Dr. Seuss – Persuasion Genius?

Dr. Seuss
Originally uploaded by lazaro

In 2002 I went to a Roy Williams (Wizard of Ads) seminar and he talked quite a bit about sound, rhyme and of course Dr. Seuss.

In essence here’s what I got out of it…

The largest part of the human brain involves the memory and
processing of SOUND.

Theodor Seuss Geisel (Dr. Seuss) found early on that anapest is a very powerful sound tool.

In 1937, while Geisel was returning from an ocean voyage to Europe, the rhythm of the ship’s engines inspired the poem that became his first book.

He took over the children’s book market from good old “Dick” and “Jane” with his powerful use of strange words and more importantly- his use of anapest.

Most of Geisel’s books are written in anapestic tetrameter. (Although sometimes he would use trochaic tetrameter and from time to time iambic tetrameter.)

According to Williams…

“Any competent cognitive neuroscientist will confirm that echoic memory is vastly superior to iconic memory. Words, statements, phrases, jingles, and songs, which surprise Broca’s area of the brain, are much more easily implanted and recalled than visual images.”

“Echoic retention causes people to remember things they never committed to memory, and a working knowledge of it gives one the ability to work miracles through the power of words. Echoic retention and the power of words is the heart and soul of advertising, though very few ad professionals understand it.”

The only thing most people could remember after the long OJ Simpson trial was…….one two THREE, one two THREE.

“If it doesn’t fit you must acquit” – anapest.