Magnesium is for Movement: A Believable Lie

by Editweapon on January 29, 2012

“A lie gets halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to get its pants on.” -Winston Churchill

I have decided to tell a lie.  A lie about magnesium.

Why?  Because the truth isn’t working.

Here’s the problem: No one knows what magnesium is for.

But they sure as hell know what calcium does.  (Or so they think.)

If you walk into an Applebee’s and ask 100 people, “What does calcium do for you?” you’ll probably have 90 of them tell you, “Calcium is for strong bones.”

And biochemically, that answer is correct…sort of.

In reality, if took a piece of chalk (calcium carbonate) and dropped it on the ground, it would shatter.

Calcium is actually quite brittle by itself.  It takes magnesium, boron, and a host of other minerals to create the bone matrix.  

Therefore, “calcium for strong bones” is a lie…but it’s a believable lie.

And guess what…calcium supplements outsell magnesium supplements about 20 to 1.  (editor’s note to himself: Go find the NPA data that shows what the actual numbers are and plug that into this article.)

Kudos to the Dairy Council for the decades of milk moustache ads.

But in that same Applebee’s, how many people out of 100 would have any answer to, “What does magnesium do for you?”

My guess is that 10 would say something about laxatives (Milk of Magnesia), and another 10 might talk about muscle relaxtion (Epsom Salt)…but the rest would have blank stares.

Therefore, magnesium needs a believable lie.  It needs a simple milk moustache-like campaign with a positive message.

With all due respect to the brilliant scientists, doctors, etc. that have studied, published, etc. anything about magnesium — it’s not working!  The “this mineral is good for everything” message — while technically accurate — is not getting through.

You need a marketer to simplify the message, and then repeat it a billion times.

And I think I have the answer: “MAGNESIUM IS FOR MOVEMENT!”

Biochemically, that is correct.  And of course it takes more than just magnesium to move your muscles.  But do you think the calcium people worried about those types of subtleties?  Clearly, they did not.

“Magnesium for movement” is also just one small part of the complete magnesium story.  Who cares that magnesium is also a significant contributor to curbing inflammation.  Who cares that it also lowers blood pressure.  Who cares that it also converts LDL cholesterol (the bad kind) into HDL cholesterol (the good kind).  Who cares that’s it’s also involved in 300+ other biochemical reactions…

I’ll tell you who cares: Not a single person at Applebee’s.  Because all of those benefits have been documented for years, and yet no one at Applebee’s knows this.

But I’m hoping they just might care about a simple, positive message: magnesium helps them move.

And that’s the ~$100,000 bet Jigsaw Health is taking in 2012, starting with a clever “Magnesium is For Movement” video from Epipheo Studios, due out in March.

PS – Writing this post made me realize I need to go back and re-read Seth Godin’s, “All Marketers Are Liars.”

PPS – Thanks to “Magnesium Man” Morley Robbins for helping me refine this simple message.  You can enjoy his, “Let’s Get Sick In 10 Easy Steps” article that documents 10 different ways magnesium deficiency messes with your body.  But after reading that, forget all of it and just tell your friends, “Magnesium is for Movement, Period.”  Who cares why someone starts taking it, as long as they just start taking this miraculous mineral. :)

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IamThere.com Sold for $5,000

by Editweapon on July 19, 2011

July 19, 2011 — Scottsdale, AZ – eSN Ventures announced today the sale of the company’s crown jewel, IAMTHERE.com — perhaps the most coveted eight letters in domain name registry history – for $5,000.00 to an unknown buyer.

“We had been squatting on iamthere.com for a long time…I mean, a l-o-n-g time.  It was actually the inception of eSN Ventures.” reported Patrick Sullivan Jr., co-founder and domain manager.

“Patrick and I originally came up for the idea of putting webcams at funerals and weddings after a few (dozen) cocktails on a long flight from Phoenix to Newark.”  said Richard Nordstrom, co-founder and chief strategist.  ”That was in 1999 y’all!  Who had even heard of a webcam back then?!?!”

“You have to remember that in 1999, business.com had just sold for a million dollars.  We realized that ‘squatting’ was the new ‘black’, if you will.” said Sullivan.

After the initial acquisition of IAMTHERE.com, Nordstrom and Sullivan approached Pat Sullivan Sr. with the idea of forming a “squatting enterprise” of sorts.  Sullivan Sr. liked the idea, and wasn’t quite sure how to buy domain names himself at the time, so he gave the two a sizable angel investment, and eSN Ventures was created.

Nordstrom and Sullivan Jr. spent the next several months drinking beers at night and purchasing wonderful domains such as, AskAbuddy.com, AskAchemist.com, and several others in the AskA___ family.

“We had a ton of great names.  I swear we did.  But tell you the truth, I can’t really remember any of them any more.  Let me get back to you on that one.” said Nordstrom.

In 2001, eSN Ventures came close to selling IAMTHERE.com for $15,000.00.  After months of negotiations, the deal fell apart.  ”The dotcom bubble had just burst, and along with it, the value of domain names.  People sorta thought the internet might be over.” said Sullivan Jr.

After losing their sole prospect, eSN Ventures went quiet for the rest of the decade.  Sullivan Jr. explains, “Yeah, I kept renewing IAMTHERE.com and was even able to pick up IAMTHERE.net for a song.  As I recall, I think the previous owner had let it expire.  But I let the rest of the eSN portfolio slowly expire.”

In 2009, on a whim, Sullivan decided to list IAMTHERE.com for sale on GoDaddy’s Premium Listing Service.  ”I figured, what the heck you know.  If someone wants to buy this for 5 grand, cool.”

Sullivan never heard a peep, so he totally forget he had listed it…until Tuesday morning when he read that it had been sold and transfered from his account.  ”It was kind of crazy to read the email because after all this time of NOTHING being there, (pun intended) I actually had just started using the domain for my band, Sapphire Sky, to broadcast live wedding performances to guests that couldn’t attend.  Seriously, the whole idea came back around, and then my domain is sold right from under me.”

Sullivan is now using Iamthere.net to broadcast live wedding performances of the band Sapphire Sky.

Pat Sullivan Sr., the lone investor in eSN Ventures commented, “With GoDaddy’s ridiculous 30% commission, I don’t quite think I’ll break even on this 12 year investment.  But at the end of the day, I’m just proud the team was able to put a little money back in my pocket.  I think I can safely move this one into the ‘not a loss’ column.”

Nordstrom commented, “It seems like it was a great idea now that we don’t have it any more.  Dammit, pretty sure somebody is gonna get rich off this domain.”

When asked about GoDaddy’s 30% commission, Nordstrom commented, “That is a rip-off, no wonder they’re doing so well.”

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Actual CPM per Broadcast Medium

May 31, 2011

This post is part question, part answer since I didn’t find much on google related to actual cpm per medium. I’m curious what other business owners see for CPM; that is the advertising cost per thousand listeners / viewers / email recipients / eyeballs / etc. Here’s my own experience… Radio = $2 – $4 [...]

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Double Negatives are Terrible

May 27, 2011

Remember my blog post called What Not To Do about double-negatives that confuse the user experience? Well, the author of this checkbox takes first prize! In the words of Celo Green, “F you, and F her too!”

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First Place

May 18, 2011

My wife’s real estate website is in first place!  Neat.  Free traffic. Cool?  Or so what? If and when it ever happens to you, it’s pretty cool. But it’s a terrible business plan. Because Lord G can drop you from #1, at any time.  And He will.  Trust me.  ;-) And if your business model [...]

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