Interviews « Greg Cynaumon, Ph.D

Celebrities Edify and Entertain In New Web Videos

Posted on Oct 06, 2010

San Diego, CA.

The world of online social media took an humorous, yet valuable step forward with the agency’s newest release, Star Scoop. ROI Media Partner, Greg Cynaumon, Ph.D. describes Star Scoop as three to five minutes online videos that are one-half humor and one-half life lessons.

“What sets Star Scoop apart from other social media is its quality of content. Anyone can goof around on video, but we found that pro athletes and celebrities have something extremely valuable to share. We discovered that they’ve learned valuable, life-enriching lessons along their path to stardom and that many are eager to share their wisdom.”

Cynaumon, who’s interest in developing social media that entertains while it edifies is in part related to his doctorate and masters degrees in psychology continued, “For instance, in a segment we shot with former NBA star, John Salley – whom by the way is extremely funny – we asked John questions such as: who took you under their wing and mentored you early in your NBA career? We also asked John: who taught you the most about being a man and what did you learn? John’s answers were insightful and served as a valuable reminder that life is far more about becoming a good person than it is about gaining fame and fortune.”

Cynaumon shared that sponsor response has been a huge surprise. “We’re a full-service ad agency and no, we’re not delusional. We know that advertising is what fuels content, whether it’s seen on TV, heard on radio or viewed on the Internet. What we’ve discovered is that advertisers far prefer to align their brands with quality content that actually edifies while it entertains.”

Star Scoop is in full production and is slated to shoot between 25 and 50 athletes and celebrities a month. For sponsor information, visit www.ROImediaDirect.com or call 1-949-548-2600. You can view the John Salley video at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2uHdk6oRxJw

-30-

New Psychology The Secret to Writing Great Ads

Posted on Aug 23, 2010

0 Comments

Tweet This Post!

Writing amazing radio and television advertising, winning print ads, and powerfully converting web copy is the greatest challenge marketers face. As a doctor of psychology and the creative force behind some of the most successful media campaigns today, I can tell you – WORDS don’t just matter – they’re 90% of the battle.

To understand the role of psychology and writing winning radio, TV, online and print copy, I need to take you back to the early 90’s. I worked mornings seeing clients as a doctor of psychology before heading off to the radio station where I hosted my talk show in the Los Angeles market. It was my dual focus in both psychology and in trying to help my sponsors and advertisers to succeed that shed light on the essential nature of WORDS in advertising. I can’t tell you how many new advertisers were trotted through my show. I’d read the ad copy created by some ad agency or the station’s writers and shake my head. After a very short time on the air, I could tell you which advertisers would succeed and which would not – based mostly on the ad copy I was reading.

It was during that time that I became intimately involved in the radio station’s creative process. I started meeting with new advertisers and rewriting copy based on what motivated their consumers to… well, consume. I employed words with deeper meanings connecting with the listeners at strategic levels. Once this transformation started, my advertisers succeeded. I don’t say this in a boastful manner at all. I simply stumbled upon the key to writing transformational ad copy because I was so steeped in psychology and radio at the same time.

It was during this time that I coined the term Ad•col•ogy, which is the use of words that tap into consumer’s shared life experiences. Ad•col•ogy is an honest and non-manipulative ad form that replaces its more manipulative cousin, psychology. It focuses on using words and phrases, which evoke a connection through shared life experiences. A common mistake among ad copywriters and creative agencies is that they try to do and say too much in the span of sixty seconds. They mistakenly believe that more words are better when just the opposite is true: fewer words are better as long as those words tap into the consumer’s shared life experiences.

To help you decipher the difference between WORDS and SHARED LIFE EXPERIENCE WORDS, let’s take a look at a handful of examples from recent commercials we’ve orchestrated for our clients.

Words: Help

Adcology Words: Solve

Why it Matters: Every copywriter uses the word help. It’s a fine word, but it isn’t nearly as powerful as solve, which evokes a shared life experience among consumers. To solve is a long-term solution while to help is fleeting hope.

Words: Estate Tax

Adcology Words: Death Tax

Why it Matters: 90% of consumers don’t relate to estate tax. They mistakenly believe that only rich people have an estate so they remove themselves from the commercial message. Conversely, 100% of consumers understand the term death tax, which elicits an emotional reaction through shared experiences.

Words: We think

Adcology Words: We believe, we’re convinced, we’re resolved.

