« Father Walter Explains It All For You | Home | Feelin’ The Client Love »
This has to be the most creative use of the urge to get someone back.
In this case, a client who I had been hammering on to make his passive voice active took his frustration and did something creative with it.
Really. Damn. Creative.
Just click on the ad image below to read it in its entire glory. It’s a hoot and worth it.

Now I’m going to tell one on myself.
At first, I didn’t get it was a joke. We’re on the phone for the weekly status call and he says he just emailed me an ad for something to help with his passive voice problem.
And he wanted my opinion before he bought it.
When I opened it, it wasn’t a half-bad ad. But I couldn’t believe there was a product out there for this.
Right about the time I started building up steam for a full-bore rant on the ridiculousness of an entire 48 DVD set . . . my eyes jumped to three places.
1. The name of the company “WT Enterprises, LLC.” Hey, those are my initials.
2. The line about ‘everything you need on 1 DVD and the other 47 were just for added perceived value.’ That can’t be right, I’m thinking.
3. The ‘adding to the shipping cost’ line. WTF? They can’t be serious, can they?
This happened in nanoseconds and took far longer to write.
I suddenly realized I’d been had. Big Time.
His laughing at me didn’t help.
But I had to give him props for creativity. And I’ve been a nice guy to not reveal his ID to spare him the embarrassment of the passive voice problem. On the other hand, he should be acknowledged for his creativity and some good direct response ad copy.
Guess he’ll just have to settle for an ROI No-Prize award.
But payback is a bitch and as Kahn said in The Wrath Of Kahn: “Revenge is a dish best served cold. And it’s very cold in space, Kirrrrk.”
Like what you read? Then click here to buy me a coffee.
By Walter |
Topics: Client Top Secret, Here's Your Sign, Lessons Learned, ROI No-Prize, Schadenfreude |
No Related Posts
- MyBlogLog - The Greater ROI Stats Tracking Tool Of Choice
- GM’s Corporate Blogging ROI Pays Off
- Advertising Age - Traffic Plummets at Struggling Bud.TV
- Lance Armstrong Explains It All To You
- What’s In It For You?
- Fishing With The Right Bait - Secrets Of Marketing ROI
- More Personal = More Profits
- Badder Than Spider-Man 3’s Venom?
- Waiter! There’s A Rhinoceros Head On The Table
- Feeding What We Oppose*
- Right Bait? Right Fish? More Marketing ROI Secrets
- Everything I Know About Branding, I Learned From Superman
- Marketing A "Happy Period" - The Smackdown
- Walter’s Magic Pen Relieves Bored Marketing And Sales Pros
- Towering Disaster Rots From Within
- What Are You **Actually** Selling?
- Marketing With Bad Sales Pitches
- Is The Quantum Field Star War’s "The Force"?*
- When Your Client Is An Idiot - Worst Practices Bailout
- Red Fish . . . Blue Fish — Marketing Reinvention ROI
- How He Measured His Marketing’s ROI
- Bad Marketing Ideas - Rosie And WSJ Want To Feminize Men
- The Ethics Of Persuasive Writing - Part 2
- Mindjet’s Public Relations Damage Control Machine Revs Up
- Here’s Your Sign For Podcasting, Part 2
- Maverick Visual Productivity Strategies Free To Listeners
- Getting Some Love From The Mindmappers
- Update On "The Secret" Study
- Odd That It’s Odd . . .
- Marketing Mr. Amazing’s Magic Rocks -
- When Inner School Marms Strike: Man Becomes King Of The Squirrels!
- What’s Luck Got To Do With It? Everything And Nothing*
- Spam-Free Copy For Your Marketing Campaigns
- John Stossel Guest Posts! Exposes Gore’s Marketing Through Intimidation
- Small Businesses - What They Need Most, But Appreciate Least
- Why Blogging Is The New Copywriting
- It Sucks Being A Poor Vampire
- Divorce Ad Is Great Marketing Psychology
- Secrets Of Article Marketing Exposed
- Dude, Where’s My Grammar?
- Letter To The New Info-Product Creator - Concluded
- Burger King: Having It Their Way . . .
- No Thanks To You - More Copywriting & Advertising Screw-Ups
- Spider-Sense . . . Tingling . . .
- More On HP’s Customer Failure Department — The Update
- The Ten Dumbest Marketing Mishaps - #01
- 24 Redux - Copywriter/Agent-For-Hire Returns
- HF* - Is He Blaming The Wrong People?
