Internet Nostalgia - Remember "This Dumb Little Ad?"

Internet Nostalgia - Remember "This Dumb Little Ad?"
by Cathy Bryant
Copyright 2003
http://www.homebizjunction.com

Watch out - if you do, you're showing your "Internet Age!"

I am, of course, referring to the now infamous "Cookie Cutter"
marketing program which was all over the internet when I first
began exploring the online business world (circa mid-1999).

If you have no idea what I'm referring to, then you can
consider yourself a relative newbie to the internet. I bring
up Cookie Cutter as an example of how things can change so
dramatically online in such a relatively short period of time.

No kidding - if you were at all involved in the business
opportunity area of the internet at that time, you will
definitely remember those "cc-pages" - they were EVERYWHERE!

What I remember most vividly about Cookie Cutter was the
ubiquitous ad headline that invariably heralded an
invitation to investigate this program.

"THIS DUMB LITTLE AD Can Put $200 in cash in your mailbox...
EVERYDAY!"

It was followed by an ad that almost always read exactly the
same way -

==========

This little cookie cutter spits out $20 checks...

It's a 3-part automated system, consisting of a KILLER
classified ad, a powerful one page sales letter delivered
by autoresponder, and a QUALITY product, delivered to
your customer by the company.

You can set up today...and actually be getting checks
mailed to you tomorrow.

For complete details, send a blank email to:
mailto: xxx@someautoresponder.com or visit my web site:
http://www.cc-pages/vips/MembersName/index.htm

==========

The sales copy was misleading in the sense that what
you learned only AFTER you sent in your $20 was that in
order to implement the system you needed to purchase
additional items.

Those who were fortunate enough to get in early no doubt
made some money with the program - but no one made MORE
money than its originator, Gary White.

When I decided to write this article, I did some research
on Cookie Cutter, and what I discovered was intriguing.

For example, I did a Google search on the term "Cookie
Cutter" and I had to go to Page 4 before I found any
reference to it whatsoever. It was actually a link to
a disclaimer put on the "Beginner's Central" website that
was used in Cookie Cutter's Bootcamp product.

http://www.northernwebs.com/bc/

Another search on "Gary White" found nothing to reference
the once-famous originator of the Cookie Cutter program
in the first ten pages. I chose not to go any further.

But then I did a search on "This Dumb Little Ad" -
THAT got some results. Never underestimate the power of
a unique headline.

Naturally that led me to many pages which were no longer
active. This prompted me to do a WHOIS search on the
domain name of the duplicated pages that were used in
the program.

Many of you will be interested in learning that the domain
name cc-pages.com expired on March 5 of this year. Looks
like Gary White is out of business. I do recall that he
tried to parlay his success with Cookie Cutter into a
similar program, but apparently he was unsuccessful.

By that time, most everyone had caught on.