10 Things Never to Do in Your Advertising: Number 2

Never Begin a Sentence With the Word, “Imagine…”

If you’re planning to take your customer on a journey of imagination, plunge them into it.

“The wheels of your airplane touch down, but not in the city you were promised…”

“You must now choose between two good things…”

“If you had more enemies like these, you wouldn’t need friends…”

Every good ad provides a point of entry - a portal - that allows the listener to join in the journey.

“You are standing in the snow, five and one-half miles above sea level, gazing at a horizon hundreds of miles away...” 

But, don't tip your hand by beginning with, "Imagine..."

(Adapted from an article by Roy H. Williams, the Wizard of Ads. Roy teaches the art of persuasion at Wizard Academy, a non-traditional business school... a school for the imaginative, the courageous and the ambitious. You should visit.)