From:
North of Jewfish Creek
Dear Friend & Subscriber
Here at long last, is the complete story of
the "water ad". I think you're going to find it was worth
waiting for.
It all began when a friend of mine from
Colorado called me. He told me about this remarkable new
invention (the water bottle featured in the ad) and how a
company called "Seychelle Technologies" was going to "go
public" to raise a lot of money so they could sell this
remarkable invention all over the world. He said Seychelle
Technologies was in the formative stage and they needed
someone to help them with publicity and marketing.
Then this friend arranged a telephone
meeting between the CEO (DuSean Berkich) and myself. He and
I hit it off on the phone and I agreed to go to Irvine,
California and take on the job of promoting this product. They paid me a very generous weekly salary,
a new car to drive, and a furnished apartment to live in
while I was in California.
There's a lot more to this story than just
the writing of the ad. But, I'm going to start with that
part of it (the writing).
First of all, you need to know what I was
trying to accomplish with that ad.
As you may or may not
know, when a company wants to "go public" there is a 45-day
"quiet period" they must obey after they have made their
initial filing to go public with the Securities and Exchange
Commission. In other words, they cannot send out press
releases or hype their company in any way during this 45-day
"quiet period". I think the rules concerning the quiet
period may have changed over the years. I don't know exactly
what they are now because I haven't kept current with that.
However, at that period in time, Seychelle
Technologies had not filed with the SEC. And according to
their lawyer, it was legally okay for me to write an ad
talking about the company. So the purpose of the ad was to
generate an enormous amount of interest from people who
would want to invest in the company after it had filed with
the SEC and the stock was available for trading. In other
words, I was hired to make this company a sensation among
investors just before it was to get off the ground.
I did an enormous amount of research before
I started writing the ad. I learned so much about water from
the scientist, Carl Palmer, it literally astonished me.
You should also know Seychelle's lawyer
vetted and okayed every single word of the ad.
Here Is The First Big Secret Of The Ad:
I want you to imagine you are at a very high
class cocktail party in New York City. And a
gorgeous young woman is there who is being courted by almost
every man at the party. Each of them chat her up to the best
of their ability. They are all trying to figure out what
appeal they could use to attract her to them so they could
establish a relationship with her.
One guy talks about his show business
connections and how he could get her jobs as an actress in
several different movies.
Another guy tells her that he represents
models and she is so beautiful if they worked together,
he could almost assure her she would be on the cover of
almost every popular magazine in America.
Several other guys try to impress her with
how much money they have. They talk about the companies they
own, the yachts they have as play toys, the Ferraris,
Lamborginies and Rolls Royces they drive, and how their
wealth is so obscene, they and anybody connected with them,
will never again have to worry about anything to do with
money.
A couple guys are just drop-dead good
looking and they try to attract
her with their wit, good
looks and animal magnetism.
None of this seems to work on her very well.
Then a youngish, somewhat unattractive man
walks over to her and whispers a few words in her ear. Her
face brightens with a 1,000 megawatt smile she says "Yeah!
Let's do it!" and she gets up and walks out of that party
arm-in-arm with that lucky man.
What was the difference that made him
successful while everyone else struck out? It's very simple:
You see...
He Knew A Secret About Her...
He Knew She Had A Secret Desire!
And when you're trying to sell something
there is no more powerful piece of ammunition you can have
than to know someone's real deep-down core desires.
In this case, the young woman was a heroine
addict. And this man recognized her as such.
What he whispered in her ear was simply, "Hey, look down here in my
hand. I just scored some of the best smack in New York City.
You want to get high with me?"
And, of course, she's up and out of the room
like a rocket.
It's worth repeating: There is no more of an
edge in marketing (and life) than... knowing the
hidden desires of the people you are trying to sell.
Each and every group of people... doctors,
psychiatrists, policemen, mothers, plumbers, etc. have certain desires and knowledge that is not
shared by other groups of people.
There's a couple books I would like to
recommend to you. The first one is called "What Cops Know".
It was written by a woman named Connie Fletcher and I think
you can get it on Amazon. This woman interviewed 200 Chicago
policemen and learned many of the secrets policemen know
about people which is not common knowledge. For example,
police know when someone is murdered, more than half the
time, the person who committed the murder is the person who
reported the murder to the police. When cops visit a murder
scene, if the crime scene is especially gory and encompasses
much of the apartment or house where the murder occurred,
and there is blood and gore not only in the bedroom but also
in the living room, kitchen, den, etc., they know the murder
was likely committed by a homosexual. That's because when
one homosexual kills another, it is usually because of an
enormous amount of jealousy and rage and the object is not
just to kill the other person, but to cause them as much
pain and suffering as humanly possible.