Why it Matters: Which ad copy phrase garners more confidence in a service: “We think we can help you”. Or, “We’re resolved to helping you”

You might equate overused and passive-advertising copy to trying to cure a health issue with overly prescribed antibiotics. Doctors tell us that viruses mutate over time and become resistant to once successful treatments. Consumers have been so over-exposed to common advertising, that they have become desensitized to the approaches that once worked like a charm. Adcology breaks through today’s creative morass and we’ve proven it over and over with our direct response and brand clients. It’s absolutely the most effective way to launch a new product or service – boost sales – or revive a campaign that was on life support.

For more information, please contact: greg@roimediadirect.com

Strategic Radio Advertising A Continuing Series With Dr. Greg Cynaumon, ROI Media Direct

Posted on Jul 24, 2010

0 Comments

Tweet This Post!

Strategic Radio Advertising

A Continuing Series With Dr. Greg Cynaumon, ROI Media Direct (http://www.ROImediaDirect.com )

Interview #09: How to Avoid the 5 Biggest Radio Advertising Mistakes

For any of us who are responsible for creating winning radio campaigns, either for ourselves or for our clients, it’s essential to understand how TSL (time spent listening) has evolved over the years. You don’t have to be a doctor of psychology to understand that people today have a greatly reduced attention span. With the massive amount of brief, impactful messaging streaming at us moment by moment, you have to know that has impacted the way people listen to radio. If you don’t factor in these sociological changes, you’re destined to discover mediocre radio campaign ROIs.

Back in the 90’s it used to be that you could place one, direct response :60 second commercial on a program and you’d effectively reach your audience with enough frequency to see quick and sustained traction. Not anymore. The radio market today offers about a dozen more format options than listeners had back then. Now add mobile devices and satellite to the mix and you can see how advertisers are fighting for consumer’s attention like never before. In today’s in-car and out-of-home listening landscape, the one spot a show, per day rationale is risky if not suicidal at best. Here are some points you may want to consider:

1. Understand that radio listeners have a SHORT attention span and an itchy trigger finger. (Averaging 2 min. in some markets and on some formats). As soon as a DJ starts talking too much or a less popular song comes on – or that dreaded COMMERCIAL – listeners bail in droves. Talk radio fares somewhat better than music formats, but has it’s own unique problems.

2. Know that, as soon as the commercial break hits, many listeners (believed to between 15 and 25%) are gone. Experience tells me it’s more like 35-40% – especially in markets where consumers have more choices. Now factor in listening habits by the time the second or third commercial comes around. Good luck to the direct response advertisers who land in the 3+ commercial break position.

2. Getting buried in pods (or stop-sets) of commercials is death to direct response clients. Yes you can push for first in stop set. No, stations don’t like it, but smart advertisers need to push anyway. This can be the difference between a successful campaign and cancellation. You’d be shocked how many stations will mindlessly place some grocery store or gas station branding commercial first or second while the 800 number driven direct response client gets killed later in the break.

3. For a DR Campaign to have a chance to succeed strategic advertising minds need to pick stations wisely by analyzing ALL the data. TSL, demo, buying habits, format trends, commercial clusters, in-show content ops, psycho demographics of the listeners and our INSTINCTS. Then…

a) Dominate a day part with several commercials per show including more than one spot per hour at the start of your campaign. Remember, TSL dictates it’s tough to reach the audience that jumps in and out of a station depending on the programming.

b) As advertisers, our greatest chance of succeeding is to dominate ONE day part first, get traction and then move virally through the other day parts. A schedule should look more like two plus commercials PER HOUR in the CHOSEN day part. At the start of the campaign. Think of it as you would a jet taking off. It takes tremendous energy to get a jet off the ground, but once it reaches altitude, you can throttle back and cruise. This frequency play can often include; :30’s and even :15’s so that listeners are receiving the necessary “cumulative frequency” of our advertising.

c) Again, when you see traction, you can spread that buying pattern to other dayparts on the same station, followed by replication on other stations in that market and then outside of the market.

Greg Cynaumon, Ph.D. is a partner and the Creative and Media Strategy Director at ROI Media Direct – a full service, radio and television advertising agency. ROI specializes in direct response clients serving such notable clients as: LegalZoom.com, LifeLock, eHarmony, Blinds.com, and Ring Central.com.

To Contact Dr. Greg Cynaumon: (http://www.ROImediaDirect.com )

Can The Bible Cure Depression?

Posted on Jul 17, 2010

0 Comments

Tweet This Post!

