KEYWORDS: poster, posters, something

GP Posters

David Berg

DO 1869 10/84

1. I'M THINKING MORE & MORE IN TERMS OF PUBLIC SALES & THAT WE SHOULD HAVE THINGS THAT ARE MORE SUITABLE FOR THAT. I was sort of thinking about us when I first designed those headlines on the new Heaven Poster, but now I'm thinking more about the public. So I think on the primary headline‚ the big one, we should change that word "Our" to "There's": "There's coming a Heavenly Life of Love!" The first line is the thing we want to impress on them with a big headline & big letters, & that doesn't sound so religious. The second line can be quite small & has a little stronger flavour: "In Our Heavenly City & the New Earth!"—And we should change that also to read "The Heavenly City".

2. ON ALL OF THE CAPTIONS WE COULD JUST SIMPLY OMIT THE WORD "WE" & MAKE IT A KIND OF AN INVITATION: "ENTER!" "SIT & RULE!" "LIVE IN LOVE!" "GLIDE DOWN!" "BUILD!" "DREAM!" Get the idea? Doesn't that sound better to make it more exclamatory? The other makes it a little too personal & not understandable to the public, it sounds like we're being a little exclusive. But if we drop that "we" off of all of them, it becomes an invitation to each one: "Come on, let's go! Enter! Sit & rule! Glide! Live! Build! Dream!" Sort of a...what do they call it? It's almost like a command, but they can take it as an invitation! Then on the "Healing with the Leaves" pic, it seemed to me that "to the nations" is not really fitting or grammatically correct, & that it would be better to change it to "for the nations".

3. WE DON'T WANT TO MAKE TOO MANY CHANGES, BUT I THINK THESE ARE IMPERATIVE! That's the word I was trying to think of a minute ago, the imperative tense! It's pretty important because we're really going to hit the public with this & we don't want it to sound too exclusive like a "look–what-we've-got–that-you-haven't-got" attitude.—In-stead of that, we're inviting'm: "Come!"

4. I'D SURE LOVE TO MAKE THIS A CHRISTMAS GIFT TO THE FAMILY!—MAYBE THESE TWO HEAVEN POSTERS! We're getting the Music Poster out first for urgent necessity use, but then if we could get out both of the Heaven Posters, the old & the new, wouldn't that be terrific to have'm both? You could wear one on the front & one on the back! We usually send the Family something special on Christmas, so wouldn't that be nice?

5. I DON'T HAVE A THING TO ADD TO THE OLD HEAVEN POSTER BECAUSE WE WORKED ON THAT ONE FOR MONTHS! If anyone can think of any improvements on that one, I challenge you! I think it's ready to go except for that little tiny line on the top to remind them what it's for: "A Poster For Your Wall!" We want'm to remember that! And I like that little second line we added at the bottom, the little words to pray & receive Jesus. I think that's just the right size & will be facing them all the time if they stick it on their wall. If it's only in the text on the back they may never see that again once they've read it, but if they do like the pictures & they stick it on the wall, they'll always be faced with that challenge!

6. ONE CHANGE I DO HAVE ON THE OLD HEAVEN POSTER FOR GP IS TO CHANGE "OUR HEAVENLY CITY" TO "THE HEAVENLY CITY!" Also on the Front View we can change "Our Sky–High Mansion" to "A Sky-High Mansion"! We've gotta really re-think these in terms of the public & not the selfish viewpoint any more. So if you run across anything else you see that needs to be caught‚ don't be afraid to holler!

7. THE '83 CALENDAR POSTER LOOKS GREAT TO ME! The only change I have is on the third picture, top line, where I put a bubble on Jesus' chest around the words: "Come unto Me!" because somebody said it looked like He was wearing it on a tee-shirt! That's such a popular custom now, that that's what they thought it looked like!—One of the little kids! But you see, they're the ones that you have to make it plain for! If they understand it, everybody will! So I made that a bubble.

8. WE PUT A LOT MORE THOUGHT INTO THESE CAPTIONS WHEN WE FIRST DID THIS '83 CALENDAR ("THE HAPPY END OF THE WORLD"), WE REALLY WORKED THESE OVER, & THE ART WAS MUCH BETTER TOO. The '82 Calendar ("Here's the Future") is a different story, we really kind of slapped that together in a hurry for your Christmas present with just stuff we already had. So I don't think we can improve on the '83 poster much, we already put a lot of time into it, but if you have any suggestions, we're always open!—24-hours-a-day, 7-days-a-week! Just because you once said you're satisfied, don't let that keep you from making suggestions in case you run across something!

