Conclusion

I heard many things as a kid, not the least of which was the need to “practice what you preach.” So, I bring our time together, and my story, to a close. Perhaps the most critical point in my career, October 22, 1997, was a day that changed a lot of lives. It could have been much, much different. MasterCard executive Larry Flanagan and his colleagues could have chosen the safe and certain path. Instead, they were brave and followed their instincts, embracing a simple gut feeling that our “Priceless” campaign reflected what was really in the hearts of their audience and believing that my colleagues and I were people who understood their hidden agenda.

Fifteen years later, the results of this fateful decision are staggering. The “Priceless” campaign appears regularly in upwards of 110 countries. Hundreds of TV commercials in dozens of languages have aired. A public offering of MasterCard was highly successful, and now MasterCard represents a formidable rival to Visa; it’s come a long, long way from a brand and a company teetering on the brink. All this resulted, I believe, because of people’s ability to understand what lies in another’s heart and to connect to it. Over my span of years in the advertising business, I developed the ability to step back and see the patterns, and they are clear to me. When you can see, with x-ray clarity, the deep, visceral, emotional motivation that lies in the heart of your audience—the hidden agenda—you can move mountains. Businesses are won and followings created by simple acts of human empathy. When you can see past the surface and unlock the emotional desires of your prospects, the world is your oyster.

It seems crazy for an adman to assert that we don’t really “persuade” anybody to do anything. I believe, however, that businesses hire you and people follow you not because they’ve had their arms twisted, but because they see that you understand them, that you have devoted the time and the sensitivity needed to empathize with their yearnings, and that you possess a special gift that can help them reach their hearts’ desires.

If you connect your credo, your core, and your real ambition to your constituency, create an ironclad argument via the advocate’s approach, and then tell a compelling story of an exciting future that achieves their hidden agenda, you can move mountains.

In our journey together we have examined several crucial principles of crafting a winning pitch. The search for the hidden agenda is the search for desire, and this agenda is rarely in evidence. You will need to put on special antennae to receive these signals. There is no trickery or hidden persuasion needed to find your audience’s hidden agenda; what is required is emotional insight, human sensitivity, thoughtfulness, empathy, and very good listening skills. These can be applied in a scientific approach that may require a bit of “unlearning” of previous ways and means to pitch. This fundamental concept is even more potent when creating a following among a large and disparate group. The conceptual target offers a means to create a powerfully motivating, hidden agenda–inspired definition of your constituency.

Your core, credo, and real ambition are what I call leverageable assets. They are the means by which you bond with your audience. This key step is the moment of truth, more important than any other step in the process, because the insights that you have gleaned into the hidden agenda of your audience is the foundation upon which your approach is based.

To be understood, for people to grasp what you are saying and follow your argument, you must be as clear as you are compelling. The magic in the advocate’s approach lies in compelling clarity that comes from crystal clear logic. This is a critical reduction to an essential core that can be shared and understood by virtually all constituencies.

In this new world, the message is not buy me, it’s join me. You cannot demand your audience’s attention. But you can ignite it, through the time-honored practice of storytelling, which reaches to the heart of your audience’s desire and connects profoundly to it. When you do this, people will follow you. They will embrace you and anything you represent, whether it is the direction of your company, the project you lead, or the product you sell

I suppose there is no better and more appropriate way for me to finalize my case than to take a cue from the memorable campaign of which I was proud to be a part:

Pitches undertaken: scores
Fine companies encountered: hundreds
Amazing people met: thousands

Helping people achieve what matters most to them through their hidden agendas: priceless