DIEGO, Calif. —July 19, 2010— “I’m not ashamed to tell you I’ve had years of counseling. I’ve been on four anti-depressants, three kinds of anti-anxiety prescriptions and a menu of meds for bipolar disorder. I’ve been suicidal at times and basically thought I’d never be happy.” That’s what Deborah, a 33-year-old wife and mom related after her life transformation courtesy of Dr. Greg Cynaumon, and his Unlocking The Bible’s Secrets to Happiness program. “I could have avoided years of pain and counseling and tens of thousands of dollars if I’d discovered this earlier in life,” she concluded.

Unlocking The Bible’s Secrets to Happiness (http://www.UnlockingBibleSecrets.com) is a new twist on the oldest book in history – The Bible. The six, forty-five minute video sessions and accompanying Playbook reveal biblical secrets that can bring people instant happiness, meaning, and lasting peace? In fact, Dr. Cynaumon reports that people who have used this program report a significant elevation in mood, far less stress and worry, better health, happier relationships, better concentration, and improved sleep. “I’d used cognitive, behavioral and analytical psychology with those clients, but always came away with the feeling that; ‘counseling is beneficial, but seldom is it truly life-changing’”. Being a devoted student of the Bible, Cynaumon started in-depth research into what the Bible had to say about the most common problems people bring into counseling: depression, anxiety, stress, weak boundaries, stress, and no idea of their purpose in life. The doctor discovered that the Bible is powerfully clear on how to overcome each of these emotional roadblocks that keep us unhappy.

For example, Cynaumon discovered that depression often has its roots in unresolved regrets and disappointments of the past. “Scripture is very clear on better and different ways to forgive ourselves and others for regrets, disappoints and hurts from the past and how to ultimately release these. Sure, psychology addresses these too, but not with one-tenth the power and clarity that the Bible does,” Cynaumon concluded.

“Basically Unlocking The Bible’s Secrets to Happiness is for anyone who wants to be happier. It doesn’t matter if you’re a born-again Christian or Jewish, atheist or biblical scholar – the truth is the truth,” Cynaumon said. “I want people to know that this is not preachy, nor does it shove the Bible down people’s throats. It’s not New Age-ish or full of Old Testament thous and thees. This is the scripturally sound, very fun apex where psychology and theology absolutely mesh together to form a dynamic solution for people who really want to live a happier and more fulfilled life.”

“You have no idea how truly happy you can be,” interjected Tyler, a 27-year-old father of twins who has was introduced to Unlocking The Bible’s Secrets to Happiness six months ago. Dr. Cynaumon makes this so easy not to mention I laughed all the way through the DVDs. He’s like half shrink and half comedian, but it makes learning fun. I can’t tell you how many people I’ve told to get this program.”

Best-known for his teachings in the field of psychology, dream analysis, and parenting; Dr. Greg Cynaumon concluded, “Look, I get that counseling is valuable and medication is absolutely beneficial – if not life-saving to many, many people. But if you’re depressed, anxious, stressed-out, can’t sleep, have a bad marriage, have difficulty setting boundaries and really aren’t at all sure what your bigger purpose for being here on this earth is – this program will change your life.”

For more information about Dr. Greg Cynaumon and Unlocking the Bible’s Secrets to Happiness, please visit (http://www.UnlockingBibleSecrets.com).

About Dr. Greg Cynaumon

Dr. Cynaumon holds both a masters and doctorate degree in psychology.

BOOKS:

Unlocking the Bible’s Secrets to Happiness

Discovering Your Child’s Discipline Quotient

Does God Still Speak Through Dreams

How to Avoid Alienating Your Kids in 10 Easy Steps

Empowering Single Parents

Helping Single Parents With Troubled Kids

Married But Feeling Alone

Hassle Free Homework System

Bible Trivia Quiz Book

GAMES:

The Dr. Laura Game (Hasbro)

Left Behind Game (Talicore game)

EDUCATIONAL PRODUCTS:

The Phonics Game (co-developer)

Hassle Free Homework System

###

“Why Not Put Stern/Limbaugh on Your Website”. Dr. Greg Cynaumon

Posted on Jul 02, 2010

0 Comments

Tweet This Post!

Radio Ad? Okay, But Why Put Stern or Limbaugh on Your Website Too?
An interview with Dr. Greg Cynaumon, President of ROI Media Direct.

Just when you think you know a little something about the world of advertising and in particular, direct response radio and television, you bump into someone who makes you feel like you’re back in preschool. If you want to understand what makes radio-advertising work, you need to spend a week with Dr. Greg Cynaumon, President of ROI Media Direct. We didn’t have a week, but we did come away with some business-changing ideas. Hint: if you are advertising on radio and you don’t follow this advice – we officially believe you are one unsafe children’s toy short of a Happy Meal.

