Introduction: What is KINGmaking?

I have something to tell you.

… because it quietly changed the world.

Forever.

• the most precious “fairy tale” of all time
• the best known “influencer” in the world
• and the “biggest” discovery on the planet

If you only read three small ONE BIG story in your life — it should be this.

1The most precious “fairy tale” of all time

Diamonds are worthy.

Like reeaaaally worthy.

… and I think “worthy” does not quite express what is going on.

A little fucking shiny rock may worth more than:

• a big, fat house
• all of your clothes
• enough food for a lifetime
• unlimited water supply
• and raising your kids

Your most basic human needs, combined.

… and we’re talking about a tiny, shiny little piece of coal. But that doesn’t stop anyone from buying it, wearing it — or even stealing it.

Okay, we know people are irrational… But the story gets even stranger!

There are a lot of other (more) useful elements in the world, like the metals of antiquity. But from World War II., these commodities’ prices fluctuated constantly.

Not like diamonds.

And while today 75% of American brides wear those shiny stones on their fingers — in prehistoric, ancient and medieval times no one thought of expressing their love with a diamond ring.

That’s it, the explanation! This nonsense ring-thing must be some exclusively American bullshit!

Except it’s not…

The second largest market for diamond engagement rings is Japan — the home of arranged marriages. Really romantic. Perfect ground for the expression of pre-marital love, right?

… and on top of it all, the same is happening in China right now.

What the holy fuck is this?

Good question, my friend.

Welcome to the story of kingmakers.

So, those little stones are old as fuck — diamonds are over a billion years old.

… with minimal¹Diamonds are fucking hard — the hardest natural substance known, so for industrial use, it’s great for cutting and polishing. But if its price were determined by its usefulness, elements like iron would be worth much more. Take away diamond, the world will say “ouch”. Take away iron, and the world, as we know it today, doesn’t exist anymore. utility.

Therefore their value depends entirely on scarcity.

Back in the day, if you wanted to find a diamond, you had to fight Mowgli and his entire crew in the jungles of Brazil… and then find the diamonds yourself, because they didn’t give a shit about shiny stones — their basic needs were more important. If you’re not a big fighter, you could also try to dig up the Indian riverbeds.

But everything changed, when huge diamond mines were found in Africa.

… which raised a pretty big problem:

The value of a diamond depends on scarcity — but it wasn’t scarce anymore.

So their price should have collapsed, right?

Well, the investors in gold mines thought otherwise…

They have realized that the only way to maintain the value of diamonds is to maintain the scarcity — by controlling production.

Voila!

De Beers Consolidated Mines, Ltd. (aka the “diamond cartel”) was founded.

But if you want to control supply, production is not enough — the market will also trade them.

So they had to prevent buyers from reselling the diamonds.

But it’s still not enough — we know from basic economics that prices are influenced not only by supply, but also by demand.

So they needed more buyers.

It was too much — even for a cartel.

This is where the kingmaker enters the story.

In 1939, Harry Oppenheimer (son of the founder of De Beers) recruited the ad agency N.W. Ayer to solve the demand problem.

In these times (the Great Depression) the price of almost everything has fallen — including diamonds.

But, but… diamonds are supposed to be precious, right? Right.

Okay, and what else is precious?

… or better said:

What is more precious than your (above mentioned) basic needs?

Reproduction Love!

So they tried to connect the two.

One day, the copywriter responsible for it, Frances Gerety (from the aforementioned agency, N. W. Ayer) was working on an ad late at night, unaware that in a few hours she would change not only the advertising and jewelry industry, but the lives of all couples “forever”.

When she finished her work, she went to bed satisfied.

The pillow was comfortable, the blanket was warm… until the big realization: SHE JUST FORGOT TO WRITE THE OTHER CLIENT’S (DE BEERS) SLOGAN!

Tired, exhausted (and half asleep) she wrote down the slogan — in four simple words.

The words were the following:

“A diamond is forever.”

… aaaaand the most brilliant advertising campaign just born.

