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convince them in 90 seconds or less
For the next two minutes he evoked wonderful images
of the market, England’s largest, as a foil for what he
was really talking about—the magazine. He went on to
describe how to take full advantage of the magazine’s
massive reach. Flipping carelessly through the open
magazine, he said, “Four million people step inside every
week not because they drifted in but because they make a
conscious decision to do so. It’s part of their routine.”
Muldoon switched to direct comparisons. “Woman
magazine is kind of like Covent Garden Market. The
market, like the magazine, has sections for eating and
drinking, culture, and entertainment that deliver mea-
surable results for their business partners. It, like the
magazine, has seasonal sections that continually drive
new ideas and trends.” He gave them circulation figures,
readership profiles, and response rates, all the time link-
ing to the parallel experience he had created in the mind
of his audience—the nearby market. It wasn’t overt but
Muldoon knew his audience would link the magazine to all
the evocative sensory images he created when they made
their next advertising decisions.
After four and a half minutes he swung into his inter-
active close. I was stationed by the door, ready to do my
part.
“Before you take your leave today . . . ” That was my
cue. I opened the doors at the left side of the stage and
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