LOL!!! Well, if not, he should have been. Thanks for the chuckle. Cheri

Hi Gary, I too, have been trying to get through to you, without success - so maybe this one will fall by the wayside as well. Your points are well made and regretfully it is also a main reason why I shy away from most of what happens here. I also check out as best I can when 'invited to be a friend' - too many are simply blatant MLM scams - even if I am prepared to acknowledge that some participants at least seem not aware of that fact. After 50 years in International Marketing and Advertising (including 16 years in Australia), and another 12 countries, I can put my hand on my heart and say to anyone and everyone DO NOT GET INVOLVED IN MLM! The Products are irrelevent, and the recruiting is the only thing that matters. It is the quickest way to lose friends and even your family will start avoiding you. Ultimately you and others will be disappointed at least and damaged at worst. Please people - do not waste your time and energy disputing this. After my time in business I think I would know as much if not more than most in this area. Adland Pro is a good idea - and I welcome it as an initiative, but I fear it it being hijacked by the unscrupulous or the naive. Best response Gary is to recognise the time-wasters and hit the delete button sooner. Saves time, effort and aggravation. Keep the faith! Norm

Hi Norm; Just wanted to say hello and welcome you to my forum. I'm proud that this little corner of Adland seems to attract the cream of the crop and the thinkers. You won't find the "join this opp" and scam crowd participating here very often. I think you might like it here... and thanks for adding your thoughts. Hope to see more of you here. : ) Linda

Hi Linda, not sure about cream of the crop - but nice to participate anyway. Just a follow-up to the comments by Gary. My new book 'Fitting in the 4th P - an IMC Primer' (http://www.amazon.com) is 424 pages of my 'culled wisdom' of over 50 years in the business as I mentioned. As it is intended as a positive book - there is NOT one single mention of MLM in it. Shows how relevent I find the whole exercise doesn't it. Unfortunately I do speak from observing so many others getting stung over the years. Many, many moons ago I DID briefly get involved in one of these things so I do speak from some personal experience. The daftest thing was the fact that the product was truly excellent and if it had been subject to normal marketing techniques it would have been the first Shopping Card ever introduced. So even a good idea can get killed through MLM. I am sure the initiators would have made a lot more money of they had gone the slower route. Funny old world isn't it? All the best, Norm

Howdy Norman! ================ "I too, have been trying to get through to you, without success - so maybe this one will fall by the wayside as well." ================ Nuh! I'm here my friend. It's me! It is. I'm here! Did you Private Message me or something? If so, I'm sorry. I just got so sick and tired of being prospected and pitched to that I stopped even looking in my PM box. Not very professional, I know. But I'm sick of the sly tactics of people who think they are marketers. (heh! Just to re-inforce my point - again!) ================= "After 50 years in International Marketing and Advertising (including 16 years in Australia), and another 12 countries, I can put my hand on my heart and say to anyone and everyone DO NOT GET INVOLVED IN MLM! The Products are irrelevent, and the recruiting is the only thing that matters. It is the quickest way to lose friends and even your family will start avoiding you." ================== A-MEN brother! Norman, we are on the same wavelength! You should go and see the massive thread we had about good old (or should I say "bad old") MLM. Linda, where is it? I went looking the other day. I trolled around heaps and couldn't find it. Norman would love the battlefield there. ================== "Adland Pro is a good idea - and I welcome it as an initiative, but I fear it it being hijacked by the unscrupulous or the naive." ================== I couldn't agree more Norman. Hey! I'm really starting to warm to you! - LOL! Regarding the time wasters - yep - that's EXACTLY what I do. Delete them. But I am ALWAYS interested in sharing ideas with the intelligentsia here. And, Norman, you are indeed welcome - especially if you keep agreeing with me! (ha, ha - only kidding.) Seriously, welcome. Gary PS: I'll take a look at that book link later too.