Cops also know if they look in your medicine
cabinet and find a common product
Dermaplast you are probably a man who abuses his wife and children.
That's because this is the cosmetic product most useful in
hiding the bruises caused by abusive beatings.
If I had to market something to policemen, I
would read this book before I wrote a single word because I
would want to know as much about them as I could before I
tried to market something to them.
The second book I'd like to recommend to you
is the "Rice Diet Report" written by Judy Moscovitz. This
book was written in 1986 and I think it gives more insight
to the emotional problems and the "wiring" of
overweight people than any other book ever written.
Why Am I Laboring On This So Long?
It has to do with the fact I know a lot
about the people who read "Investors Business Daily."
Have you looked at the "Wall Street Journal"
lately? It has become a "fat" publication with all kinds of
articles that do not relate to investing. It's almost
getting to the point where the publication should change
it's name to the "Main Street Journal."
"Investors Business Daily" on the other hand
is a "skinny" publication which concentrates on nothing
except articles of interest to investors.
By the way, in almost every case a "skinny"
publication will always outpull a "fat" one. Take any big
city Sunday newspaper. They contain hundreds of pages and
dozens of sections. Whenever I get a Sunday paper, it takes
me about 10-minutes just to separate the sections into the
ones I want to read and the ones I want to throw away.
However, in many Sunday newspapers, there is a pull-out
magazine called "Parade". "Parade" is one of the most
expensive and profitable magazines to advertise in
throughout the entire
world. A lot of times when I buy the Sunday paper, I'm so
overwhelmed by it, I just rummage through it until I find
"Parade" and then I pull it out of the paper and throw the
rest of the newspaper away. Millions of people do the same
thing. It's almost impossible to write an ad and run it in
"Parade" magazine and not make a profit.
By the way, just for your edification, if
you have an ad which relates to something financial and you
run it in the "Wall Street Journal" and then you run the
same ad in "Investors Business Daily"... I am going to bet
you that you will make at least 700% more profit from the
"IBD" ad than you did from the "WSJ". A few years ago, I
used to run an ad about once every two months in "IBD". It
was a 1-column ad which cost me about $700 and it was
typical for that $700 ad to fetch $40,000 to $50,000 in
sales.
A lot of you who made guesses said you
thought one of the secrets of the success of the water ad
was the fact I ran it in "IBD" and the readers of that
publication were extremely greedy. That is sorta true but it
is not precisely true.
What the readers of "Investors Business
Daily" want more than anything else is...
They are looking for an "edge" which will
give them a leg up on the rest of the investment community.
They are struggling to be first to discover hot new facts
which will make their investments more profitable. You might
think the fact it is more precise to say those investors are
looking for an edge as opposed to simply being greedy is not
very important. You might think (erroneously) it's pretty
much the same thing. It is not. It is a subtle... but very,
very important... distinction.
So I started out with an enormous advantage.
I decided to run the ad in "IBD" and I knew the true deep
down secret of their readers.
Remember the real goal of the ad was to make
investors interested in investing in Seychelle Technologies.
The real goal of the ad was NOT to sell water bottles. But
the trick was to do this in a very Machiavellian way which
made those readers ravenous to invest in a company of whose
existence they were unaware until they got to the end of the
ad.
Now we're going to go over this ad piece by
piece and I'm going to allow you to see into my mind and
what I was thinking as I wrote every part of the ad.
(Note: My Comments in Blue)
WARNING: Do Not Read This
Unless You Are Already Rich!
Since this ad was placed in "IBD" there
isn't a reader of that publication who wouldn't be sucked in
so fast, it would put an advanced Hoover to shame. I believe
of all the headlines I have ever written, this is the most
impossible one to ignore. In fact, I honestly believe if
this headline were ran in ANY publication it would get
enormous readership.
If you would like to know
how someone can start with a simple idea... and
then... generate over $51,000,000 in sales in
just one year... this is going to be the
most interesting message you will ever read.
This is a staple opening for me. I use
it over and over because it's a reliable winner. What reader
of "IBD" would not want to know how to make $51,000,000 in
sales in just one year? I've already got them glued to my
message.
Here is why: There's a
guy in California named Carl Palmer who, until
recently, was very wealthy and very bored. He
got rich (the first time) by starting a company
in 1970 which he sold out to Coca-Cola just
three years later in 1973. As part of the deal,
he had to sign a "non-compete" agreement with a
duration of five years.
After that five years
ended, he went back in business and built up
another company which was soon acquired by the
giant AMF Corporation. After that, Carl
developed Shaklee's reverse osmosis home water
filtration system... and... in the first
year... they did $51 million in sales with
that product.