The newspapers were suddenly full of ads showing women only want one thing.

The radios were now singing this one thing are now women’ best friends.

And movies have been renamed to not discredit the only thing women want.

… even the royal family was part of the show.

The results?

In 1939, De Beers’ diamond sales were only $23 million in the U.S.
In 1999, (60 years and ~10.000% later) it was more than $2.3 billions.

In the same year, the campaign was named as “the #1 advertising slogan of the 20th century”.

And it was the last good year for the protagonists:

• Frances Gerety (the copywriter of “A diamond is forever”) died in 1999
• Harry Oppenheimer (De Beers’ chairman) died in 2000
• N. W. Ayer (the ad agency) ceased operations in 2002

… even De Beers lost its dominance in 2000 — then it was sold in 2011.

Time has done its job, everything came to an end.

Everything, except one thing…

The diamond engagement ring.

Because it’s not really a ring.

Neither is it:

• a company
• the people behind it
• or even the economy

It’s something enduring, immortal… forever.

An idea.

A real, eternal invention — so powerful, that it created the most precious thing in the world.

“Men are mortal, but ideas are immortal.”

—WALTER LIPPMANN

And the scary thing is… it works on people, too.

2The best known “influencer” in the world

When you think about influencers, you imagine:

• trendy, cool haircut
• beautiful, white smile
• perfect, flawless body

Well, not before 1931.

There was an influencer who was known only for two things:

Ugly as fuck, but brings gifts.

At the same time, a company that sold sugared water and named itself after a drug, has gained unprecedented popularity.

One day, this company had a thought:

“What if we could turn this poor ugly motherfucker into a human — and in return, he’d be wearing our brand colors?”

Before that, he was an… elf.

… or a goblin.

Or very rarely (when he was lucky) a tall, skinny guy.

Sometimes (when we were lucky) he was warm. Other times, he was scary.

He usually wore:

• green
• or a bishop’s robe
• or, well… animal skin

Poor Rudolph.

I think you’ve guessed it — the guy was none other than Santa Claus himself!

And there were many versions of him.

Well… Christmas was pretty shit for kids back then.

And let’s be honest: for parents, too — every mom and dad’s dream is to see their children open a box given to them by a strange, scary, skinny guy… dressed in animal skin.

But there was nothing to do, tradition is tradition.

Christmas followed Christmas, children were scared, parents even more so.

Until one day, the kingmaker entered the story.

The kingmaker, who was called: Coca-Cola.

And from here, the story continues the same way as the diamond’s:

• well-crafted ads
• catchy songs
• genius people
• great stories
• lots of emotion

… and a big fucking red truck.

And the rest is history.

Yes, the soft drink brand may not have invented the Christmas chronicles. But it cemented Santa Claus’ look into people’s minds — as a warm, curvy, human man.

… with its own brand colors.

And today, when we think of him, we all see the same.

The one (and only one) Santa.

“Ideas shape the course of history”

—John Maynard Keynes

And as you can see in the last story… it works on real people too!

3The “biggest” discovery on the planet

Once upon a time, there was a relatively unknown Italian sailor.

He did what sailors do.

And since “once upon a time” was around A.D. 1500, he was on several expeditions to America.

But — unlike Columbus — he knew that the land was an unknown continent.

… so he wrote down what he saw.

It sounded unbelievable, but these documents were so convincing, that Martin Waldseemüller (who, unlike the sailor, was a very well-known cartographer) published an updated map of the world.

It was the first that showed the land as a separate continent.

And because Martin drew relatively gracefully, the map became very popular, and many other cartographers copied it.

The idea started to spread — along with its name.

… because when he drew it, he had to give the new land a name.

Waldseemüller did indeed draw beautifully, but was less skilled in fact-checking, so he believed that the Italian sailor was who discovered the new continent — and named it in his honor.

The sailor was Amerigo Vespucci, so the new continent became America.

It is fortunate that Waldseemüller’s mistake did not have great consequences…

After all, he only named:

• a quarter of the world
• two of the seven continents
• and future generations of billions

… after an unknown Italian sailor.

