I first learned the word Albuquerque watching Bugs Bunny.
I never took that “left turn.” Been to Texas, Nevada, and Arizona. But never New Mexico.

The city, with the hard-to-spell name, is also famous for tv shows like “Breaking Bad” and its prequel series “Better Call Saul.”

The shows have a smooth-talking lawyer named Saul Goodman. Saul works one step on either side of the law. The side he chooses is the side that benefits him the most.

Better Call Saul is Saul Goodman’s origin story.

Saul’s real name is Jimmy McGill or Slippin’ Jimmy to his friends.
He’s a con man.
His brother, Charles, is a great lawyer but suffers from an allergy to electromagnetism.
Jimmy loves his brother. Eventually, the two become estranged, and Jimmy slips his way from one con to another.

Saul Goodman is inspired by “It’s all good, man.”

Saul intertwines with drug dealers, a Mexican cartel, crystal meth cooks, and other nefarious characters.

Saul is a lawyer who gets criminals off on legal technicalities.

He writes, directs, and stars in his own television commercials. At one point, he loses his law license. He was going to lose his ad investment on tv, so he re-sells the airtime to a local music store. He hires a production crew from the university and makes an ad for them. Their sales skyrocket.

As a lawyer, I giggle because he fits the stereotype of a dirtbag con-man.
As an ad-man, I’m sad. He’s a liar who thinks bigger is always better.
I guess some ad guys are also con artists.

Near my home, there’s a stretch of highway about 10 miles long with 26 billboards on it.
Last year, a lawyer put up a billboard.

He used the same graphics as the tv show with the headline, “Better Call Bob.”
Bob is a personal injury lawyer. (Not his real name)
He was the city’s mayor for six years. And he represented the region as a Member of Parliament in Ottawa for 5 years (equivalent to a Congressman in the US).

I doubt he purchased the copyright.
If he didn’t buy the trademark or copyright, he is stealing to grow his own brand.
That act suggests he’s kinda like Saul Goodman, the lawyer.

My mom hired him in 2002. She doesn’t like him. Her words, “Bob takes care of Bob.”

He’s learned nothing from Saul, the ad-man.

Recently, Bob changed the poster. 35% of the population speaks French, so he made the sign bilingual. Now you have to squint to read the stolen graphic.

Such bad advertising from a creative-deprived copyright-stealing lawyer.

I see a tendency to copy things that work.
There are two ways to do it – blatant or subtle.

The blatant attempt is weak, lazy, and unoriginal.
The blatant is theft.

The subtle requires thinking, creativity, and finessing.
The Wizard calls the other Business Topology.

Business Topology is un-criminal.
Take a proven idea. Copy it and make it your own.

How could Bob have used Business Topology from the tv show?
He could take Saul’s attitude of fighting for the little guy who’s getting screwed by a corrupt system.

His billboard campaign could be like this:

  1. Get the money you deserve from your accident
  2. Insurance companies = Con-artists when it’s payout time
  3. Let’s hit ‘em where it hurts. Get what you’re owed.
  4. Nice guys finish last. When it comes to insurance claims, I ain’t nice.
  5. Insurance companies like it when you’re nice. They don’t like me.
  6. If you feed the big bad wolf cookies, they’ll eat you alive. I fight wolves for a living.
  7. They’ll huff, and they’ll puff until they see me. Then they’ll cry, and they’ll whine.

The above examples are still in Saul Goodman’s voice.
No copyright infringements.
The character provides inspiration creating an attitude for the law firm.
They must not admit Saul was the inspiration.
It isn’t important to outsiders. It is the internal secret ingredient preventing imitation.

If you have trouble finding creativity for your ads, look to your favorite tv shows, movies, and books.
Your favorite characters will have a taste of you in them.

Write ads in your words using their voice.

If you take my advice, the words will take you on a left turn to a place you’ve never been.

Have fun, Doc.

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