Carl Palmer is now the "star" of this
story. He's somebody all the readers can identify with.
Somebody that "humanizes" this copy.
And so on.
You get the idea. What
this guy does is, he comes up with enormously
valuable inventions, starts a company to sell
those inventions... and soon... he goes nuts
with all the hassles of running a business...
and so... he sells out (at a huge profit) to
some giant corporation that has the resources
and the clout to exploit the living daylights
out of whatever it is he has invented.
But now, he has outdone
himself. Now, at the request of the Seychelle
Technologies, Inc., he has invented something
that is needed by every human being in the
world... and...
This Invention Is Almost
Certain To Generate Billions In Sales!
This is a HUGE attention getting
subhead. It begins to lead them on the "double
readership path".
Here's how he came up
with his latest invention. He's got a horse
ranch somewhere near Pomona, California and one
day he was out riding one of his horses...
and... he was bored to tears! You see,
this guy has a mind that just won't quit.
So, he gets to wondering: "What would be the
world's best product to develop? Is there
anything that every human being on earth must have?"
Yes, there is. It's
called water. It's tasteless, odorless,
colorless and calorie-free... but... it is vital to all life on earth. It
doesn't matter if you are a dog, a cat, a human
being, an elephant or a mere microbe, water is essential. And there is no substitute.
There are more than five billion people on this
planet and every single one of those people
needs about 2-1/2 quarts of water... every
day... to keep healthy and stay alive.
Now we've got a logical hinge. After
all, what is the most precious commodity in the world?
Outside of air, it has to be water. What is the ONE thing
every single human being needs? It's water. This is logical.
This makes the prospect's mind say "YES!" I've got the
readers nodding their heads "YES!" early in this piece. As
I'm sure you know this is very, very important. I've got
their undivided attention... plus... I've backed up the huge
claim in the subhead above about generating billions in
sales.
No water, no life.
But, so what? There's
more water on earth than there is earth, right?
Yes, that's true.
I'm countering a huge
objection/question in the mind of the prospect now. I'm
reading his mind and therefore building loads of rapport.
However, 97% of all that water
is sea water. And sea water, of course, is just
chock full of salt. Anyone who drinks only sea
water will soon die of thirst and dehydration as
that person's body tries desperately to flush
out all that excess salt. Of course, we humans
can use sea water... if... we remove the salt.
But, that is very expensive!
I'm stating a problem... and... I'm
also aggravating that problem.
Sea water is not a good
choice for agriculture or industry either. It
kills most crops and literally (and very
quickly) rusts out most machinery.
Yep, I've just illuminated another
problem.
In truth, only a mere 3%
of the world's water is fresh, not salty. But,
almost all of that fresh water is locked up in
glaciers and ice caps or is deep underground.
Which means...
Only A Measly 1% Of All The Water
On This Planet Is Easily Accessible To
Mankind!
And, much of that water
is so polluted it is killing thousands upon
thousands of people every day... plus...
it is making millions of us horribly sick.
That truly sucks, doesn't it? Now I'm upsetting the readers. I'm
illuminating a situation which is getting worse and worse
and worse... and... I've got them worrying about their OWN
health.
Do you own a house? If
so, go down into your basement with a hacksaw
and cut off about an inch of one of your water
pipes. Then, get yourself a strong flashlight
and take a careful look at the inside of that
water pipe. Guess what? Chances are, what you
are looking at is NOT going to be pretty.
Rust... Sediment... Lead... Dirt... Little
flecks of animate matter such as rodent feces...
Chlorine... Mercury... and... all sorts of other junk that is really bad news when you
put it into your body.
You mean the reader is drinking
rodent feces? That truly sucks, doesn't it? I've made this problem real to
everybody with the question "Do you own a house?" Who the
heck doesn't own a home, or live in a home, right? So this
is everybody... and... with total precision, I have
described the toxic scum the readers are going to find in
their water pipes. So now what I've done is illuminated why
each and every person in the civilized world has a water
supply which is incredibly toxic. I've told them why... when
it comes to water... everyone else is totally screwed. I
haven't pulled any punches. I've agitated the problem
superbly.
Think about what this
means: Even if the city where you live does a
perfect job (it doesn't; it doesn't even come
close) of purifying your water supply...
Your Water, After Traveling Through Several
Miles Of Pipes,
Is Still Likely To Have Lots Of Horrible
Stuff In It
When It Comes Out Of Your Faucet!
I'm restating the same message as
above... but... from a different angle. I'm building
different pictures in the prospect's mind. This heightens
the emotional intensity in the prospect.