According to Dr. Greg Cynaumon, (by the way, his Ph.D. is in psychology) “One of the most underutilized secrets in advertising is to combine traditional radio advertising and then repurposing that same radio host or DJ on the product’s or service’s website. It’s so simple and synergistic that it shocks me that nobody has done it before we did. I mean, if you are spending good money and trusting the radio celebrity to represent your product or service ‘on the air’ – doesn’t it make sense to have that same radio celebrity meet and greet your consumer on your website?”

ROI Media Direct, (www.RoiMediaDirect.com) a leading direct response radio and television advertising agency has not only created what they call the ROI VoiceStars 360 program – they’ve gone out and enlisted some of the biggest radio personalities and networks in the industry. Here’s what you need to know about Dr. Cynaumon and ROI Media Direct’s new program:

FACT: Advertising messages that use celebrities (radio hosts, actors, musicians or athletes) can hugely augment credibility, increase sales, and shorten your sales cycle.

FACT: If your advertising features an endorsing host, DJ, celebrity, or athlete and you are not using the ROI 360º model on your website, chances are you are wasting over 50% of your ad dollars.

“Here’s how to capitalize on this emerging sociology,” Cynaumon added. “Switch your media buying over to ROI Media Direct. Not only will we create your advertising copy (at no cost), but we’ll will work with your celebrity or radio host or DJ, or we’ll help you find the right, affordable celebrity endorser. Next, we’ll fully leverage every possible benefit of that endorser through strategic positioning throughout the entire sales cycle. Here’s how we do it.

“First, ROI 360º provides consumer continuity through a creative and technology process allowing your celebrity to walk (virtually live) onto your website and greet your customer. Secondly, ROI 360º uses psychology and technology to analyze prominent buy vs. don’t buy decision points on your website. This allows us to reintroduce your celebrity at just the right moment to reenergize buying decisions. And thirdly, ROI 360º recognizes that a significant majority of visitors to your website have not yet made a decision to buy. To help close these leads, we analyze your consumer’s buying resistance and produce a strategic string of email follow-up messages. Each email is strategically timed and features your celebrity appearing virtually live with a message proven to increase closing ratios.”

To summarize our visit with Dr. Greg Cynaumon of ROI Media Direct, the ROI 360º program is an amazingly cost-efficient way to fully leverage celebrity, athlete and radio show host and DJ endorsers to your consumers. The ROI 360 is the first advertising model to link both on and offline endorsement marketing to maximize ROI. (www.ROImediaDirect.com)

VIDEO: Dr. Greg Cynaumon Talks About VS-360º 

Posted on Jun 27, 2010

0 Comments

Tweet This Post!

According to Dr. Greg Cynaumon, Partner and Creative Director at ROI Media Direct, a full-service advertising agency with offices in San Diego, New York and Newport Beach, CA, VS-360º is the first product to formally bridge the endorsement gap between the entertainment industry (movies, videos, concerts, publishing and video games) and radio personalities.  

Cynaumon states, “Take movie releases for example. Currently, film studios purchase “air time” on radio stations, which play generic movie trailers – often the same trailers used on television sans video. Although this method has been used for decades, the movie industry generally agrees it produces marginal results.”

Cynaumon goes on to say that VS-360º capitalizes on the FACT that, both national radio personalities (e.g., Rush Limbaugh, Dr. Laura and Howard Stern) as well as local radio personalities have tremendous influence over their audience’s entertainment choices. If a personality loved a film, concert, book or video game, it’s as if a trusted friend told them to see it.

Through its proprietary relationships with entertainment companies, movie studios and radio personalities, networks and stations, ROI Media Direct’s VS-360º program has created the first automated entertainment review portal that connects entertainment properties directly to radio personalities. Personalities simply log in to ROI’s encrypted portal and choose films they wish to preview. If the personality likes the film”, Dr. Cynaumon said, “He or she answers specific online questions, which are turned into approved commercial copy and sent back to the radio personality for the on-air endorsement. Other aspects of VS-360º allow personality endorsements to be woven into the fabric of the program (product placement) rather than in commercial breaks. Other aspects of the program that Cynaumon described include movie review show features, audience theater screenings and ticket promotions.”