Who was no longer unknown.

Good for him.

But put the cork back in the champagne — we won’t celebrate now.

We have work to do, because there’s something very strange here.

Three completely unrelated stories.

But wait!

Take a step back.

They have something in common.

Let’s take another step back…

See?

They are the answer!

Answer to what?

The most important question, ever.

A question that no man can answer, not even:

• Plato, Homer & the ancient Greek religion
• Christianity, Islam & medieval’s popular religions
• The Gilgamesh Project & today’s modern ideologies

A question that humanity has been searching for the answer to, since… the beginning of time.

It’s THE question.

The question, that — without further ado — sounds like this:

What is the secret of immortality?

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Ladies and gentlemen! Please allow me to introduce the answer — in only one sentence.

There are only two (so far discovered) ways to become immortal:

Be a king — or be a kingmaker.

“If you would not be forgotten, as soon as you are dead and rotten, either write things worth reading, or do things worth writing.”

—Benjamin Franklin

Two words. Two immortality. One way to achieve both.

… and this, my friend, is the real king.

The king has a name

Yes, diamonds are forever. Just like Santa Claus. Or Amerigo Vespucci.

We all know them — they’re kings.

But without the real king, they would be:

• just a rock
• some ashes
• and a scary green garden dwarf

The real king is the one who has true power. It is what made them famous, respected… immortal.

The real king, who is none other than:

Content.

Because, as you know (cliché alert!) content is king.

No shit.

Breaking news!

No, it’s… it’s more. I can hear Apple’s screaming: revolutionary!!!

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I know, I know — get the fuck out of here with my trivial bullshit.

But listen to me!

It won’t be the usual “content is king” nonsense — I swear.

So don’t click away.

Wow, that was close. I almost lost you.

Now that we’re past that, I’ll write it down again:

Content is king.

In fact, it always has been.

All that happened was: the internet. Today, everybody has a microphone. But the world has always been about content, since man’s awakening to consciousness.

Just think of the cave paintings:

Or the statues:

Or the stories:

Where there is man, there is content.

And when we think about eternal masterpieces, there is one civilization that is absolutely crushed it:

Ancient Greece.

Let’s see:

• The Histories by Herodotus — one of the most famous history books… for more than 2500 years
• Republic by Plato — one of the world’s most influential works of philosophy and political theory
• Aesop’s Fables — thousands of years old tales that contain so much wisdom that we still quote them today

… and who doesn’t know Iliad.² As we know it today: young Brad Pitt with his shirtless body Troy.

It’s a skill.

And the ancient Greeks understood this skill very well.

“Admittedly the current burst of improvement dates back only to the Renaissance, which was preceded by a dismal period of stagnation, in which European scientific culture was frozen at the level achieved by the Greeks.”

—Richard Dawkins

Just think about Socrates.

… who was the teacher of Plato.

… who was the teacher of Aristotle.

… who was the teacher of Alexander the Great.

Pretty insignificant guys, right?

And they were each other’s masters!

Coincidence? I don’t think so.

As you may have read about me: I really hate theoretical knowledge without practicality. But they were different…

• Socrates was the founder of Western philosophy
• Plato was the founder of the Academy, the first institution of higher learning in the Western world — and often cited as one of the founders of Western religion and spirituality
• Aristotle did so many things I won’t even begin to list them

… oh, and Alexander the Great — a picture is worth a thousand words.

What was their secret?

• Talent? There were plenty of other talented people who are rotten and forgotten by now.
• Inheritance? Genetically, they were not a family.
• Luck? Please.

They were just extremely efficient at passing on knowledge content to each other.

No wonder the world’s first communication model was invented by Aristotle.

They did great, historical things… again and again.

“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.”

—Aristotle

So perhaps it is fair to assume: they knew something we didn’t.

They were all kings — or kingmakers.

… which has burned their names into our minds for thousands of years.

And not just in one person. In everyone’s.