But, very likely, your
city simply can't do a perfect job of
cleaning up your water supply. The problem is
just too overwhelming. So, what they do is, they dump chlorine in the water! Which, in a
way, is good... because... chlorine kills a lot
of those nasty, disease-causing bugs in the
water. But hey, you know why it is able to kill
all those bugs? It's very simple...
I'm reading the prospect's mind here.
He doesn't know it but I'm building up loads and loads of
rapport with him? Why, because I've entered his train of
thought. I've raised objections at the exact same time he
raised those same objections in his own mind. And I've
addressed those issues at the exact same time I've got him
thinking about them.
Also what I'm doing with all these problems
I'm writing about is eliminating the competition. This is an
important click on the dial of a good copywriter. This pays
huge dividends later when you offer the solution. The effect
this is going to have in the mind of the prospect is that MY
solution is the ONLY solution.
It's Because Chlorine Is Poison!
That's why most U.S.
citizens have fewer cavities in their teeth
these days: It's because the chlorine in our
drinking water kills those little organic
microbes that eat away at the enamel on our
teeth. However, using a poison like chlorine to
kill the "bad guy" microbes is sort of like
undergoing chemotherapy when you have cancer. In
other words, not only do the cancer cells get
zapped; many of your non-cancerous cells also
get zapped... and often... your hair falls out,
you get extremely tired and your zest for life
is considerably diminished.
I'm posing even more problems. Awesome
problems. My reader's internal state feels like shit now. By
now he's wondering if there's any hope for him. He's
mentally dying for a solution.
Speaking of cancer, there
are five different articles in certified
publications from the EPA, Massachusetts General
Hospital, University of Alabama, University of
Georgia, and the University of Florida that all
prove...
Drinking Chlorinated Water
Increases Your Chances Of
Dying From Cancer By 44%!
Plus, it has all kinds of
other bad (horribly bad) effects on your
health.
Didn't you just love that bit about
chlorine? And isn't that analogy I drew about cancer and
chemo pure genius? I've got an image already popped up in
the prospect's mind of losing hair, losing weight, and
looking sickly from the chemo. Not a pretty sight. Brutal!
Not only that, I've introduced statistics!
But not just any stats.... reputable stats from the EPA and
reputable university. This is "gospel" now.
But wait! Don't go
getting angry at your municipal water company.
They are very likely doing the best job they can
considering the huge problems they are trying to
solve. Yes, it's true: Chlorine is bad for you.
But, the "bad guys" that would otherwise still
be alive in our water supply... if... it wasn't
chlorinated... is truly the stuff of
which nightmares are made.
When you start talking
about E-coli, omoebic cysts, cryptosporidium,
giordia and so on, you are talking about
"biological villains" that cause...
Health Problems You Don't Even Want To Know
About!
Big scientific technological
words that ooze creditability. I'm establishing myself as an
expert on this subject. Throughout this entire ad, I sound
like I am "THE" authority on this subject.
Again, chlorine is like
chemotherapy: It's the lesser of two evils. In
truth, any way you look at it, it's still a
terrible situation.
I'm answering the question that no
doubt the prospect has in his mind: "Why use chlorine?" This
is rather clever on my part. Why? Because I certainly do NOT
want the reader to get to the end of this ad with questions
left unanswered in his mind. That would massively cut
response.
So, what's the answer?
Well, millions of Americans now have water
filtration devices in their homes... and... that
does solve part of the problem. However,
when Carl Palmer was doing his research, he
discovered 50% to 60% of all the water we drink
in our lifetime...
Is Water We Drink Away From Home!
I've just knocked out another
competitor: Water filtration systems. How? By telling the
reader the all important statistic the majority of the water
we drink is actually away from our own home. I figure at
this stage of the ad, the reader is thinking about filters.
But my copy slams them! I was reading their mind with the
precision of a Swiss watch.
It's no wonder the
bottled water industry is such a big business.
How big is it? I'm glad you asked. Just in the
United States alone, the annual sales volume of
bottled water... is more... than... 4.2
billion dollars!
I'm establishing context here. I'm
whetting the prospect's appetite with such huge numbers.
This will pay enormous dividends later when I introduce the
investment opportunity.
Plus, it backs up my earlier claim about the
potential of billions in sales with this invention.
But, there's a couple of
problems with bottled water: (1) First, there
are about 350 different brands and not all of
them are selling good water. Some of it is as
bad as plain old ordinary tap water. Some of it
is worse. In fact, some of it is ordinary tap water. What a racket: Fill a
plastic bottle with water from a faucet... and
then... sell it at a 2,000% markup! (2)
Secondly, whether it's good or bad, all bottled
water is expensive.