- Because Subscribers Spend More
- Walter’s Quantum Physics: It’s All About Me, Me, Me, Isn’t It?*
- Marketing Mishaps: MoveOn’s Bank Caught International Puppeteering
- ROI Of Market Stumble - Cellphone Users Have ‘Function Fatigue’ Says USATODAY.com
- Advertising Tool’s Twilight
- Practical Applications Of Quantum Science*
- Political Marketing Worst Practices - How To Throw An Election
- HF* - Quantum Physicist Puts The Hurt On Naysayer
- Dalai Lama’s Reese’s Peanut Butter Moment*
- Newsletters Without Websites, Part 2 — From Questionable To Worst
- Studio 60 - Watching Others Squirm
- Like A Gasping Fish On a Dry Dock . . .
- Be More Effective - Strike These Words From Your Vocabulary
- Passing Poverty Mindset To Next Generation*
- Outrage - Marketing To What Lies Beneath
- Marketing The “New Copywriting” Conspiracy
- The Strategy of Marketing Stupid Names By The Tail
- Global Warming Czar Caught On Tape Dumping 55,000 lbs. CO2
- Diamonds Are A Scientist’s Best Friend*
- The Blog That Wouldn’t Die
- The Two Functions Of A Company
- No Sheet . . . How Hotels Get Away With Ripping You Off
- Does The ROI Of Compound User Annoyance Matter?
- The Ten Dumbest Marketing Mishaps - #03
- Feelin’ The Client Love
- Bet Larry King Didn’t Ask Him . . .
- Good Ad, Bad Ad — How Do You Know?
- Did This Copywriter Use "Unnecessary Force"?
- Ripped-Off Author Takes A Swing At Me
- Got The Facts? Check
- Heisenberg Fridays* - Vegan Hypocrisy: The New Edible Chauvinism
- Want To Sell More? Talk to Broca*
- Green Marketing Facts Mow Down The Hype . . .
- Steering Him Out Of A Marketing Mishap Skid
- How Saddam Hussein Can Make You A Better Entrepreneur*
- MoveOn.org Continues Marketing Mishaps - Cracks Down On Critics
- The Ten Dumbest Marketing Mishaps - #07
- The Finger Means I’m Serious**
- Mindjet Disses Promoter & Drops The Ball On One Of It’s Own
- Last To The Party But 1st In Sales
- How To Consciously Get Unconscious Mastery — Mental Best Practices For Success
- Pain Or Pleasure - Which Advertising Makes The Most Money?
- Thin-Skinned Vegans Are Stalking Me!
- Has Quantum Mechanics Revealed The Soul?*
- Watching Relativity Fly*
- 8 Free Things Every Site Should Be Doing
- Inner SchoolMarm Writing - ROI Examined
- Letter To The New Info-Product Creator
- Restoring Your Sense Of Wonder*
- Can You Hear THIS Now? More Marketing Worst Practices
- The Ten Dumbest Marketing Mishaps - #08
- Kool-Aid Man Wins Special Olympics - Oh, Yeaahh!
- Marketing The Global Warming Monologue
- Why You May Not Be Making As Much Money As You Think You Should
- Tony Bennett’s Masterstroke Promo
- Walter’s Rule #05 - Never Hide The Pain
- Blog "Experts" Gone Wild!
- Shut Up & Learn
- #6 in his 10 Most Popular Posts of April 2006
- How To Be More Than A Marketing One-Trick Pony
- 5 Life or Death Factors That Make Or Break Every Website Or Sales Letter
- Magazine’s Advertising & Marketing Worst Practices Doom It Before Launch
- What Do Your Visitors REALLY Want?
- How Barbie Outsmarted Conservatives, Feminists & PC’ers*
- Beware: Testosterone Marketing At Work
- What’s Wrong With Podcasting? Here’s Your Sign
- BBC Busts Gore On Lopsided Film — See The Report!
- Marketing False Claims About ‘Lawsuit Abuse’
- How Do You Market Quantum Physics To Peasants And Goatherders?*
- Walter’s Rule #147
- Questionable Practices - Can You Have A Newsletter Without A Website?
- MJR Deals Dirty -"Who Is Number One? You Are Number Six"
- Hotel Short-Sheeting — The Marketing Solution
- Majority Online Businesses Lose Money Big-Time
- Bland Sales Copy - The ROI Of Tapioca Content
- Chasing Two Rabbits Deep-Sixes Your Marketing
- Best/Worst Practices Showdown: American Backbone Trumps Russian Deceit
- Copywriter Whacked By Law Of Unintended Consequences!
- Reality Suck? Shift To A New Timeline*
- More Worst Practices, More Hotels Getting Away With It
- The Art Of The Inconvenient Question
- Father Walter Explains It All For You
- Top 10 Usability Film Bloopers
- Marketing Ancient Wisdom’s Next Generation*
- Phony Soldiers’ Marketing Strategy Mishaps - Seattle Style!