• just like the idea of “marathon”
• or the word “diamond”
• and the “Trojan horse”

Yes, ancient Greece was the perfect kingmaker factory.

… and thanks to it, when you read “Trojan horse”, you can see it right in front of you.

It’s magic.

That is why I will present my communication model with this story.

And that’s why the design of DiMOLNAR became Greek.

Because, even though 2500 years have passed, everyone knows what I’m talking about.

A man may die, nations may rise and fall, but an idea lives on. Ideas have endurance without death.

—John F. Kennedy

Kingmaking is a skill.

But don’t think that this skill only worked in ancient times. As you will see soon, the human brain has long been unchanged. What worked thousands of years ago, still works today.

… and this can be observed in the top companies:

… in the largest religions:

… or in the winning political campaigns:

And if it’s in the toolbox of the businessmen, religious leaders and politicians at the highest level, you can be damn sure that it can also be found in the organizations they manage — whether it’s:

• a city-sized webstore
• a city-state
• or a whole country

Is this a good thing?

Unfortunately, sometimes it falls into the wrong hands.

But fortunately, other times it lands in the right places.

It doesn’t matter if it happens on a micro or large scale.

It doesn’t matter if it took place yesterday, today or tomorrow.

It doesn’t matter if it’s used on stones, fictional characters or real people.

It works!

And it works fucking effectively.

The (one of the two) most influential skill in the 21st century.

Just think about it: who is the most influential (official) person in the world today?

— The president of the United States.

And how does one become president?

— By winning voters.

And how can one win voters?

— Content!

“All I need is a sheet of paper and something to write with — and then I can turn the world upside down.”

—Friedrich Nietzsche

Welcome to the creator economy

Everything that surrounds us is content:

• the previous Youtube video you watched
• an Oscar-winning movie
• the Superbowl ads
• a founder’s startup pitch
• all the Harry Potter books
• the latest Apple event
• your website
• the presidential campaign
• a gossip about the royal family
• the lawyers’ defence speech
• your favorite Netflix series

… and this guide? Content.

Words. Ideas. Information.

It’s all content.

Anything that entertains, educates or just blows your mind.

It’s much more than blogging, video-making or podcasting. My art and craft of telling stories is happening on “paper” — but it could’ve on television, billboards, podcasts, public speaking or even in the metaverse.

The point is the storytelling.

… and its principles are universal, whatever the medium.

• the mood
• the words
• the rhythm

Let me show you.

1First, slow down.

If you want to create peace, you need looooong sentences, lots of commas, and some calm association — like a tree house, a bed full of pillows, a crackling fireplace… and maybe a book in your hand. It’s snowing.

In this case, the consumer will get comfortable, calm down, visualize — and relax.

2Then, speed up.

If you want to create stress, you need speed.

Short sentences.

Zero commas.

Emotions.

Boom. Boom. Boom.

A fast truck. Loud noises. Countdown.

In this case, the consumer can feel the high stakes — and pay attention.

It can happen:

• in the cinema
• on the radio
• on paper

NO-MATTER-THE-MEDIUM. The principles are the same.

Presenting information is an easy-to-learn and hard-to-master skill. But as long as you follow the rules of information sharing, you will be well received.

… and with content, you can build something much bigger.

A brand.

What is a brand?

It’s the core. The essence. The skeleton under the flesh (flesh = content).

There is a quote that says it all.

“Good advertising builds sales. Great advertising builds factories.”

—Bill Bernbach

In this context:

• the advertising is the content
• the factory is the brand

… but this is far from just advertising or branding.

It’s like the puzzle pieces (content) that fit together to form one big picture (brand).

The brand is the whole, which is more than the sum of its parts.

Just as human life is more than the collection of bones and flesh.

Let me ask you something:

• If Walt Disney were alive and making a new movie, would you watch it?
• If Steve Jobs launched a new product, would you buy it?
• If Leonardo Da Vinci decided to draw you, would you be the model for it?

You don’t know the product — heck, it doesn’t even exist yet —, but you are already hungry for it.