For example, in Miami
Beach at a local convenience store, an 11-ounce
bottle of Perrier sells for $1.40. If you bother
to do the math, you'll discover this works out
to $16.29 per gallon. Actually, because Miami
Beach is a resort area and Perrier is one of the
more costlier brands of bottled water, this per
gallon price is higher than average. However,
even in non-resort areas, the usual average price for bottled water is still very
high, like maybe $7.00 or $8.00 per gallon.
And now I've knocked out the final
competitor: Bottled water. But I've kept the problems
coming. By this stage, I've got my reader dying to hear a
solution to all of this.
Plus, almost every
American who buys bottled water buys a lot of
it. I mean really a lot! Let's face it:
You need water every day. And, if you
exercise, you need even more than other people.
That's why many health-conscious Americans...
Spend More Than $1,600 Per Year
Just On Bottled Water!
My goal here is to piss off the
reader and give him the first hint that maybe there's a huge
money-making opportunity here. I'm telling them how they are getting
fleeced whenever they purchase bottled water. In essence,
I'm stating yet another problem! By now, not only are they
plenty pissed off... I've also established the market-size
to the prospect. I've proven Americans spend a lot on water!
Finally, I've induced an interesting statistic. Holy Shit!
Now I've got my reader glued to this ad as Bill Clinton was
whenever he was looking at a sexy available female.
Actually by now, I've weaved so much factual
information into this ad, stuff that people did NOT know
before... this is now something all the readers will be
talking about with their friends and relatives around the
water cooler and in other social settings.
But now, let's talk about
something truly exciting. Imagine you go to a
store and you buy yourself a bottle of Avian,
Perrier, Arrowhead or any other brand of bottled
water. Then, you drink the water from that
bottle... but... instead of throwing the bottle
away and going to the store to get another
one... you fill up that empty bottle with water
from your faucet... or... from a lake... or...
from a river... or... even from a public
swimming pool! Next, you put the cap back on
the bottle... and... because that cap has an incredibly effective filter on the bottom of
it, the water that now comes out of the bottle
will be equal to... or better (in taste
and purity) than the water you originally
purchased.
Only... you didn't
have to buy it again!
Which means, instead of
paying $7.00 or $8.00 per gallon for bottled
water (that is NOT even guaranteed to be pure)
you end up getting water that IS guaranteed pure for mere pennies per gallon.
Plus, you don't have to
run back to the store whenever you need more
water.
Plus, you can take your
bottle with its new, space-age, magic filter
bottle cap... anywhere you go... even Mexico...
and you will always have an endless
supply of the purest water you can drink.
Oh, thank God! I've offered a
solution! I've given them the "magic pill". The way I
described it, the cap is the ultimate solution to this water
problem. Think about it: Now they know they can use almost
any water source and get clear, clean, healthy water. By
the way, wasn't the words "even Mexico" a pure Halbert touch
of genius?
Sounds like a dream,
doesn't it? Well, because of what Carl Palmer
has developed for Seychelle Technologies, it is
now a dream come true. You see, Carl is the
inventor of the reverse osmosis water filtration
system which is what he sold to Coca-Cola, AMF
and Shaklee. But, that's what Carl invented
27 years ago. It's still a very effective
water filtration system and it's still in
widespread use. However, the water filtration
system Carl has now invented exclusively for Seychelle Technologies... is... leap
years ahead... of any other system on the
market... including... the one he personally
invented 27 years ago.
First up, Carl has credibility by
association because he sold out to Coca-Cola. However, that
was 27-years ago. By implication though, if Coke bought the
original product, you've got to assume it was
state-of-the-art. A wonderful product. After all, Coca-Cola
is not a mom-and-pop business. This new product then must be
absolutely first-rate. But I don't say any of this outright.
I simply IMPLY it so vividly they cannot help but picture
the truth of it in their own mind. I've seduced the reader
ever so delicately and let him form the logical connection
in his own mind. This is FAR more powerful than me saying it
directly.
One of the reasons Carl
was able to create this amazing new filter is,
he owns the world distribution rights to
something called "sorbent media"... which... it
turns out... is very likely to be the best water
filtration material on this planet. One of the
reasons is, it has a "pore size" of only two
microns (many water filters have a pore size of
50 to 100 microns) which means that a much
higher percentage of the toxic "bad guys" can't
get through the filter.
Another "reason why". Critical when
you're attempting to write powerful copy.
Plus, this material is so thin, if you would unravel the amount of
it compressed into this tiny, new,
super-effective filter...
It Would Cover A Surface Area
Of 15,000 Square Feet!
What an impressive number! A true
"WOW!" factor! Keeps them riveted to my ad. They've gone
from being interested... to being absolutely fascinated.
