Ken asks:

> One question I got via private email:  *IF* something like my
>  above beta (or Wirt's version, for that matter) ends up getting
>  the go:   The reason(s) for including the Owl in the ad are:
>  ????
>
>  The real work and email overload has gotten bad enough that
>  while I really like the Owl and the "Who Knew ??" (if nothing
>  else because of:  The visual appeal;  it's a good symbol;  and it
>  makes the reader think)..   But confess I am hard put to come
>  up with a precise recollection and rendition of other reasons for
>  including the Owl;  given the current state of the ads (whatever
>  that is).  Can anybody concisely recapitulate "why the Owl" ??

There's no reason to put the owl on the ad -- unless it has a purpose. In the
mockup I put together, you saw the owl as indicative of something altogether
different than virtually everyone else would, simply because you were primed
to see it that way.

But a stern-looking, wide-awake, grumpy, sparingly drawn, pen-and-ink,
staring-you-in-the-face owl was directly associated with the tag line, "Wake
Up, HP!", and everyone else in the world would see it that way.

But for the people on this list, it was an inside joke.

If the owl is going to be on the page, it's got to say something -- or it
shouldn't be there. At best, in the non-confrontational version of the ad,
perhaps an owl mother and her chicks could be sitting on top of an HP3000,
indicating a high degree of comfort and security. But it couldn't be an
overwhelming visual theme. And again, it would be a bit of an inside joke for
only those "who knew."

Wirt Atmar