9. ON THE '82 CALENDAR POSTER, AGAIN WE NEED TO MAKE THE FIRST HEADLINE MUCH BIGGER & THE SECOND ONE MUCH SMALLER. We don't want to slam them in the face with that kind of a question which smacks & flavours of something religious. But I think if it's in pretty small type, maybe not any bigger than the headlines of some of those captions‚ maybe it won't be so bad. But we really want to emphasise that first line: "Here's the Future!"

10. ON THE FIRST PIC, "QUE SERA SERA", THAT SCROLL HE'S HOLDING UP OUTLINES THE COMING EVENTS OF THESE LAST DAYS, & he's sort of like a warner there, sort of a watchman‚ a Prophet warning the people! We need to decide on which caption would go best on the field, whichever one would appeal or really sock it to'm! We don't want to sock it too hard because we want them to buy them if possible, we don't want to jump the gun on the inside of the pill. These pretty pictures are the sugar coating & we don't want to give'm the pill too soon, so let's kind of soft-peddle that aspect. They'll get it in the text & even in the captions, so let's try to keep it out of the headlines. So on that first picture I suggested as a headline: "Coming Events!"—Because they're listed right there & almost everybody wants to know what's going to happen next. But the caption is a little bit holier-than-thou, so maybe we'll have to change it.

11. IF WE GET THE OTHER THREE POSTERS OFF BEFORE CHRISTMAS, WE'RE GOING TO NEED SOME MORE RIGHT AWAY‚ SO THIS '82 CALENDAR WILL PROBABLY BE THE VERY NEXT ONE! We've sent'm a lot of gorgeous ones, so we're bound to have a lemon once in awhile! But it's beautiful & they can use it. Even if it's not quite as good as the other, anyhow, it's another one & variety is the spice of life!—And variety is the spice of salesmanship too! I can tell you as a salesman, I know! I've been a door–to-door salesman & even a street salesman with papers & magazines, & I know that variety is the spice of life. "The people seek a new thing" (Acts 17:19–21), they're always wanting something new. So the more variety we give'm‚ maybe have something new every month, I think the better they'll go & the better everybody will like it. It'll make everybody happy, & besides, we're really getting out the Message!

12. I'M JUST CONVINCED THIS IS THE BEST WAY TO DO IT, INSTEAD OF THE LITTLE BOOKLET I WAS TALKING ABOUT. (See "Tribulation Lit", No.1834.) Booklets you read & throw away or give to somebody else or lay on the shelf or something like that, but I don't think they're going to do that with these beautiful colour posters! I think they're going to buy'm & I think they're going to stick them on their walls! How could they possibly resist? It's like an offer they can't refuse!—And there it is! There's the whole works right there! They've got just what I was planning to put in the book!—Well, maybe not the first part so much, from Creation to the Present, but at least this is the end part & we can give'm the beginning after we give'm the end!—Sort of bait the hook a little bit with what's coming. And maybe in later posters we can even illustrate some of those other basic subjects we suggested. Anyhow, we'll talk about that later, we've got enough to handle right now!

13. WE'RE GOING TO MAIL OUT AS MANY COPIES AS WE CAN AT THE BEST POSTAL RATE ON THE FIRST AIR MAILING so the Family can have plenty of them to pass around & study & look at & hang on their walls to really start inspiring them & getting them pepped-up to get'm out!—So that their mouths will be watering & they can hardly wait for the surface shipments! And we're gonna save some for GN covers too! Our new GN size came just in time to use these posters for covers, so it must have been the Lord's inspiration! I think He must have got that started so we could put on these poster covers & get everyone inspired even before they get'm in quantities to distribute.

14. THIS IS THE WHOLE VISION IN A NUTSHELL! Each one of these is a nutshell full of all kinds of visions from the Nut's old shell!—Ha! Somebody's going to say, "They should have shelled that nut!"—Ha! God bless & keep you rollin' the nuts! ILY!—D.