, beautiful country beyond it. Over there, everything is lit up by the Sun, gilded with light. The fields breathe evenly at the foot of the Table Mountains, surely created purely for the purpose of […]

At 84 years old and married for more than 50 years, actors Timothy West and Prunella Scales take a moonlit gondola ride in Venice. “Great Canal Journeys,” season 5, episode 1, “Venice”

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We continue to watch Desert Drifter and miss our friend. – Indy and Roy

Pru Scales enacts a bit of French classical drama and her husband, Timothy West, does a bit of Shakespeare’s “Henry II” in the world’s oldest, unrestored theater in Drottningholm, the Royal country retreat in Sweden: “Let’s talk of graves, of worms, and epitaphs; for within the hollow crown That rounds the mortal temples of a […]

On Fri, Apr 18, 2025 at 2:32 PM Stephen Semple <stephensemple@wizardofads.com> wrote: Hey Roy and Jake. I like sharing with you some of the success that have been happening.   Roy, when I started the podcast I committed to the idea of being consistent and staying with it.  That is what I learned from you.  Don’t […]

  Michael Dell and Shaquille O’Neal planned their work and worked their plans. Dell understood the formulas, and followed the rules, of efficiency. O’Neal understood the formulas and followed the rules of basketball. Each of them faithfully followed a Structural plan. Michael Dell invented nothing, improvised nothing, and innovated only once. But that single innovation […]

“Last of the Summer Wine” is a BBC sitcom that ran 31 seasons, from January, 1973 through August, 2010. “The thing about growing up is that you get fewer scabs on your knees, but more internal injuries. Do you remember the day when that little yellowhammer flew straight at the window? You picked it up. […]

Dogzilla poster by Wizard of Ads partner Robin Kressbach.Dogzilla radio ad by Wizard of Ads partners Jacob Harrison, Dave Nevland, and Devin “Spraytan” Wright.

“Thank You” to our friend Ryan Deiss for sending this to our attention. – Indy Beagle

Lewis Caroll was a mathematics professor who stuttered when in the presence of anyone except young children. LC took the 3 young daughters of his boss on a boat ride down a canal on July 4, 1862, in a rowboat traveling on the canal from Folly Bridge, Oxford, to Godstow for a picnic outing, 10-year-old […]

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Here are some relational activation ads to be used in direct mail postcards. When you give Thrift Giant the clothes you no longer wear, you help a new friend get a better job. And you get delightful new closet space in return. 

 Drop clothing off at 
1. our 10 Thrift Giant locations 
    (List […]

Dear Roy and Pennie, Talya and I found this quaint restaurant with tables in its wine cellar and thought you’d love this place. (I don’t drink, but thought it appropriate to pose with a glass of wine — which our son-in-law ordered.) If your future plans bring you to Vicenza, Italy, this is one stop you […]

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https://youtube.com/shorts/G2tihYCvfXM?si=8ZvHGiCDzuZcWLt3

Have You Ever Clicked the WIKIPEDIA Treasure Chest? Roving reporter Rotbart will be away on a secret mission in Italy for the next two weeks. He didn’t tell us exactly what it was, but here are our top 3 guesses. One: He is studying the original manuscripts of Leonardo Da Vinci for a special series of investigative […]

.   My love must be a kind of “blind” love. I can’t see anyone but you. Are the stars out tonight? I don’t know if it’s cloudy or bright.I only have eyes for you, dear. The moon may be high, but I can’t see a thing in the sky.‘Cause I only have eyes for […]

  Sales Activation within a Relational Ad Campaign Last week I spent 11 hours with 4 people who came to Austin. One of them owned a large company. The other 3 were his key people. They told Jacob, the president of Wizard of Ads, that they have long admired the 1-800-GOT-JUNK ad campaign, so they […]

  Are You Exit Ready? Business is a funny thing. When you are ready to sell your business, it is too late to get ready to sell your business. Serious buyers want to see a data room that proves you are making the profits you told them about. If they like what they see, they […]

Michael Drew helps authors turn their big ideas into nationwide influence and income. He has guided more than 130 book authors onto major bestseller lists, including The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal. His methods aren’t just for seasoned authors. Michael has helped business owners, entrepreneurs, and professionals turn their ideas into books […]

  “If we train our children only to harvest, who will plant the seed?” I wrote those words after contemplating the short-sightedness of so-called, “performance marketing,” on March 11, 2010. Performance marketing is the new name for direct response advertising. It works best when it extracts the value from a well-known brand. Its objective is […]