- Professional Practices’ Worst Practices - ROI Of Failure
- “Get ‘Em While They’re Young!” Marketing Your Child’s Brainwashing (1969-2007)
- I Want To Help Save Al Gore . . .
- When Marketing Plans Muzzle Product Evangelists
- Who’s Laughing Now?
- If Ethanol’s The Solution . . . What Are They Really Selling You?
- USP’s For Those Who Seek Bacon
- Marketing Intolerance From The Party Of Tolerance
- Raving Fan “Shoots” His Mouth Off . . .
- Sure, Give This Wanker A 7 Figure Salary
- The Ten Dumbest Marketing Mishaps - #06
- The Ethics Of Persuasive Writing - Part 1
- How Blogger Prevents You From Getting More Traffic
- A Million Dollars Or King Of The Squirrels? The Copywriter’s Dilemma
- The ROI Of Whole Hog Marketing Fun
- SF Legend Clarke Has "Rendezvous With Rama"
- Democrats Own Worst Enemy - Another Fine Marketing Mishap, Stanley
- Chameleon Advertising
- Climate Life Preserver Tossed To Kids - Selling Fear Vs Facts
- Marketing Rebranding Mishap Gone Horribly Wrong
- Hackneyed Phrases You Want To Throw Away . . . Forever!
- MoveOn.org Is Doing Their Job — Marketing To Their Base
- Climate Alarmists’ Media Cakewalk - Marketing The Free Pass
- Is "Second Life" Marketing A Trip To Nowheresville?
- Do You Have The Edge of Success? Get The Infusion Edge
- Advertising Whitewash Of Modern Tom Sawyers
- Pearls Of Wisdom From The Unlikeliest Places*
- Companies Running On Empty
- How Information Marketing Screws Over Copywriters
- More Halloween Horror! Warmongering Republicans Rise!
- Shocking New Tagline?
- 5 Life or Death Factors . . . Part 2
- Why Results Are All That Matter
- Jumpstart Writing Your Book with This Proven Formula
- Getting It Right The First Time
- Washington Post, Other Newspapers Afraid To Run Cartoon Mocking Radical Islam
- McFarlin Strikes Back While HP Runs Silent, Runs Deep
- Burning Money - The ROI Of "Worst Practices"
- The $200M Flush - Part 2
- Best Practices - iCAP’s Release Meter FINALLY Does The Right Thing
- How to Flush $200M Down The Toilet — Ultimate Worst Practices
- Marketing The REAL "Secret" - Lifting The Face Off
- Dish Network Thinks "Money Is For Nothin’ . . .’
- HP Screws Loyal Customer - The Marketing Of Customer Failure
- Letter To The New Info-Product Creator - Postscript
- Heisenberg Fridays* - Why Baby Chicks Are Smarter Than You!
- Marketing of the Self-Absorbed
- Advertising Going Nuclear On The Greens!
- Your Front Page — Magazine Or Novel? Improves Sales Or Flattens Them?
- Heisenberg Fridays - The Secret Of Baby Chicks Revealed!
- UK Kiboshes Selling Gore "Brainwashing" Film To Kids
- Did Your Boss Just Burn Your House Down?
- More Proof Why Copy Is King
- The Ten Dumbest Marketing Mishaps - #05
- E-Lanced! Word Scrabble With Danity Kane
- Bird Flu Marketing — The Dark Side
- Yet Even More Client Love
- Pro Bono Or Pro Bonehead? Or . . .
- ROI Reports - Dreaded Malaysian Monkey Trap Claims Another Victim
- You May Be King Of The Squirrels If . . .
- So, Which Superhero Are You?
- Carping Up The Wrong Tree
- ROI Copywriting Gets New Look — Thanks Dad!
- Global Panic Marketing Heating Up
- Direct Response’s Perpetual Money Machine
- It’s 1984 In Cuba. Do You Know Where Your Privacy Is?
- American Idol - Accountable!
- Landscaper Marketing Needs Pruning And Fertilizer
- Don’t Blog? Don’t Exist.
- King Of The Squirrels Case Study - A Rookie Goes Dumb
- Survey Says, "Half of Americans Have Little Use for Internet and Cell Phones"
- Fire The Marketing Department!
- Walter’s Anti Social Media - What’s The ROI, Kenneth?*
- The Big Unfinished Business*
- HF* - Dodgeball In A Quantum World
- Guerilla Marketing Strategies For ‘Secret’ Angel Dare
- More Marketing Of Intolerance - The Hypocrisy
- Marketing, Elbow Grease & Public Relations Wins The Day & Pantses The Enemy
- Relaunching Your Product - My Quickie Marketing Strategy Guide
- Walter’s Rule #05 - Part 2
- Copywriter Ant-ics
- The Secrets Of What Makes People Buy
- NASA Lifts Off With New Blogging Tool
- Mindjet Strikes Back - It Ain’t Over ‘Til She Says It’s Over!
