我曾认为，文字的力量是如此之苍白，毕竟写出来不如说出来，说出来不如唱出来，而耳食之言太容易成为谬语，只是我忘了凡是能够被世人所传颂的都必将成为经典。广告界中不乏经典之作，而文案大师总是能够将所执之笔由pen变成weapon，告诉你什么叫字字珠玑、咄咄逼人？

我读过很多豪车品牌手册，他们无一不表明其品牌精神是大胆创新，豪迈杰出，但他们的文案出来时，更像是堆砌口号和形容词，只有下面这篇让我过目不忘，让我真实地感受到出类拔萃的含义。这篇广告是100年前由麦克曼斯广告公司的西奥多·麦克曼斯撰写的，人类有多少文案早已消失在废品收购站，而它，得以传世。

1910年代，全球汽车品牌的竞争格局比今天更混乱，时值凯迪拉克发布一款新车V8 Touring，竞争对手Packard立即抛出一则广告，质疑它质量不可靠。面临严峻的公关危机，凯迪拉克必须立刻应对舆论质疑。1915年1月2日，美国《星期六晚间邮报》上刊登了卡迪拉克汽车公司广告——出人头地的惩罚（The Penalty of Leadership）。这是一篇纯广告文字，篇幅很长，洋洋洒洒约有400多字（英文单词），时至今日始终被认为是最优秀的广告之一。



【出人头地的代价】

在人类活动的每一个领域，获得第一的人必将长久地生活在世人的评判之中。无论是一个人还是一种产品，当他被授予了先进称号后，超越之声和妒忌之词便会接踵而至。在艺术界、文学界、音乐界和工业界，报酬与惩罚总是一样的。报酬就是得到公认；而惩罚则是遭到疯狂的诋毁。

嫉妒不会伸出带叉的舌头去诽谤一个只有平庸之才的画家。无论是写作、画画，还是演戏、唱歌或从事制造业，只要你的作品没有打上杰作的印记，就不会有人力图赶超你，诽谤你。在一项重大成果或一部佳作已完成后的很长一段时间里，失望和嫉妒的人仍会继续叫喊：“那是不可能的”。

外界人早已将惠斯勒（Whistler）称颂为最伟大的艺术大师之后，艺术领域中仍然流言纷纷，将自己的艺术大师说成是江湖骗子；当人们成群结队到音乐殿堂Bayreuth向瓦格纳（Wagner）顶礼膜拜时，一小撮被他废黜或顶替的人却气势汹汹地叫嚷：“他根本就不是音乐家”；当众人涌向河边观看轮船行驶之时，少数人仍坚持说富尔顿（Fulton）决不可能造成轮船。

杰出人物遭到非议，就是因为他是杰出者，你要是力图赶上他，只能再次证明他是出色的；由于未能赶上或超过他，那些人就设法贬低和损害他——但只能又一次证实他所努力想取代的事物的优越性。

这一切都没有什么新鲜，如同世界和人类的感情——嫉妒、恐惧、贪婪、野心以及赶超的欲望，历来就是如此，一切都是徒劳无益。如果杰出人物确实有其先进之处，他终究是一个杰出者。杰出的诗人、著名的画家、优秀工作者，每个人都会遭到攻击，但每个人最终也会拥有荣誉。不论反对的叫喊声多响，美好的或伟大的，总会流传于世，该存在的总是存在。

结果：报纸刊出后，几乎所有读者都在谈论这篇广告，大家似乎忘了Packard的控诉，凯迪拉克没有指名道姓，但Packard看起来就像是文中的小丑。极少看到一个品牌处理危机公关能如此成功，不但化解了危机，而且让目标客户——那些身居高位的企业家深感共鸣。很多人把那份报纸收藏起来，不少企业家把它装裱在办公室墙上，激励自己大胆创新。1967年，凯迪拉克把这篇广告制作成书卷，寄给每一名用户，包括猫王，这篇广告今天还挂在猫王孟菲斯豪宅的墙面上。

附：原文

The Penalty of Leadership

In every field of human endeavor, he that is first must perpetually live in the white light of publicity. Whether the leadership be vested in a man or in a manufactured product, emulation and envy are ever at work. In art, in literature, in music, in industry, the reward and the punishment are always the same. The reward is widespread recognition; the punishment, fierce denial and detraction. When a man’s work becomes a standard for the whole world, it also becomes a target for the shafts of the envious few. If his work be merely mediocre, he will be left severely alone – if he achieve a masterpiece, it will set a million tongues a-wagging. Jealousy does not protrude its forked tongue at the artist who produces a commonplace painting. Whatsoever you write, or paint, or play, or sing, or build, no one will strive to surpass or to slander you, unless your work be stamped with the seal of genius. Long, long after a great work or a good work has been done, those who are disappointed or envious continue to cry out that it cannot be done. Spiteful little voices in the domain of art were raised against our own Whistler as a mountebank, long after the big world had acclaimed him its greatest genius. Multitudes flocked to worship at the shrine of Wagner, while the little group of those whom he had dethroned and displaced argued angrily that he was no musician at all. The little world continued to protest that Fulton could not build a steamboat, while the big world flocked to the river to see his boat steam by. The leader is assailed because he is the leader, and the effort to equal him is merely added proof of that leadership. Failing to equal or to excel, the follower seeks to depreciate and to destroy – but only confirms once more the superiority of that which he strives to supplant. There is nothing new in this. It is as old as the world and as old as the human passions – envy, fear, greed, ambition, and the desire to surpass. And it all avails nothing. If the leader truly leads, he remains – the leader. Master-poet, master-painter, master-workman, each in his turn is assailed, and each holds his laurels through the ages. That which is good or great makes itself known, no matter how loud the clamor of denial. That which deserves to live – lives.