[Headline] Next time you get your long distance bill blow it off [Subhead] Call anywhere. Talk forever. Never pay long distance. [Body Copy] DIGIPHONE is software for the Internet that lets you talk long distance for the price of a local call. You'll need a PC, an Internet connection and the rebellious desire to quit wasting your money paying long distance. Because you don't have to anymore. Local access gets you long distance. DIGIPHONE gets you talking. So. Are you going to sit there like the Czar, or join the DIGIPHONE revolution? For the facts, try us at http://www.planeteers.com or visit your nearest software retailer. Full-duplex, natural two-way phone system software for the Internet.

Hmm...looks like a Molotov cocktail exploding. So? Headline says to totally disregard the next long-distance phone bill...yeah, right. Let's see if there's a clue down here..."Call anywhere. Talk forever. And never pay long distance." Excuse me?

Hey, what's this in the small print? "Digiphone is software for the Internet that lets you talk long distance for the price of a local call." YES!

There's a terrific sales message in this ad. One wonders what convinced the client to obscure it. Maybe they thought an indirect approach would be more powerful. Or that making it analogous to the Russian Revolution would be cool.

The indirect approach can be a great way to involve your reader in a complex message, or to help put a fresh spin on a me-too subject. It's basically a lure. But there's already a powerful lure: the appeal of talking long distance for the price of a local call. Why compete with your own pitch?

As for analogy, that device only succeeds if it creates a clear and immediate organic relationship with the story. Otherwise the reader is disconnected from the real message.

Both techniques need to be handled skillfully, or the result is a muddle - as this ad sadly, if vividly, demonstrates.

Bob Stevenson

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