Benjamin Brandreth

A splendid chance for notoriety that will never offer itself again

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Three years ago, I wrote a prescient email that started out so:

“Today, I want to share with you a marketing technique so powerful, so daring, so all-around incredible that I wish I had the circumstances and the courage to implement it myself right now.”

This powerful, daring, and all-around incredible marketing technique is something I found in a book about P.T. Barnum. Lemme tell you about it.

Barnum once promoted a Swedish opera singer, Jenny Lind, on her first tour of the U.S. He ran ads in newspapers to promote Lind, but not just that.

Barnum also — get ready for this — ran an auction for the very first Lind ticket to be sold.

But again, not just that.

Barnum went in private to see a certain hat maker, Genin, and told Genin to bid as much as needed to win.

Barnum then went to a Dr. Brandreth, a maker of patent medicines, and also told the good doctor to bid as much as needed.

“The higher the price,” Barnum told both men separately, “the greater renown it will give you all over the country within twenty-four hours.”

Genin listened. He kept bidding and ended up putting up the winning $225 bid for the first Lind ticket, about $8,662 in today’s money.

Within 24 hours, the name “Genin the hat maker” was known all over the country.

Ragged and beat up “real Genin hats” started being sold at a 46,000% markup.

Genin started selling 10,000 extra hats a year on the back of that initial $225 investment — and became a very rich man.

Dr. Brandreth, on the other hand, didn’t listen to Barnum’s advice.

Brandeth decided to cap his bidding at $200, and he lost the opportunity to win the first Lind ticket. He later said:

“I had better have paid $5,000 [over $192,000 in today’s money] than to have missed securing the first Jenny Lind ticket. Such a splendid chance for notoriety will never offer itself again.”

Three years ago, as I said, I didn’t have the courage or circumstances to implement Barnum’s powerful, daring, and all-around incredible auction idea.

Today I have the circumstances — my Daily Email House group, where I can run the auction. And as for courage, I have gathered that too, and will run my own first auction soon.

Ultimately, this auction is your opportunity to build a name for yourself, gain notoriety, and achieve status, all while building up your email list.

If you win the auction, I will use my own good name, standing, and authority with my list to hold you up like baby Simba and say “Behold!” while all the gazelles and zebras stare up in wonder and applaud.

But even before that happens, you will already have gotten your name into people’s minds.

“Who is this Genin the hat maker?” they will ask, except with your name except Genin’s.

Some people are sure to look you up and sign up for your list right away.

If you have a flair for showmanship and self-promotion, you will be able to capitalize immediately by making a big deal out of being the winning bidder.

But even if not, your name will simply become more familiar to people — including the many influential marketers and business owners who read these emails — so they become more responsive to you the next time hear of you.

Now lean in. Close. I wanna whisper something important to you:

If you’re looking to build a name for yourself, I advise you, in secret, one-to-one, just you and me here inside this email, to bid as much as it takes to win.

It will be a splendid chance to win renown for yourself that will never offer itself again.

You’re likely to profit many times over what you will bid to win. Of course, I’m even guaranteeing that you will make all your money back before I’m done promoting you.

More details on my auction soon.

Meanwhile, if you wanna secure your spot inside Daily Email House, where the auction will be happening:

https://bejakovic.com/house

The best possible contest you could ever run to create demand and sales for your products, without cheapening, but in fact while heightening the perceived value of your offer

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Today, I want to share with you a marketing technique so powerful, so daring, so all-around incredible that I wish I had the circumstances and the courage to implement it myself right now.

Alas, I do not. But perhaps you are luckier and braver than I am, and so perhaps you will profit. Let me set it up with this true story:

Before P.T. Barnum got into the circus business, he made his living promoting rare and unusual talents. One of these was Jenny Lind, a Swedish opera singer who had won great fame in Europe.

Barnum decided to bring Lind to America.

Only problem was, Americans didn’t care.

Barnum started a big newspaper publicity campaign to build up desire for Lind. Once newspaper-reading Americans started to be intrigued by the “Swedish Nightingale”, selling tickets became no problem. But Barnum didn’t stop there.

Once excitement to hear Lind sing had grown to fever pitch, Barnum organized a spectacular event, a contest. And that’s the marketing technique I want to tell you about.

Barnum started selling tickets to the first Jenny Lind concert by auction.

And of course, he didn’t stop there either.

Instead, he went to a certain Genin, a hat maker in New York, and advised him to bid whatever it took to win the first auctioned ticket. Secretly, he then went to a certain Dr. Brandreth, a maker of a patent medicine. He told the same to Brandreth, to bid whatever it took to win.

“The higher the price,” Barnum told both men separately, “the greater renown it will give you all over the country within twenty-four hours.”

Brandreth did not do as he was told. He only bid as high as $200 — a princely sum at the time, equivalent to $7,700 today. But he lost the first Jenny Lind ticket. He had this to say later:

“I had better have paid $5,000 than to have missed securing the first Jenny Lind ticket. Such a splendid chance for notoriety will never offer itself again.”

On the other hand, Genin did as Barnum told him to do. He kept bidding and got the ticket for $225. And instantly, he became a nationwide topic of interest.

People all around the country suddenly started asking, “Who is this Genin who paid such money for a ticket?”

Men started taking off their hats and checking the labels inside, hoping that they too might have a real Genin hat. A man in Iowa who did find himself in possession of a ragged and beat-up old “real Genin”, which wasn’t worth 2 cents, auctioned it off for more than $360 in today’s money.

And Genin in New York started selling 10,000 extra hats a year on the back of that initial $225 investment — and became a very rich man.

As for Barnum and Lind, well, as you can guess, their tour became a yuge success. Barnum toured the country with Lind for several years, making tens of millions of dollars (in today’s money) for both Lind and for himself. Eventually, Lind decided to return to Europe and Barnum took his energy and his talents to other pursuits.

So there you go.

A blueprint for the best possible contest you could ever run to create demand and sales for your products, without cheapening, but in fact while heightening the perceived value of your offer.

If you do ever implement this scheme and profit handsomely from it, don’t send me a free ticket to your show — that would be against the whole spirit of the thing. Just write me and say thank you, and I will pass on your thanks to P.T. Barnum.

By the way, I really hate to give this idea away. But, like I said, I have neither the circumstances nor the courage to implement it myself right now.

All I can do is tell you to sign up for my daily email newsletter.

It’s available today for free.

If, like Genin the hatter, you would like to pay a princely sum for it and in that way distinguish yourself, you will have to wait until I start charging for my emails.

On the other hand, if you simply want the entertainment and education inside my newsletter, you can get that opportunity here.