This filter also has
ionic properties... which means... it has the
ability to chemically bond to volatile organic
compounds often found in polluted water. In
other words, it just reaches out and grabs them
(they're another breed of disgusting "toxic
villains") and holds them to the surface of the
filter.
Holy Shit! We're talking about a
miracle invention here!
The bottom-line: Water
passed through this filter is equal to... or
even better... than the water found in any
bottled water you can buy anywhere in the world.
Huge benefit statement.
The second bottom-line:
Because of the unique materials used to create
this filter, it can be miniaturized to the size
of a walnut and still purify an enormous amount of water. So, what Seychelle Technologies
now has ready to market is not water,
it's a water bottle that purifies water. It's plastic. About the same size as a
bottle of Avian, Perrier, Arrowhead or what have
you... but... the difference is... the cap that
goes on the bottle has an amazing ionic
microfiltration device (it's a major trade secret) attached to the bottom of it...
and... a small plastic straw going up through
the top of the cap.
I'm now romanticizing this lid. I've
left the reader no doubt in his mind whatsoever we're
talking about a major trade secret.
Fill the bottle with
water (from almost any source), screw on
the cap... and then... you can sip through the
straw... and drink safe water from any
location on earth!
The ultimate magic pill.
This space-age water
bottle retails for $29.95 and it will purify so
much water...
You Can Refill It
More Than 1,000 Times!
To get that same amount
of pure water (assuming it is pure) by
purchasing bottled water, you would have to
spend approximately $1,700.00!
Plus, you'd have to keep
going back to the store over and over.
The reader is now thinking, "I
want this! I want this! I want this!"
This invention saves
lives! It has the potential of eradicating a
significant percentage of human health problems.
It is now being introduced on an emergency basis
in Mexico, Argentina, China, Malaysia, Korea,
India, and 11 other countries... and... some
very private market research indicates that in
1998...
This Product Is Literally
Going To Swamp The U.S. Market!
Many readers will be salivating now.
I've not only appealed to the altruistic part of their
personality, I've also given them numbers and described a
profit potential they can make... while at the same time...
saving lives. What you just read caused a HUGE bump on this
ad. Because of just that one paragraph above.
Carl Palmer is extremely
passionate about this invention....
because... as stated earlier... it can save
lives and prevent an enormous amount of human
misery. That's why he has chosen to work exclusively with Seychelle Technologies
who... in turn... have agreed not to
become involved with any other projects... so... they can focus 100% on the production and
marketing of this one item!
This gives Carl integrity and even
more credibility.
Seychelle Technologies
(located at 1920 Main Street, Suite 1020,
Irvine, California 92614) has enormous growth
potential. They are passionately committed to
producing and marketing Carl Palmer's amazing
new invention... as fast... as their
financing will allow them to expand! If you
would like to have more information on this
exciting company, you are welcome to call and
leave your name and address with one of the
secretaries at Seychelle Technologies.
When you do that, you
will be sent immediately (and free of charge) a
video tape that features Carl Palmer explaining
his invention... and... another man, DuSean
Berkich (CEO of Seychelle Technologies) giving
an overview of the company and its plans for
expansion. Here's the number:
1-800-000-0000
By now I've got them dialing that 800
number as fast as their pudgy little fingers can move.
-------END OF AD-------
We
received hundreds and hundreds of telephone calls from
people wanting the two video tapes. I answered many of those
phone calls myself. The people were almost hysterical to get
in on this opportunity. They were practically screaming into
the phone, "Listen to me. I'm an
accredited investor. I can put 10 to 15 million dollars into
this deal without breaking a sweat." Call after call came in of that nature.
Unfortunately, they CEO of Seychelle
Technologies had no idea he was dealing with the "Wonder Kid
Of Marketing", Sir Gary of Halbert, who can generate
response like no one else in the world. Only a fraction of
the calls got answered. They did not have the videos ready
to send out. They did not have a follow-up response in
place. Basically, when the phones started ringing off the
hook, everybody at Seychelle Technologies... except me of
course... was stunned.
They tried to gear up (very clumsily I might
add) for what would happen if we ran the ad a second time.
They did run the ad a second time... with
approximately the same results. And Seychelle still was not
ready. They still could not answer all the phone calls. They
still didn't have the videos to send out to the prospects.
By this time I was sickened. I do not
know for sure but a very educated guess I got by working the
phones myself was that this ad could have generated four
hundred million dollars in investor funding. Here I
had a product to promote which was needed by every human on
earth and could save millions of lives. And I had worked my
ass off creating a masterpiece ad to promote that product.
