58. The Mystery of the I-94 Sales & Marketing Tip of the Week Billboard, with Ken Hoffman & Kyle Brown

There is a weird, enigmatic old billboard along the interstate in Wisconsin promoting a "Sales & Marketing Tip of the Week." Without any branding or context, this weathered sign invites thousands of motorists daily to call a mysterious phone number. And that has been driving Dusty CRAZY because, frankly, nothing about this billboard makes any sense in 2025. So we're going to SOLVE A MARKETING MYSTERY, folks! Together with our old pal Kyle Brown, we're going to speculate about WHY this sign exists, how it got there, and what its purpose is. And THEN, we're actually going to track down the person responsible for the sign and learn the strange-but-true story of the "Sales & Marketing Tip of the Week." Because it turns out this billboard is a portal back in time to a different era of direct response marketing. We discover that it was built decades ago by Ken Hoffman, a self-proclaimed "ideas man" who gives them away for free, but has trouble getting his own ideas off the ground. We learn how his career was influenced by the so-called "marketing gurus" of yesteryear, and find lots in common with this endlessly curious polymath. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices