Sam Horn Communication ,Creativity Consultant

Sam Horn - POP! Stand Out in any Crowd
Sam Horn is based in Washington DC



Brilliant Brain-Droppings from George Carlin June 25, 2008
George Carlin was the poster child for POP!

His funny, incisive musings were Purposeful, Original, Pithy.

Samplings of his iconoclastic observations include:

“Before they invented the drawing board, what did they go back to?”

“What if there were no hypthothetical questions?”

“If you scratch a cynic, you’ll find a disappointed idealist.”

“Electricity is really just organized lightning.”

He was also known for saying, “You live 80 years and at best you get about six minutes of pure magic.”

Unfortunately for George, his loved ones and us, he didn’t make it to 80 years; but he certainly gave us a lot more than six minutes of pure genius and comedic magic. God speed.






Is Your Marketing Campaign Current? June 12, 2008

The most effective marketing campaigns have their finger on the pulse of POP! culture and reflect current trends.

For example, parents used to gripe about their kids being obsessed with their Gameboys during family vacations. The roles today are reversed with kids complaining their folks are the ones who ignore them while tapping away at their laptop and Blackberry.



A brilliant VisitOrlando.com ad addresses this issue by showing a family happily playing in a pool . The dialogue in the side bar says,

“Daddy, want to do swimming?” “Yes.”

“Daddy, can you carry me on your shoulders?” “Yes.”

“Daddy, will you leave your phone in the room?” “Yes.”

The subliminal message? Come to Orlando and have an old-fashioned vacation where you actually focus on family and play together instead of everyone caring more about their gadgets.

Are you tapping into the zeitgeist of your target audience? Does your marketing campaign reflect current trends? If so, good for you. If not, use POP! techniques to update your commercials so they resonate with customers and motivate them to try or buy what you’ve got to say and sell.











What Does Freak Dancing Have to Do with POP? June 3, 2008

Congratulations to Laura Sessions Stepp for her thought-provoking Genderations column in today’s Washington Post entitled Two Types of Dirty Dancing.

She discusses how difficult it is to “police” freak dancing and that parents and educators are often in an uproar about this issue of teen-agers grinding - which as Laura describes is “a lot more than shaking booty.”

When researching POP! Stand Out in Any Crowd, I discovered a perfect slogan that helped parents and teens come to an agreement about this controversial issue.

In the book’s section on the importance of “Cliff Noting” your idea or issue into an easy-to-say-and-remember phrase so people “get” it, I used the examples of “Click it or Ticket,” “Spot the Tot,” and the example a prom chaperone told me about that helped them decide to go ahead with their prom rather than cancel it.

Her daughter’s school had considered banning the senior prom because the adults were scandalized by “rampant grinding and freak dancing” and didn’t want it happening at this school-sponsored event. An enterprising counselor came up with a “rap” that outlined the boundaries of what type of dancing would be allowed. What was the little ditty that brought peace to this controversial issue?

“Face to face, leave some space.”

That was it. Six words and the chaperones had something “hip” to say that clearly enforced the policy with no “wiggle room” (so to speak). The fact that the rule was placed in a rap helped make it acceptable to the teens. The prom was held and a good (appropriate) time was had by all.


Comedian Steven Wright said, “My grandfather invented Cliff Notes. It was in 1952 and he . . . well, to make a long story short.”

If you want people to “get” your idea or issue, you need to make your long story short. Condense a controversial or complex issue into a concise sound bite that rhymes or that’s alliterative, and people will be able to instantly grasp it. That’s the power of POP!

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