Quote:
Originally Posted by -TW
A nationwide ad campaign for a HEARING AID has this little bit of how-in-the-world-did-this-get-past-the-board-meeting copy...
"Our hearing aid is small -- about the size of a THUMB TACK..."
What's next?!?...
"Our suppositories are as thin as a razor blade..."
Uggh.
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Thanks TW!
A bad analogy is like coming across a dead skunk on the road... While good analogy can make an ad sell like ice cream in July!
Here's a great article by Gary Bencivenga on this topic...
http://www.marketingbullets.com/bullet25.htm
Meanwhile, one of the "masters of metaphor" I enjoy reading is Raymond Chandler (creator of the "Philip Marlowe" hard-boiled detective character).
Here's one of his...
"It was a blonde. A blonde to make a bishop kick a hole in a stained glass window."
Here are a couple pages full of "Chandlerisms"... (Not as abundant as grains of sand in the Sahara, but enough to be able to enjoy them...!)
http://home.comcast.net/~mossrobert/...andlerisms.htm
Gordon Alexander has some great metaphors too... Here's one of his! (You may have read it before, but a refresher never hurt...)
http://www.sowpub.com/story-future.shtml
As Gordon has mentioned before, Harvey Brody also uses a lot of metaphors to teach. He invented the whole concept of the "toll position" - that is, your situation should be like a toll booth - nobody can get your stuff (or get anything like it) without first paying the "toll"...
The whole concept of the "toll position," of course, is also a simile (or metaphor, depending on how it's stated). I've been talking to Harvey quite a lot lately - I feel like a kid riding on his first roller coaster, and I'll be announcing some exciting developments pretty soon!
Best wishes,
Dien