  A 17-WORD DISMISSAL “He is an anxious, envious, frightened little man with a sharpened stick, stabbing blindly at the dark.” (A friend of mine said this recently about someone he does not like. I wrote it down because I felt it was artfully phrased. – Indy Beagle) The TV campaign featuring the Chihuahua mascot, […]

.  “And it rained a sickness. And it rained a fear. And it rained an odor. And it rained a murder. And it rained pale eggs of the beast.” “Rain fell on the towns and the fields. It fell on the tractor sheds and the labyrinth of sloughs. Rain fell on toadstools and ferns and […]

“I wanted to take her hand. I wanted to brush her cheek with my fingertips. I wanted to tell her that she was the first beautiful thing I had seen in three years. That the sight of her yawning to the back of her hand was enough to drive the breath from me. How I […]

  “I am a small poemOn a page with roomFor another. Share with meThis white field,Wide as an acreOf snow, clearBut for these tinyMarkings like theSteps of a bird.Come. Now. This is the troughOf the wave, theSeconds afterLightning, thinSlice of silenceAs music ends,The freeze beforeThe melting. Hurry. Lie down beside me.Make angels. Make devils.Make who […]

The video below contains the lines from Andrew that you heard in the Monday Morning Memo for April 7, 2025, “Incisive and Insightful.” The first lines you heard are at the beginning of this video. The last lines you heard are at the end. But you should watch the whole thing if you have time. […]

. 80,268,548 views May 13, 2013   [NOTE FROM THE SINGER/SONGWRITER] lately i’ve been waking up at 4 or 5 a.m., turning things over in my head. so much to think about, so much to break down and process and decide. i’m only at the beginning, but it has always been important to me that everything […]

  “A trickle of blood came out under the door, crossed the living room, went out into the street, continued on in a straight line across the uneven terraces, went down steps and climbed over curbs, passed along the Street of the Turks, turned a corner to the right and another to the left, made […]

Waters of March A stick, a stone, it’s the end of the roadIt’s the rest of a stump, it’s a little aloneIt’s a sliver of glass, it is life, it’s the sunIt is night, it is death, it’s a trap, it’s a gun The oak when it blooms, a fox in the brushThe knot of […]

The reinvention of Gigi Meier is nothing short of remarkable. After three decades in banking — reaching the boardroom level of a multi-billion-dollar institution — Gigi reinvented herself as a successful romance writer. Gigi has published 16 books, some quite steamy, across three ongoing series. While you might expect Gigi to draw on her extensive […]

I was watching a few of Evan Puschak’s “Nerdwriter” videos when I heard my own inner voice composing a thank you note to him. In the quiet of my mind, I told Evan that I have always found his analysis of literature, movies, music, photographs, and paintings to be incisive and insightful. Incisive Insightful Those […]

Do you remember Anni’s “Pick of the Week” about her and Boz Scaggs? This lady had a reaction very similar to Anni’s reaction.

. . The video below is one of my favorites, ever, because of the shaker player in between Lani Hall on the left (Bali) and Karen Philipp (me). Keep an eye on him! He’s the star of the show!– Hai In the 1958 movie “South Pacific,” the pyramid-shaped Makana Mountain on Kauai’s north shore was […]

  René Descartes (1596 – 1650) famously said, “I think, therefore I am.” This image is Descartes when he realized that people who don’t think, also exist.– Cliff Pollard “The ability to speak several languages is an asset, but the ability to keep your mouth shut in any language is priceless.”  

Born in the heart of the earth, natural diamonds rise up like the notes of a song from the throat of Mother Nature. Born in the heart of a plasma chamber, created diamonds fall softly like snowflakes from the heart of a star that shines like true love. Natural diamonds are earthborn.Created diamonds are starborn. […]

Brian has a 7-acre facility about 10 miles from Wizard Academy. When the Wizard of Ads partners are meeting with clients on campus, Brian is always willing to pop over and share his social media expertise for $1,000 an hour. I asked him if he would be willing to do this by ZOOM for readers […]

When Maria Fraietta’s father passed away in 2021, she and her brothers had to sort through all of their father’s files, financial accounts, bills, titles, and possessions. The project was so daunting that she decided to create a system to help you and me save priceless hours trying to piece together the jigsaw puzzle of […]

Ads that don’t sound like ads are extremely effective. Dave Nevland and Jacob Harrison – longtime Wizard of Ads partners – are famous for creating “pattern interrupt” ads that can be inserted into established ad campaigns to create a new, surprising, and different way to reinforce messages already established by the main campaign. The wizard […]

  Frank Sinatra famously called George Harrison’s song, Something in the Way She Moves, “the best love song ever written,” but he misattributed it to Lennon and McCartney. George Harrison was annoyed by this, so Sinatra covered the song on television and correctly named George Harrison as the writer. . .

