I pondered whether or not to post some comments about the death (and life) of Michael Jackson.  Dwelling on the misfortunes of celebrities seems a little ghoulish to me.

However, in this case, we’re dealing with legitimate news that is all over the media (for goodness sake, the story is even in the “Wall Street Journal” and the “Financial Times”!).

And, despite Michael Jackson’s unusual lifestyle and often questionable behaviour, there’s no doubt he was a giant in the world of pop music…

…plus he was a pioneer in the use of video in marketing pop music (more about the “Thriller” video later).

OK, let’s get the utterly cynical marketing observations out of the way first.  His death will most likely be a huge boost to the “Michael Jackson” business (think “Elvis”).  Look for the inevitable memorial collections, books and whatever.  Not to mention a media frenzy over the coming weeks and months.

(I mean let’s face it, the guy’s life provided more than enough material…now that he’s dead the more sordid aspects of his life will be dissected endlessly by the muckrakers in the media.)

For direct response marketers, a news event like this provides a more subtle opportunity.  As pretty much everyone in the world knows about the event, there’s an opportunity to “enter the conversation” that’s already going on in their mind.

One example, anyone in the personal development field can use Jackson’s sad tale to promote their product.  I’d be pretty sure that shortly marketing maven Harlan Kilstein will be mailing his list (or making a video) about Jackson and then introducing his “Physiology Of Excellence”  program.

(The man is a genius at using current events as promotional opportunities.)

It was Tony Robbins who first introduced me to the idea that for each of us our lives are either an example or a warning.  Jackson’s life, of course, is the classic story of talent and hard work leading to success and triumph…

…but then followed by hubris and nemesis.

Speaking of which…

…students of Socionomics will recall that Jackson was an icon of the bull market of the 1980s and that his subsequent decline in popularity from its peak was entirely predictable (see chapter 15 of “The Wave Principle Of Human Social Behavior” for more about this).

Finally, the “Thriller” video was a breakthrough in the marketing of pop music.  Great article from the UK “Daily Telgraph”…

…“Michael Jackson’s Thriller”…

…covers this in an interview with John Landis, the director.

(Note this was also the start of the “Making of…” genre with “The Making Of Michael Jackson’s Thriller”.)

I was going to put the video up but Youtube seems to have gone into “meltdown” today.  I’m guessing that gazillions of people are viewing Michael Jackson videos and this could well be costing Google a ton of moolah in bandwidth use!!  I’ll cover this in a separate post.

So, Michael Jackson has “left the building”.  I’ll just say…

…”Thanks for the music”.

Personal faves are “Off The Wall” and, of course “Thriller” (to date the biggest selling album ever, over 65 million copies sold).

UPDATE:

The initial marketing bandwagon is already rolling!  Take a look at the Amazon sites, for example.  Seem to be ads for “Thriller” all over the place as well.

UPDATE 2:

To expand on the Socionomics reference, public figures like Michael Jackson come to be associated with the social mood of the times.  To a large extent, their popularity is a reflection of  that social mood.  When that social mood changes, then so does the popularity of a figure like Jackson.

Looking back, Jackson “peaked” in 1991 when Sony signed him to a $1 billion contract.  Since that time, it’s been pretty much downhill.

For other examples from popular music, think of  The Beatles and the 1960s and Led Zeppelin and the 1970s (the Zep example being interesting because their success was linked to a negative social mood).

…with Pete Godfrey’s “Master Class Home Study Course”.

Invest in Pete’s program by Midnight (Australian Eastern Time) tonight (June 15)…

…and you also get access to a once only, 90 minute immersion teleseminar with Pete that will turbo-charge your copywriting and marketing skills and your ability to create cash bonanzas.

Pete’s programs have my highest recommendation and you can get your copy here…

“Pete Godfrey’s Master Class Home Study Course”.

…”Master Class Home Study Course”.

Er, now that Pete’s program for direct response copywriters and marketers is available and I’ve seen what he’s giving you…

…I confess to a slight reluctance to steer you over there.

From a completely selfish perspective, I’d really prefer that this sort of information is not widely available.

I’ve mentioned before that I attended all 3 of Pete’s “Master Class” copywriting events and they were well worth the time and investment.

But until I read the sales letter for the Home Study Course, I’d kind of forgotten exactly how much information Pete crammed into this program.

It’s a veritable goldmine of direct response copywriting and marketing  tips, techniques and strategies.

Even more importantly, the heart of the program is a complete direct response marketing system that you can take, adapt and apply in your business…

…or for your clients if you’re a copywriter.

The swipe file alone is more than worth the modest investment.

Which is another thing I’m not entirely happy about!

I spent well over $10,000 attending the 3 events (as a graduate I did get a reduced price to attend the second and third classes)…

…and it was a great investment, no question.

But Pete’s program is available for a fraction of what I had to pay, so you’re getting a real bargain.

OK, enough from me.   Here’s where you can get all the details…

…“Pete Godfrey’s Master Class Home Study Course”…

If nothing else, have a read of the letter and add it to your swipe file. It’s an excellent piece of copywriting.

One, subtle copywriting point about the letter. It’s written by (and from) Bret Thomson.  Having Bret write the letter, rather than Pete, adds credibility to the claims.

If it’s Pete telling you how great the program is…well, you’d expect that.  But having someone else talk about the course and what it did for them (and Bret’s story is remarkable and inspiring) makes a much bigger impact.

…with the home study course that goes with them, will be released tomorrow (Wednesday June 10).

I understand that only 200 copies will be made available.