- Marketing Victimization: Special Interests Lash Out At Schwarzenegger
- Rosetta Stone’s Hot Chicks Bridge Language Gap
- Global Warming’s Stunning Admission - The ROI Of Marketing Backfires
- Copywriter & Furey-ous Guy Tackle The New Addiction
- Marketing Salesmanship Zen
- Political Darlings’ Marketing Mastication — The Follow-Up
- The Ten Dumbest Marketing Mishaps - #02
- "Did You Pass Third Grade With That Mouth?"
- Letter To The New Info-Product Creator - Part 2
- Marketing Fanaticism - Why MoveOn.org Won’t Move On
- Reversing The Law Of Cause And Effect Before It’s Too Late*
- Marketing Of Troop Withdrawal — The Cold, Hard Facts
- Visual Strategy For Both Lives — The ROI
- There Is Such A Thing As A Free Lunch
- Top 10 Things I Learned From Bill O’Reilly
- Corey Rudl On Bad Design
- The Ten Dumbest Marketing Mishaps - #09
- Marketing & Advertising Endangered Species: Straight White Males
- Collapse Of Responsible Affiliate Marketing
- Happy Periods/Unhappy Women — Marketing Feminine Products
- Marketing Accountability - 2008’s Lucy Will Have Some ‘Splaining To Do
- Got Enough Brains To Turn The TV Off?*
- Halloween Horror! Democrat Undead Come To Life!
- Leper! Leper!! Copywriter’s Goof Shames Him Into Hiding
- John Stossel & Walter Terry Tackle Unhinged Learjet Liberal RFK Jr.
- The Brains Behind The KISS Marketing Machine
- 2 Really Good Questions To Ask About Global Warming
- The Ten Dumbest Marketing Mishaps - #04
- Advertising Overcompensation
- Grave Matters
- ‘The Secret’ Wars Smackdown
- How To Create Instant Articles In Minutes And Get Rated An Expert
- ‘Who Else Wants’ To Strangle Hackneyed Writers?
- It’s The Words, Stupid!
- ROI Copywriter Fingers Top 10 Lead Generation Mistakes
- Instant Mess, You Mean
- Polar-ity: More Marketing Of Imaginary Causes
- The ROI Of It - Value, Not Cost
- Global Warming Marketing Circus Comes To Town
- Global Warming Hypocrisy - Seattle Style
- Secret Strategy #3 - Will People Buy What You Sell? Here’s The Easy Way to Find Out . . .
- Fast Food Doth Protest Too Much
- Frontier Science Experiment Changes The Past*
- Controversy Or Avoidance - Which Sells?
- More Indoctrination Marketing Exposed! At Indoctrinate U
- Marketing "Lost" — Adrift In A Sea Of Open Loops
- Break Your Best Practices Addiction
- Pirates Of Progressives - A Marketing Mishap Musical Done Horribly Wrong
- The Right Things Done At The Right Time
- The 2,490 Year Decision
- ROI Of Targeting Your Blog To Niche Markets
- Correct Ways To Market Your Cause: Darryl Hannah Vs Al Gore, Et Al.
- Masticating Political Darlings By Marketing Them - Believer Beware
- The Ten Dumbest Marketing Mishaps - #10
- Marketing Give Me A Mc-Break Today
- Marketing The Divorce Attorney Wives Hate
- More Landscaper Marketing Follow-Up — The ROI Of Language
- Marketing The Self-Medicated Teat
- How To Trick Your Mind Into Writing & Finishing That Book!
- Do You Have The Most Dangerous Job in Business?
- How To Avoid Being Brainwashed By The Birkenstocks
- Bill Clinton Adopts My Marketing Approach To Global Warming
- Free $10K Expertise - IMC’s Internet Wealth Mastery Summit 2008
- Let’s Make A Deal! Selling Global Warming’s Trillion Dollar Giveaway
- Grrrrr . . . Starbucks Baristas Are Trying My Patience
- Marketing Backfires - Congress Probes Carbon Offsets Industry
- The Lie About Global Warming Is A Big, Fat Lie - Marketing When Facts Are MIA
- 24’s Jack Bauer Made Me A Better Copywriter
- More Ultimate Marketing Worst Practices: Al Gore’s Inconvenient Electric Bill
- "By Hook Or By Crook We Will," MJR’s Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap - Part 2
- Selling The Reverend’s Ideological Pinata
- Are You Taking Advantage of these 22 Startling Economic Predictions?
Comments