Cynaumon states the program should be ready for roll out in the fall. For more information, Contact Greg Cynaumon at ROI Media Direct. (ROIMediaDirect.com)

VIDEO: Radio Hosts Endorse Hundreds of New Advertisers

Posted on

0 Comments

Tweet This Post!

How many Ford dealerships can one radio host endorse at a time? Only one ON THE AIR, but ONLINE… that’s a completely different story.

ROI Media Direct, recognized as one of the premier talent-endorsement (or host endorsement) advertising agencies in the US announced its revolutionary VoiceStars 360 Program. According to Dr. Greg Cynaumon, President and Partner with ROI Media Direct, the new program enables agencies, advertisers, and radio stations to fully leverage the endorsement star power of on-air personalities that extends far beyond the obsolete: 1 client per category at a time on-air model. In fact, the 360 Model allows stations and networks to activate multiple same category advertisers without ever crossing the line of conflict and competition. So how did ROI do it?

According to Dr. Greg Cynaumon, “It was a difficult at first to help station and network execs to understand how their current on-air endorsement campaigns were tapping into just a tiny fraction of the total endorsement power of their on-air talents. Truly, a talent (or host) endorsement is one of the most powerful mediums available to advertisers and yet, it is woefully underutilized.”

Cynaumon continued, “All of us in the radio advertising industry are used to the standard metric: one car dealership per on-air endorsement, but why would that have any bearing on ONLINE endorsements? Why limit KFI’s, Bill Handel endorsement capabilities to ONE FORD DEALER? If he loves the brand and the car, why not bring Bill’s star-power to the 30 Ford Dealers within KFI’s flamethrower broadcast signal?”

ROI Media Direct, with such premier clients as LegalZoom.com, LifeLock, eHarmony.com and Blinds.com developed the VoiceStars 360 model whereby multiple advertisers share in the ONLINE endorsement star power of each on-air personality.

“So with the Bill Handel example on KFI,” Dr. Cynaumon stated, “We simply suggested offering Bill’s endorsement value online to multiple Ford dealers. So instead of Bill calling out just one Ford dealer on the air, in the VoiceStars 360 model, Bill can do a video walk-on – or an audio endorsement communicating how much he loves his Ford’s Taurus on 30 different Ford dealership websites.”

To speak with Dr. Greg Cynaumon or to learn more about ROI Media Direct and their VoiceStars 360 program, please visit ROIMediaDirect.com.

Doctor of Psych. Teaches You How to Succeed

Posted on

0 Comments

Tweet This Post!

Growing Rich Secret #1 Be in the Moment

By Dr. Greg Cynaumon

Let me offer you some advice as a friend and mentor. By the way, this is the same advice I’ve used to generate millions in income and the same advice I’ve shared with every one of my successful clients over the years. What I’m about to impart to you is the cornerstone to success – no matter your profession – no matter your age, education or background. What you’re about to learn can literally be the difference between becoming the next Millionaire Training 101 success story, or continuing to struggle.

Ready? I need you to refocus your attention on the here and now. There’s a saying I want you to adopt… a saying I keep on my computer desktop to serve as a frequent reminder that has served me well – whether as a husband, father, counselor or businessman… The saying is: wherever you are, be there 100%. It means that, in order to succeed in anything in life, you have to be in THAT moment – setting aside distractions that cause us to miss opportunities. It may sound simple, but it is one of the hardest lessons in life to master. Let me give you an example of not being in the moment.

The other day, I was at breakfast and noticed a young dad sitting with his young daughter. I watched them for about 15 minutes and not once did he look away from his phone or pay attention to his daughter. He was so busy texting or reading emails that in the entire time I watched, there was no interaction other than an occasional grunt in reply to something she’d say. For the record… I own it… I went into the “doctor shrink” mode and snapped a photo of his daughter boringly slouched in her chair while he read his phone. When the dad got up to refill his coffee, I approached him, showed him the photo I took and said, “this is clearly none of my business, and I really don’t want to offend you, but from one dad to another, is this how you want your daughter to remember her dad? To his credit, he looked at the photo, shook his head slowly and just said, “You’re right… I need to do better.”

The moral of this story is – whether it’s with your family or applying what you’re learning here – wherever you are… be there 100%. Look at life s an endless series of stepping-stones that extend from the day you were born through eternity. On each side of each steppingstone is a deep ocean. Now imagine that every significant daily choice and decision involves focusing your attention on JUST TWO steppingstones… the stone you are currently on and the stone you are moving to. If you turn your head to look behind you to see the steppingstones you’ve passed – you’ll fall. Likewise, if you look too far out ahead in the distance, you’ll slip off the path and into the water in no time. The key to the success of Millionaire Training 101 is in being 100% in the moment… and you do that by focusing on the steppingstone you are standing on now.