The “dirty lowdown” is the honest truth – what Scaggs is encouraging this poor sap to face.  Baby’s into running around, hanging with the crowdPutting your business in the street, talking out loudSaying you bought her this and thatAnd how much you done spentI swear she must believe it’s all heaven sentHey boy, you better […]

  One of 2024’s most popular episodes of Monday Morning Radio featured Australian author Andrew Matthews who, along with his wife, Julie, built a publishing empire that has sold more than 8 million copies of their inspirational books about happiness and resilience. In this, his second appearance, Andrew talks about the persistence, relationship-building and adaptability that are required […]

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Don Quixote by Robert Lebron

Roy wrote the ad and the immortal Dave Nevland engineered the production of it, but the zooby-zooby-zooby-zooby-zooby audio signature is the work of the astoundingly talented Michael Torbay for just 6k. Torbay/6k! – Indy Beagle Dave Nevland has been producing the wizard’s radio ads along with the audio version of the Monday Morning Memo for […]

    “That was her song, for she was the maker. Then we, As we beheld her striding there alone, Knew that there never was a world for her Except the one she sang and, singing, made.” – Wallace Stevens, The Idea of Order at Key West, (1923)

“We find ourselves borne along on the flowing river of Time and the ever-coming thought is, whither?“ – Francis William Upham, (1894) The First Words From God

  Last Saturday, Asia Gregg received this text. Hey girl. Give me your best advice in life you have learned thus far. Asia replied,  Lol excuse me what? Ok here’s some: Never trust a man wearing pointy shoes. In summer if you buy a bunch of cans of shaving cream at the dollar store and […]

Bill Russell played professional basketball. Julia Child was a television chef and author. Jimmy Stewart was a beloved actor. And Katherine Graham was a dynamic newspaper publisher. Yet these four individuals and an assortment of 27 other historical figures shared one trait worth emulating: Character. Bob Dilenschneider, who profiles these role models in his latest book […]

  Pink Floyd’s “Dark Side of the Moon” has been on the Bestselling Album charts for 990 weeks – 19 years – during the past 50 years. During 2024, “on a slow week,” between 8,000 and 9,000 copies were sold. One in every 14 Americans under the age of 50 owns, or has owned, a […]

I had taken my seat on the airplane when a young man wearing a maroon jacket sat down in front of me. The school insignia on his jacket was ATM, all in capitals, but with the T in the middle somewhat larger than the A and M. This young man wanted us to know that […]

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. And then that 10-year-old boy grew up…

Are your employees happy to follow you, or do they avoid you like a skunk at a garden party?  Phillip Wilson says the more down-to-earth and accessible you are as a leader, the more your business will thrive. But when leaders create a power gap between themselves and their employees, they drive away top talent […]

  Robert Palmer singing “Simply Irresistible” for Pepsi in 1988… “She’s so fine, there’s no telling where the money went.”   How can it be permissible? She compromise my principle.That kind of love is mythical.She’s anything but typical.She’s a craze you’d endorse, she’s a powerful force.You’re obliged to conform when there’s no other course.She used […]

Dick Grove has an usual perspective for the founder of a Public Relations agency that has evolved and succeeded for 58 years. “We’re in the news business,” Grove insists, “Not the PR business.” His reasoning is straightforward: To earn media coverage, individuals and companies must think like journalists, not promoters. Grove’s approach aligns closely with […]

This chart is essentially a comparison of cost effectiveness. (CPM is ad-speak for “Cost Per Thousand.”) The same impact that costs $9.70 per 1,000 people when using a display ad can be purchased for just 40 cents when using radio. That identical impact costs 7 times as much when using television, and between 6 and […]

This photo of the tower at Wizard Academy was made by Korey McDonald, the hyper-talented videographer who works with Casey Welch, the famous CMO at Morris-Jenkins in Charlotte, NC, both of whom experienced the Magical Worlds Communications Workshop a couple of weeks ago. Narrated by the wizard himself, the video below features another collaboration between […]