For a group of executives of Seychelle Technologies who, as it turned out,
couldn't walk across the room without stepping on their
dicks.
But, there's a lot more to this story.
As it turned out Seychelle's CEO (DuSean
Berkich) was a master con man.
Later, when he was investigated by a
detective agency, it turned out he had left a trail of
financially-devastated people all across the United States.
He had been doing this continuously for the last 30-years.
He was NOT interested in promoting this
miraculous invention. Not really. All he was interested in
was the "quick kill".
He cheated everyone he dealt with. He
cheated the people who brought him this idea. He cheated
Carl Palmer. He cheated the ENTIRE WORLD by not arranging it
so this product became a success. All he was interested in
was taking the company public and then scarfing off his
stock profits as soon as possible. He is very close to being
the most despicable human being I've ever encountered.
I told him I was pulling out of the project.
By then he knew I was so valuable to the operation, he
offered me an honest-to-God one million dollars to stay with
Seychelle. I refused. But then he made a monster mistake.
You see, DuSean Berkich was a pure-bred
sociopath. He had no compassion for other people whatsoever.
And without knowing how I would react to it, he screwed two
of my best friends in an exceptionally cruel fashion.
One of them was a girl I had met in Miami
Beach. Her name was Kari Cherine and I had gotten her a job
working with DuSean as a secretary. Then one day, just about
a week before Christmas he unceremoniously fired her for no
valid reason whatsoever. Truthfully I suspect the man was a
closet homosexual and that exceptionally beautiful women had
a tendency to enrage him.
Another of my best friends was one of the
guys who put this deal together. DuSean cut him out of any
part of the potential profits.
DuSean also screwed Carl Palmer the inventor
of the water cap.
So I went to the office one last time and I
told DuSean I wanted to have a private conversation with
him. What I told him is I was going to destroy both him and
his company and I was going to do it immediately and he
would never know how it happened.
Four days later, Seychelle Technologies
collapsed.
If you know much about investing, you know
when you are forming an IPO you go on a road trip to raise
start-up money. DuSean already had his road trip people in
Switzerland, France, all over Europe and the United States.
They had been sent there to talk with potential investors.
Guess what?
Whenever they walked into a building to talk
with a potential investor, one of the assistants in that
building would meet them and tell them, "Mr. So and So is not going to
meet with you. He is never going to meet with you. And I'm
to tell you that you are never welcome on these premises.
There is to be no further discussion." Then the road trip representative was unceremoniously
ushered out of the building.
And for some reason, all the giant retailers like K-Mart,
Wal-Mart, etc. were no longer interested in doing any type
of business whatsoever with Seychelle Technologies.
I also told DuSean in that private meeting
that not only was I going to destroy him and his company but
I was going to haunt him for the rest of his days and he was
never going to be able to bilk anyone else.
As it played out, DuSean kept trying to put
small scams together in the United States. For "mysterious
reasons" nothing seemed to work out for him.
Finally he moved to an offshore location. I
got his telephone number and I called him. I checked the
time differences between the United States and his offshore
location and I made sure the call would arrive at night when
he was asleep so it would be picked up by his answering
machine. Then I spoke for a few minutes into his answering
machine and hung up laughing.
I'm not going to tell you what I said. But I
will guarantee you DuSean has never enjoyed 10-minutes of
peace of mind since that telephone call.
About 1-1/2 years ago, I got a call from
someone who knew DuSean Berkich. We exchanged stories about
what an evil and despicable being he was. The reason this
man called me was to tell me DuSean had committed suicide.
But there was something strange. It seems his body was
cremated almost immediately after his death and his lawyer
and no one else could come up with a death certificate.
I don't know whether DuSean Berkich is dead
or not. I am not one to rejoice in anyone's death... no
matter how evil they are. But I must admit, if I knew for
certain DuSean Berkich was indeed deceased, I would shed
nary a tear.
I wonder if he's had plastic surgery to
change his appearance and is running around damaging more
people. If he is, I'd love to know about it. I think if Mr.
Berkich is still alive... and you would arrange to put him
in a room with me... I wouldn't have to say a single word in
order for you to see all the blood drain out of his face and
watch him go into convulsions.
One thing about DuSean Berkich: He has a
personality trait very typical of con men. Believe it or
not, most con men will walk around a honest one hundred million
dollars in order to dishonestly scam someone out of a far
lesser amount. The "scam" is far more important to them than
the money. They get off by destroying people much more than
they do by making a legitimate profit.
In case you think I'm being harsh, I think
you should know not only did he milk millions of dollars out
of people, he was abusive to his wife and children (who by
the way attempted suicide while I was in California) and he
was indeed a "cancer" on the people of the earth.