Look, irrespective of how focused we think we are – at some point, we all are going to get distracted by work, family, friends – who knows what. Don’t allow that to happen. Don’t allow yourself to get distracted or disappointed that this isn’t happening as fast as you’d wished. Stay in the moment – stay focused on what you’re learning today – stay positive and apply it. Don’t get distracted with yesterday’s failures – they have no relevance to today. And don’t worry about tomorrow or next week or next month – just focus on where you are today and let tomorrow take care of itself.

In conclusion, let me tell you what I need from you to succeed. You’re going to have to apply yourself to whatever you are doing. I need you to bring your “A” game, be here 100% with me and put some energy into becoming as wealthy as you want to become. You’re being handed the keys to the car – but you need to get in, start the engine and drive. Keep reminding yourself that you’re here because you’ve made an intelligent decision to turn your life around financially! You’ve decided NOW is the time chart a new course – a course that, if applied correctly, will make you financially independent now and for life.

For more information, please contact Dr. Greg Cynaumon (Greg Cynaumon, Ph.D.) through ROI Media Direct: (www.ROImediaDirect.com) (Cynaumon)

The Doctor of Advertising Is In

Posted on Jun 20, 2010

0 Comments

Tweet This Post!

The Doctor of Advertising is in

The New Psychology in Advertising

By Daniel Blackman

In this article, you’re about to learn the key to creative advertising psychology from Dr. Greg Cynaumon, recognized as one of the most successful advertising minds of our time. In fact, his string of radio, television and online commercial successes have been so impressive that it landed him on the cover of Response, the magazine that brings marketers and advertisers independent news.

Consumers recognize Dr. Greg Cynaumon as they’ve seen him on countless television commercials and hundreds radio commercials. He’s one of the driving forces behind some of the best-known, multi-million dollar advertising campaigns in the history of radio advertising including Hooked on Phonics The Phonics Game. You can view a more comprehensive list of Dr. Cynaumon and his credentials at www.RoiMediaDirect.com.

By any measure, Dr. Greg Cynaumon is an advertising success with the uncanny ability to analyze consumer products, incubate and market them into multi-million dollar successes. He is a retired therapist and author of multiple psychology and self-help books and he attributes much of his advertising acumen to understanding how psychology has everything to do with advertising and consumer motivation. But traditional psychology in advertising has been supplanted by a far-more effective tool that Cynaumon has invented – termed Ad•col•ogy.

“It’s no longer about the old school forms of manipulative psychology to motivate a consumer to action. Consumers these days are far more sophisticated – almost immune to traditional advertising manipulation, which employ scare tactics and other psychological ploys which have been used since the 1930,” advised Cynaumon. “When I created Ad•col•ogy (www.adcology.com) it instantly revolutionized the way our clients approached consumers whether it was online or offline campaigns. When applied to new campaigns, Adcology, gave them instant and more long-term lift and traction with minimal ad spends. And when applied to stalled, or fatiguing campaigns, it reinvigorated consumers and immediately boosted sales.”

Cynaumon calls adcology an honest, evolved, and non-manipulative ad form. Adcology works to activate consumerism through the subtle integration of shared experiences. The secret to effective advertising is not that dissimilar to effective psychological counseling. The key to both comes when the individual ‘buys in’. Lock that term into your mind because Cynaumon fastens all his ad theories around it. He continues, “A ‘buy in’ in counseling comes when the patient fully understands, embraces his or her particular need or problem and projects him or herself into the solution. Without the ‘buy in’, you never get to the action steps or the solution.”

Now transfer that knowledge of human behavior over to the field of advertising. Creative must be emotionally impactful enough to allow the consumer to ‘buy in’ or embrace the need for the product without sounding gratuitous or blatantly manipulative. Once a consumer hears a message, which resonates at the emotional level, only then is he or she able to project him or herself into the product.

“I know it sounds a bit complex at first,” Dr. Greg Cynaumon added, “But think of it in terms of problem – solution. Whether we’re talking about a patient in therapy or a consumer listening to the radio – the paradigm is identical. You must get through the individual’s defenses in order to get him or her to recognize and embrace a need. Until then, he or she has little interest in the solution – or your product or service.”

In the coming weeks, we’ll continue our series with Dr. Greg Cynaumon. You can reach him at www.ROImediaDirect.com.