So said the great Apollo Creed in the first “Rocky” movie.
The context:
Apollo cooked up a PR stunt that involved giving an unknown a shot to commemorate the country’s 200th anniversary. And so he and his team went at it looking for the perfect fighter for him to compete against. They looked and looked and looked… everyone being rejected by Apollo for one reason or another, with his promotor guy Jergens finally asking:
JERGENS: Exactly what are you looking for, Apollo?
APOLLO: … This man. ‘The Italian Stallion’ — He’s my man.
JERGENS: Rocky Balboa — His record’s poor —
APOLLO: Don’t matter — That name. ‘The Italian Stallion,’ it’s right on. (laughs) Who discovered America? An Italian, right? So, man, what could be better than to get it on with one of his ancestors.
TRAINER: He won’t last one round.
APOLLO: Listen, I gonna carry this boy three rounds, then drop ‘im like a bad habit.
TRAINER: I don’t like you messin’ with southpaws — They do everything wrong.
APOLLO: Southpaw, nuthin’ — I’ll drop ‘im in three — ‘Apollo Creed meets the Italian Stallion.’ Shhiii — Sounds like a damn monster movie!
And the rest is, quite literally, history…
Rocky got a shot at the title not because of talent or experience or track record or industry “pull” or even deserving to — no, he got it because of his… BRAND. Which then led to a totally different life than he’d had otherwise.
If you think that doesn’t happen in marketing, I don’t know what to tell you.
People buy all kinds of things — even expensive things — because of a title.
i.e., a brand
And no other reason than they think it sounds cool.
So what do probably 99% of direct marketers do? They copy cat. They swipe. They “prompt.” They look at what someone who is superior to them does then just copies what they do, thinking that is the way, the safe way, to go about it — when, in reality, it is the cowardly and intellectually weak way to go about it.
There is nothing unique.
No spark of individuality or novelty.
No reason to buy from them other than “bEneFItS!” a million other offers share found with a Google search.
All right, hopefully the message here is clear.
If not, put it on the shelf, I guess.
Otherwise:
If you want to see how to start writing emails that can help you with this branding and marketing and engagement and sales business, go to:
Ben Settle
