John Dwyer - The Institute of WOW

07/02/2026

MASSIVE PODCAST AUDIENCE:
Was a guest on John Lee Dumas’s podcast which was released yesterday.
From Puerto Rico he hosts the world‘s number one “entrepreneurs/biz owners podcast” - and pumps out an episode daily would you believe.
I’m normally a guest on 4 or 5 podcasts each week, most having an audience in the hundreds or maybe small thousands.
So when I asked him before our recording “what his audience numbers were”, he highlighted 54,000 being the average audience per episode!
No pressure, JD!
It’s just a “Paul McCartney concert level audience”, so I was confident they would love my dad jokes!
Nonetheless, was a somewhat nervous 24 mins.

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-seinfeld-incentive-strategy-any-business-can-use/id564001633?i=1000748346120

14/11/2025

TRAPDOOR GAGS ALWAYS WORK!
Came across this memory from about 15 years ago when consulting to the Greater Building Society.
We were shooting some TV ads with the storyline being a “Basil Faulty style nasty bank manager” refusing to give a couple the same service and benefits as the Greater building society.
The actor who was booked to play the nasty Bank Manager called in sick, so CEO Don Magin threw the baton to me and said “Hey JD, you’re the nastiest guy we know, so why don’t you do it?”
Being the shy little devil I am, I accepted the challenge - and once it hit the TV screens, I had countless people on the street berating me for my nastiness.
I was in a cafe one day and a 10-year-old little boy came up to me and said “you’re the cruel guy on TV aren’t you”……. to which I replied “yes little fella that’s me” to which he replied “yeah, I think you’re a dick head!”

14/11/2025

MICKEY MOUSE WATCH OUT!
Saw this outdoor sign on the Gold Coast yesterday, advertising a promotion for Sushi Hub.
Mmmm…….collectible “Hubster Figurines”.

Who thinks a collectible set of Marvel superheroes might just be a little more popular?

When “marketing department meetings” come up with a customer promotion like this, I think all attendees need to be drug tested.

OMG.

01/11/2025

A great friend of mine, Chris Bullivant, sent me a text from Oxford Street London today, mentioning how fantastic the Disney store was there.
Brought back memories of a very successful Disney poster I created some years back.
Got Rupert Murdoch’s newspapers around Australia to use the poster as a sales stimulus for the newspapers.
(you got the incredible poster with the Sunday newspaper for a tiny cost)
And then children (or rather their parents!) would take the coupon from the daily paper to the newsagent to buy the “Disney character stickers” that went around the perimeter of the poster.
We sold millions of stickers and remains today as the biggest poster/sticker campaign per capita in the world.
You see, it’s all about creating the Mouse Trap (excuse the pun) and then profiting from the “forced subscription” that gets people coming back over and over again.
It’s called a “two step sell” - and is a marketing juggernaut if you get it right!
The artwork alone cost me over $20,000, but it was worth every single cent!
And believe it or not, Walt Disney‘s daughter saw it exhibited at a Disney Convention in Los Angeles and commented “that it was the best Disney poster she personally had ever seen” - and she asked for half a dozen limited-edition versions which of course I obliged - high praise I guess ! 
This was a win/win/win - Rupert Murdoch was happy, Disney was happy and I was VERY happy!

29/10/2025

MOO MOO MAKES A BOO BOO!
Sorry - a WOW FACTOR RANT!
Gael and I went to Moo Moo’s steak restaurant on the Gold Coast tonight as a mini celebration for something.
And between 6.30 and 7 pm, we saw the front desk turn no less than 21 people away because they had not previously book.
And understandably if a restaurant has a full house, there’s no other choice.
But the crazy thing is that not one person‘s contact details were collected, nor were any of these people given a voucher inviting them to come back for lunch or dinner on another occasion and enjoy a benefit.
OMG!
And of course, it’s not just this restaurant that fails to turn disappointed prospects into “repeat customers”.
I’ve never seen a restaurant maître de say to anyone -“Thank you for choosing our restaurant, I’m very sorry that we are fully booked, but here’s a VIP Coupon inviting you to return any time within the next week for lunch or dinner and enjoy a free bottle of wine and complimentary deserts.”
After all, these people who have been turned away have already made the decision to come to the restaurant!
So they are already “sort of” a fan! 
So why not acknowledge the fact that they have chosen the restaurant and  “wow them”by collecting their details and providing them with a bonus for coming back! 
From a marketing viewpoint, a “wow opportunity” missed by 99.9% of restaurants!
So simple - but no restaurant does it - usually because they can’t spell “Marketing!”