This is the power of personal brands.

The brand is the sum of its content:

• All the movies (Bambi, Pinocchio, Dumbo, Cinderella, Snow White, …) that Disney made.
• All the products (iPhone, iPod, iPad, Apple II., Macintosh, Pixar, …) that Jobs created.
• All the masterpieces (The Last Supper, Vitruvian man, Mona Lisa, …) that Da Vinci produced.

… and everything that comes to mind when you think about them:

• emotions
• thoughts
• gossips
• names
• benefits
• smells
• words
• stories
• memories
• hope

Everything.

It’s THE idea.

You build the idea (brand) with information (content).

… and with a brand in your hand, you can change the world.

“Money doesn’t change the world, ideas do.”

—Naval RAVIKANT

It can make you:

• a billionaire
• a celebrity
• or a rockstar

Everyone got a microphone. All you need is to sing — content.

Content is king.

Brand is the kingdom.

… and you are the kingmaker.

But — as I promised — the clichés lasted until now, because let’s be honest:

Not all content is king.

The king… and the plethos

Yes, content is king.

Sometimes.

The problem is… not every content is king. In fact, most of them are not.

99.99%.

You’ve probably noticed that there’s a lot of fucking noise.

If you want to stand out, creating is not enough.

There is an old saying:

“If you build it, they will come”.

It has even a name: “Field of Dreams” — and it’s a big, stinking bullshit.

To show how false the assumFption is, we should quote the former group director for Allied Breweries.

“The many competitive brands of beer are virtually identical in terms of taste, color and alcohol delivery — and after two or three pints even an expert couldn’t tell them apart. So the consumer is literally drinking the advertising, and the advertising is the brand.”

—Mike Destiny

If you build it, they will come? Come on! Sometimes even building the best doesn’t mean shit.

Think about the QWERTY keyboard layout.

It’s everywhere — on your phone, laptop, television.

But there’s a different kind of keyboard layout where typing feels like your fingers are dancing with each other:

• 20% less effort
• 68% more accuracy
• 74% faster typing

Yet, everyone uses QWERTY.

Or the English language.

Everyone speaks it — it has become the universal language.

Even though there is one that:

• artificially created as a universal language
• independent, not the native language of any nation
• you can learn in 200 hours (compared to 2000 hours of English)

Yet, now you read in English.

Why?

There is a never-ending battle between product and marketing people about it.

“It’s not creative unless it sells.”

—David Ogilvy

VS.

“In the end, you win through superior craftsmanship, not marketing.”

—Robert Greene

I’ll tell you a secret:

You need both.

Because you need to build the marketing in the product.

Like Tesla:

• 0$ in ad spend
• just a few, remarkable product
• worth more than the next top 5 car companies, combined

… and on top of that, it makes the world a better place.

That’s the goal.

“Learn to sell. Learn to build. If you can do both, you will be unstoppable.”

—Naval Ravikant

Even if you create something, consumers won’t give a shit.

As Jack Butcher said:

“People can’t see your ability. They see your ability to communicate.”

It is not enough that you have an idea. You have to sell it.

And if you think about it, you constantly have to sell:

• selling your product
• selling your idea
• selling your vision

… and even selling yourself.

“The world rewards the people who are the best at communicating ideas, not the people with the best ideas.”

—David Perell

Things sound completely different in your head than they do outside.

It’s translation — from your brain, to the world.

Producing, composing, writing… doesn’t matter. What matters is that in the process, you should lose as little as possible.

• It’s not just selling
• Nor is it just creation

You need both the power of the ideas — and the wisdom of selling them.

Thinking, spreading.

Inner world, outer word.

Both.

So who is the kingmaker after all?

The kingmaker

The mastermind who crafts the idea — and then sells it.

Building & selling.

Not one or the other. Both.

A kingmaker is not in the news. (S)he makes the news.
A kingmaker doesn’t predict. (S)he is the engineer of thinking.
A kingmaker doesn’t harvest the attention, (S)he controls it.