You can get on the priority notification list PLUS grab the free reports Pete’s giving away in the run up to the launch right here…

…Pete Godrey Master Class Sessions.

If you’re at all serious about being successful as a marketer or direct response copywriter, you’ll want to take a look at this and at least get the free reports.

…is back posting on his blog after a lenghty hiatus.

He’s promised one of his videos on copywriting which, if it’s up to previous standards, will be well worth the wait.

In the meantime, he has a couple of valuable tips in answer to a reader’s question…

“How can I sell more of my copy?”.

…with superstar copywriter Clayton Makepeace.

I’ve raved about Clayton’s book “Two Hours To More Profitable Sales Copy” on more than one occasion on this blog.  It’s an astonishing insight into how this top copywriter thinks about copy and how he approaches the task of creating sales pulling letters.

Definitely one of the best resources I have in my copywriting library.

But…

…it’s not cheap.

Even allowing for the ton of bonuses, US$294 is a hefty price tag.

However, this week Clayton’s offering a 50% discount.

So if you’ve been thinking about getting this great resource but have been put off by the price tag, here’s your chance to grab a bargain.

One catch…

…at the time of writing there are only 137 copies available.

If you’re interested, head over to the “Makepeace Total Package”.  There’s a banner ad at the top for “Two Hours To More Profitable Sales Copy”.

WARNING! Unless you’re a really fast reader, it will take you a lot longer than 2 hours to get through this! However, every second you spend will be a very worthwhile investment.

…and all Direct Response Marketers.

Bond and Kevin Halbert, sons of copywriting great Gary Halbert, have announced three exciting new developments concerning the work of their late father…

Firstly, the classic “Boron Letters” have been updated by Bond with some additional notes expanding on the original material.

These letters were written by Gary to Bond while he was serving a sentence in Boron Federal Prison (for the full story of how Gary ended up there, see the “The Dark Side Of Success!”).  They set out Gary’s views on life and business and were his way of passing on his wisdom to his son.

Essential reading and you can find them at “The Gary Halbert Newsletter Archives”.

NOTE:  The updates are in the original letters, not the new ones near the top of the archive page titled “Boron 2.0″.  You’ll need to scroll down the page.  At the time of writing this, not all the new material has been added so start at the beginning of the series.  The new material is in blue at the bottom of the original letter.

Secondly, as you may have guessed, there is a new series of “Boron” letters.

The original letters were, in fact, only part of what was intended to be a larger work that Gary never completed.

However, he did leave notes and other material for his sons that set out his complete approach to marketing and business.

Bond has taken that material and is now conducting a new marketing campaign following those principles.

And he is documenting the whole process in the new “Boron 2.0″ letters.

Essentially, you get to “look over the shoulder” of Bond as he conducts a direct response marketing campaign almost exactly as Gary Halbert would have done.

I cannot emphasise too much just how valuable this could be to you.

Again, you can find these new letters at “The Gary Halbert Newsletter Archives”.

Finally, with probate settled, previously unreleased material from Gary is likely to be made available soon.

To stay up to date on these developments, you can join the Halbert mailing list at “The Gary Halbert Letter”.

Ace copywriter John Carlton is about to withdraw all of his current copywriting programs from the market ahead of launching new versions (“Say Bye-Bye To The ‘Bag Of Tricks’”).

It’s likely that the new versions will be significantly higher in price.  Can’t say I’m surprised.  The current prices are absurdly low.

I have pretty much all of John’s courses.  There is no way you could part me from my copy of his “Kick Ass Copywriting Secrets” course (and the amazing “Power Words” report).  At the very least, every serious copywriter should have this.  The current price is a ridiculously low US$299 (plus shipping). That is a truly crazy price when you compare it with other copywriting programs currently on the market.

If you can stretch to the more expensive packages, then that’s all to the good.

No affiliate link.  Just something I thought you should know about. You’ve got until this Friday (July 25) US time. Get the details here.

Copywriting superstar Gary Bencivenga has just released a new edition of his “Marketing Bullets” newsletter.  It’s all about “The 3 Greatest Copywriting Lessons I Ever Learned”.

Essential reading for all copywriters and you can get the details at “Bencivenga Bullets“.

Next post, I will get back to the “controversy” topic I mentioned previously.

We seem to be in one of those phases where “controversy” swirls around the online marketing community.

We had top copywriter John Carlton talking about a “Copywriting Crisis” recently.

Now copywriting heavyweight Clayton Makepeace has released a special report (actually authored by Clayton’s protege Tony Flores) called “The Great Copywriting Conspiracy”.

Let me say that I have the greatest regard for Clayton Makepeace.  I have pretty much every course he has released and would unreservedly recommend his material.

However, this report is a little weak.

Look, if you’ve never heard of Jay Abraham’s formula for geometric growth or the idea of a marketing funnel (or “ladder”) is an alien concept, this report will be an eye opener.

There are also some good “snippets” drawing back the curtain on some recent successful promotions.

And the core message, that success is down to following and implementing tried and true principles (rather than following the latest internet marketing “fad”) is spot on.

But the style of the report is a little cheesy and the whole “Conspiracy” thing is never developed as an idea. “Conspiracy” is one of Clayton’s favourite themes (“The Great CoQ10 Conspiracy” is a classic) but here it falls flat.

Having said all that, the report is worth a quick read.  Click on “The Great Copywriting Conspiracy” to get the report (an opt-in is required).

Clayton is releasing a new course shortly, so this is all part of the lead up to the launch.

More controversy tomorrow on the currently popular topic of “Forced continuity”.