18/10/2025

WOW FACTOR AIRPORT CAFE!!
Had to fly from the Gold Coast to Melbourne this morning as I’m speaking at a franchise convention this afternoon.
And in my ongoing quest to find “Marketing Wow Factors” in the retail sphere……..I STRUCK GOLD at a cafe in Tullamarine Airport!
Brunetti’s cafe knows how to deliver “the unexpected” - quiche lorraine on a gold cardboard plate.
And the staff behind the counter must’ve been to a Disney customer service course, as they were perfect ambassadors with a friendly smile and upbeat demeanour for everyone.
(needless to say, there were no 16-year-olds working here)
Delivering “a wow” is so simple, but hardly any retailer does it?
Oh……. and I just want to highlight that real men “DO” eat quiche.

04/10/2025

CINEMAS COLLAPSING:
Goodness knows who’s running these cinema chains, but these photos at Pacific Fair Gold Coast Cinema were taken at peak “cinema time” a couple of days ago - and as you can see, zero customers.

When you take “the theatre” out of theatre, it’s pretty obvious what the result will be!

The people running Hoyts and other cinema chains obviously believe “human interaction” is no longer needed when it comes to theatres - OMG - what are they smoking?

It’s called THEATRE for a reason!

Can you imagine the difference if they brought back a “Disney style box office” and implemented clever incentive marketing campaigns.

Imagine getting a free reward every time you attended five movies.

Oh - that’s right, they couldn’t do that because they don’t collect any data!

Or imagine if Ironman and Spider-Man greeted children before they went to see these sorts of movies!

It’s pretty easy to add theatre to a theatre for goodness sake!

These dinosaurs could be saved in 24 hours if they just woke up and smelled the roses !

So frustrating when you see how easy a turnaround could be if one looked outside their product and became “a customer” for five minutes.

Goodbye cinemas, a real shame that you forgot what “theatre” is all about!

02/10/2025

Here is the difference between a business that’s lazy and another one that’s entrepreneurial.
Wednesday night at 7 pm at the Gold Coast Pacific Fair shopping Centre and the market leader is bright and bubbly - and open - and it’s lazy competitor decided to shut up for the day a couple of hours earlier!

Laziness and business ownership do not go hand-in-hand!

Goodbye lazy BIG W - you may not be around soon.

20/09/2025

Have a retail client at the moment looking for marketing advice regarding signage.
I’ve told him it is absolutely EVERYTHING!
And coincidentally, this afternoon I walked past this Gold Coast resort - with a sign that reflects “Kmart” more than a luxury resort, I reckon.
Proper marketing is all about “message to market match”.
Who agrees with me?

18/09/2025

17/09/2025

Can anyone tell me what these guys are actually advertising?
Yes - after some thought, I know what it is, but one shouldn’t have to work that hard!
OMG……. what are the palm trees all about?

01/09/2025

Avalanche Leads Advice To Whackers & Crackers!

Enjoyed being a guest on a USA Chiropractor Coach Podcast last week, where host, Enrico Dolcecore asked for marketing tips to drive more revenue for Chiropractors.

He explained the usual issue - being that chiropractors are great technicians but generally awful at marketing.

He highlighted that many have “empty Waiting Rooms for much of the week.

Enrico’s head exploded when I explained how we’re getting 1,000 leads a week for medical practices in Australia for a Facebook Ad Spend of just $20 a day.

Yes…..a thousand RED-HOT LEADS per week for an Ad Spend of just $20 a day.

If you’d like to watch the 37-minute podcast, the link is at:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cZPkHJZ5NqE

Visit jdmarketingmakeover.com for more WOW tips and check out
theinstituteofwow.com for more info on the business!