The Marketing Power of The Damaging Omission

Several years ago I decided to sell my Ferrari 355 on eBay (yeah, it was red). I put up a fairly typical eBay ad that included a bunch of photos. It was sold to someone in Mexico who then, surprise, surprise, did not come through with the money.

I put it up again, nothing.

And again, nothing.

I had already bought another car so by the fourth listing it was time to put some real focus on selling the car. I rewrote the ad from scratch eliminating the typical BS you see in car ads and going instead for complete disclosure.

The headline read: Ferrari 355, The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly

The good was obvious; the bad copy said things like:

Always driven in the rain. In fact, it’s my only car, so instead of rotting in some rich doctor’s garage, mine is actually driven daily, which is why it has 50,000 miles on it and is the ultimate proof that the car is sound mechanically!

It has been driven on the track at every club event possible, and I have to tell you, when you own this car, that’s exactly what you should do so you can experience the true potential of this awe-inspiring machine.

The ugly referred to the air vents, which had melted into thick black goo in some places (a common problem on this…