http://dennyhatch.blogspot.com/2022/11/172-blog-post-christies-invite.html

#172 Blog Post - Tuesday, 1 November 2022

Posted by Denny Hatch

Your Exclusive Invitation to a FreeTour of
The World's Greatest Private Art Collection

From Denny Hatch's Yahoo inbox last week:

Christie's Email Invitation:

Inadvance of the two-part auction of Visionary: The Paul G. Allen Collection,explore more than 150 masterpieces spanning 500 years of art history. Valued atan unprecedented $1 billion, the vast trove of the co-founder of Microsoft andphilanthropist traces a collecting journey from the trailblazing Old Masterssuch as Sandro Botticelli to contemporary giants like David Hockney. 

We look forward to welcoming you to ourgalleries at Rockefeller Center beginning 29 October.

Ifyou attend the auction—or watch it privately streaming live on your home TV—youmight see a few gazillionaires' representatives in bidding war. Among themmight be a well-financed museum director (e.g. Alice Walton's Crystal BridgesMuseum in Bentonville, Arkansas.) One of these folks will be spending $65million or more in three minutes.

Thisis high drama. Heady stuff.

Above are three of the 150 masterpieces inthe Allen Collection that have never been seen by the public. They are on viewat Christie's auction galleries—and online—prior to the sale. During thisperiod they will be seen by the tiniest elite of art aficionados—including youand me—who ever lived on the planet. Once the gavel bangs down and the auctioneer says, "SOLD!" theywill disappear into private homes and castles, never to be seen again.

Thinkof it. This extraordinary adventure started with the teensy email fromChristie's I found in my Yahoo inbox last week.

I Invite You to Turn Your Computer, iPad or iPhone
Into a Private Art Museum with Two Great Collections:

The Paul G. Allen Collection

https://mail.yahoo.com/d/folders/1/messages/271581?.src=fp

The Ann and Gordon Getty Collection 

https://www.christies.com/events/the-ann-and-gordon-getty-collection/what-is-on

A couple of times a month I amflattered—and delighted!—to have an e-invitation from Christie's pop out of myin-box. This is a welcome diversion from the endless dark news cycles of political fury,accusations of lying, victimhood, riots, finger pointing, assaults, indictments,jail terms, pandemics, masks, deaths, shootings, vehement denials,inflation, looming recession, attempted assassinations, climate catastrophes and, of course, spamity Spam.

A BlogPost About Flattery and Exclusivity

Readers of this cranky blog know I amnut about following the basic rules of direct marketing. And I have beaten todeath this one:

"The 7 Key Copy Drivers inMarketing—the Emotional Hot Buttons that Make People Act:

1. Fear -2. Greed - 3. Guilt - 4. Anger -

5.Salvation - 6. Flattery - 7. Exclusivity

In the words of the great Seattledirect marketing guru, Bob Hacker, "If you copy isn't dripping with one ormore of these hot buttons, tear it up and start over.

The first five — Fear - Greed - Guilt- Anger - Salvation — are obvious.

Those last two — Exclusivity andFlattery — are more subtle.

Frankly, I feel very flattered to beincluded in Christie's exclusive elite private circle of millionaire artcollectors.

 About "Flattery" — Axel's Story

My great friend, guru, teacher wasAxel Anderson. Axel was a stocky little Swede with a cherubic face and a shock of wavy white hair. Hecut his Terry-Thomas teeth on direct marketing under the guidance of thelegendry Ed Mayer in New York.

Following World War II Axel moved toHamburg, Germany where he bought a correspondence school business. He offeredcourses in languages, writing and art to name a few. Single-handedly he turnedthe Axel Andersson Akademy into the largest operation of its kind in Europe ifnot the world.

After30 years he sold out and moved to Florida so he could indulge in his passions:warm weather and studying direct mail.

Axel’s retirement beat:

•Florida (walking the beach two hours a day)

• Visitingthe Library of Congress in Washington, D.C. (where he pored over obscure tomeson marketing)

•Europe (to visit clients)

•Stamford, Connecticut (and later Philly) to spend hours prowling throughPeggy’s and my WHO’S MAILING WHAT!archive of junk mail.

Anderssoncut a deal with me whereby I would send him all my leftover mail—the dupes andpurges that would otherwise be thrown out of our massive WHO'S MAILING WHAT!library of direct mail samples.

Iprobably sent Andersson 30,000 mailings a year.

Herented a whole house in Palm Harbor just to house his collection.

Wheremy archive was maintained by category and alphabetically by mailer, his wasfiled by technique. He segmented envelopes, letters, brochures, lift pieces andoff-the-page mail order advertising.

Wheremany of us are binge watchers of TV series, Axel was a binge reader of junkmail.

Many ofthe pieces in his collection were covered with tiny handwritten notes inSwedish, German and English.

One month Axel went on a binge studying theledes—headlines or Johnson boxes—of successful direct mail letters to discoverhow copywriters grabbed the readers' attention.

He readthe first page of 1141 letters and made notes on the emotional hot buttons. Hisbreakthrough discovery:

In 42%of the letters Axel analyzed,
The primary Hot Button was "Flattery."

How Christie's Continually Flatters Me

Typicaljunk mail appeals to greed and financial stress: "Save on this item...""You poor schlub, it's easy to borrow money"... "Never everagain pay this much for..." "Only pay for what you need!..." "Howto refinance your credit card debt..." blah, blah, blah.

From Christie's to Denny Hatch

Okay, I'll admit it's a real kick tobe invited by Christie's to bid at auctions of great works of art selling forupward of $65 million. An Ego Trip!

Many,many years ago when I was just out of the Army and making $90 a week, I wasliving in a fourth floor $60-a-month walk-up railroad flat in Manhattan. I signedup to do some flunky work for a United Nations hospitality committee. I wasinvited to a swanky U.N. gathering at a Fifth Avenue luxury apartment. I had noidea who lived there, but of course I wore my best suit and tie and made smalltalk with the ladies and gentlemen.

Idistinctly remember looking up and catching sight of a beautiful littlepainting. I didn't think much of it as I was busy "networking." Alittle later I found myself next to that painting and realized it looked like aRenoir. On closer inspection, I saw that it was indeed a Renoir! Wow! I'donly seen Renoirs at the Met and MOMA! I began looking at the artwork invarious rooms and realized I was in a magnificent private mini-museum and was surroundedby world class art. Where was I?

It wasthe home of Barbara "Babe" CushingMortimer Paley, recently separated wife of broadcasting mogul, CBSfounder and CEO, William S. Paley.

Suffice it to say I was dazzled.

Takeaways to Consider

• If I were ever hired to write copy to generate prospectsfor Christie's (or Sotheby's), the two key copy drivers (emotional hot buttons)to test would be Flattery and Exclusivity.

• To review the bidding: The Seven Key Copy Driversemotional hot button that make people act/change their behavior) are:

Fear - Greed - Guilt - Anger -
Exclusivity -Salvation - Flattery.

• "If you copy is not positively dripping with oneor more of these hot buttons, tear it up and start over. —Bob Hacker

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