What about Carl Palmer? I spent a lot of
time with him. He's brilliant. He's a genius. I think he
knows more about water filtration than anyone else on earth.
He also had (at the time... and maybe still does) a very
attractive young wife. He had the arrogance that often comes
along with genius. Sometimes I think he was actually silly
enough to think he was shaper than me.
I believe Carl Palmer, by default, inherited
the stewardship of Seychelle Technologies.
Should you invest in this company? Their
symbol is SYEV. Absolutely you should NOT!
SYEV now hardly qualifies for even being a
penny stock. It is now sold through what's called the "pink
sheets". On some days, it hardly trades at all. Technically
although Seychelle is a publicly traded company, there are
22,541,406 outstanding shares of stock. The "float" is only
2,979,820 shares. The rest of the shares, I believe, are
owned by a couple of scam artists in the Aspen, Colorado
area who would probably dump all the shares on the market
the instant it started to rise.
I have enormous respect for Carl Palmer. I
think he is a man whose work has massive benefits for
mankind. However, I suspect he has a couple of fatal flaws
which enable him to be sucked into business situations with
unsavory, dishonest people.
The first flaw, at least in my belief, is he
has no business savvy whatsoever. He's sorta like me. What I
mean is, he's so brilliant at what he does... he's able to
get by financially... in spite of making horrible business
decisions and blunders.
The second thing I believe is because of his
business experience with Shaklee he has been infected with
the "MLM Bug". Nowadays, when I discover someone has
contracted the "MLM Virus" I don't even try to talk or
reason with them. It's like trying to convince a Jew he
should convert to Christianity or vice versa. It's like
trying to convince a pro-lifer to be pro-choice or vice
versa.
I have an image of Carl in my mind. It's
rather sad. I picture him at home in California with his
beautiful wife, running a tiny Mickey Mouse operation, eking
out sales of his miraculous inventions. And trying to cope
with the responsibilities of being the major executive of a
pathetically crippled public company.
And think about this: Think about the
invention this man created. Think of how valuable the
invention would have been to the victims of Hurricane
Katrina. Think of how valuable that invention would be to
all the people who live in Africa. Did you know bad water is
responsible for the death of more human beings than anything
else in the world?
To put this in context, another thing you
need to know is I wrote this ad in 1997. That was at the
height of the "dotcom" and IPO boom. Everybody was in a
frenzy to get in on the next hot IPO. People's thinking was
completely upside down. They believed the more debt a
company had, the better the company. They invested millions
of dollars in companies which didn't even exist... except
for maybe a cubby-hole office. They invested millions of
dollars in companies which existed on nothing but an idea,
such as an imagined invention which would triple the gas
mileage of motor vehicles.
What Carl Palmer probably never realized is
that with his invention, he really didn't need a multi-level
marketing organization to sell a jillion of them. He also
didn't need a public company like Seychelle Technologies.
All Carl really needed was a very modest amount of money and
a marketing genius to promote his product.
Well, Carl got the marketing genius and he
could easily have gotten the money. But like millions of
other people in 1997, I think he was a bit "crazed" by the
possibility of participating in a hot IPO.
His mind had already (in my opinion) been
irreparably damaged by his experience with a MLM
organization.
You know, I actually don't know how to end
this newsletter. I do know it's a shame everybody in the
world doesn't have Carl's remarkable invention. Every word I
wrote about it was true. But, I suspect it's never going to
happen. I may be wrong but it's my opinion that Carl Palmer
is now too damaged to deal with in a sane businesslike way.
I also think DuSean Berkich has twisted up Carl's life so
thoroughly, it's possible it may never be untangled.
Maybe I'm wrong about all this. Maybe
somehow there will be a happy ending.
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Sincerely,
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Gary C. Halbert
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P.S. One more thing, I received an excellent analysis of the
water ad by a guy named Alexi. I don't know his last name
but I want to acknowledge I used a lot of what he had
written in his explanation of why this ad worked. And I used
a lot of it word-for-word. I don't know who this guy is but,
he's a plenty sharp guy.
P.S.#2 Here's something which confuses me: You know when
someone with money reads an ad like this written by me or
some of the other ads I have written and published on my
website, I absolutely cannot comprehend why they don't call
me first if they need a piece of copy written. I mean
honestly, do you think any other copywriter (living or dead)
could even approach my sheer genius? In all modesty, I
simply can't understand how anyone could escape the fact I
am truly the best who ever lived.
P.S.#3 At the very least, don't you think you should email me and tell me how much you appreciate me giving you an
incredible marketing education like this... which... you
couldn't get from anyone else on the planet?!
Peace.
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