In a political sense:

1. The kingmaker creates content — slogans, events or the king’s speech.
2. Then, the kingmaker turns the contents into king — a strategy, an election campaign.
3. Therefore, the kingmaker can create a living king — like the President of the United States.

… so eventually, if you can create a king, you are the king.

Content creator < Storyteller < Kingmaker.

They do the same — on a different scale.

A kingmaker is someone who can change the world… just with their ideas.

But how?

To change the world, change people’s behavior.
To change people’s behavior, change how they think.
To change how they think, learn how to craft and sell ideas.

“When Aeschines spoke, they said, ‘How well he speaks’, but when Demosthenes spoke, they said ‘Let us march against Philip.’”

—David Ogilvy

The rewards?

Kids will love you — even when they grow up.

Women will love you — even when you die.

Everyone will love you — even if you have never lived.

And eventually… you can become immortal.

The only people in the world who can change things are those who can sell ideas.

—Lois Wyse

Sounds good.

… but Houston, we have a problem.

It’s much easier said than done. It’s FUCKING hard.

This is where our patterns come into play.

The art & craft of kingmaking

• Are you single — or married?
• Are you reading this from the U.S., India or Hungary?
• Are you a social person — or do you prefer to be alone?

I don’t know.

But I know that you hate hunger. Lack of sleep. Pain. The taste of earwax. The smell of stinky socks. Youtube ads.

People are different — but not as different as you think.

Our brains (and how they’re functioning) are the same.

This blog is about exactly that… the general principles behind the brain information processing.

In other words:

The way of presenting information that the human brain loves.

All the invisible factors that affect us, but we cannot see. And everything that we feel, but… are not told.

Welcome on DiMOLNAR.

“The most important thing in communication is hearing what isn’t said.”

—Peter Drucker

The untold patterns.

… and the mission to CREATE GREAT FUCKING CONTENT.

But not just one. With this knowledge under our arms, we are trying to achieve what we call:

Systematic inventive thinking.

Badass.

… but what the fuck is it?

Well, here’s an artist.

She’s happy, because she created something truly epic — a masterpiece.

This puts her in the top 1%.

Then she creates a new masterpiece!

But… nobody likes it.

… because it’s not a masterpiece.

And she doesn’t know why the first was a masterpiece.

In this case, the idea is the boss — a one-hit wonder.

But if she can repeat it, then she obviously has a system to create great fucking content.

In this case, the artist is the boss — a kingmaker.

This is systematic inventive thinking.

Or, by another name:

Kingmaking.

Masterpieces share common patterns.

… and if you understand a pattern really well, you can reverse it.

Again and again.

I summon Aristotle to remind you what he said.

Aristotle, pls.

“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.”

—Aristotle

So all we have to do is:

Understanding the principles behind great fucking content. And then create great fucking content… over and over again.

It is astonishing that everyone who achieves creative success does so with intuition and subconscious.

“It’s like washing a pig. I’m serious. It’s exactly like washing a pig. It’s messy; it has no rules, no clear beginning, middle, or end; it’s kind of a pain in the ass, and when you’re done, you’re not sure if the pig is clean or even why you were washing a pig in the first place. Welcome to the creative department.”

—Luke Sullivan

We are here to change that.

If you look around the web, everybody shit the tactics out of themselves, because it is the easiest to reproduce — the shortest, the fastest, the most convenient.

But it fucking bothers me that no one is talking about the underlying principles.

Just tactics, no system thinking.

But if you know the principles, and you can use them systematically — and maybe sprinkle a few techniques on it at the end — you’ll have the perfect ice cream.

The bad news: There is no single, perfect recipe.
The good news: There are general patterns that always work.

When you create something, these patterns are multipliers. They will not guarantee greatness — but they will increase the chances.

This is not marketing!

If the content is ugly as a frog, marketing just makes it a frog in a suit.

In contrast, the patterns turn the frog into a prince.

Without principles: Every content is like you create for the first time. Random.
With principles: You can create much faster, easier… and more successfully.

Yes, there are some things we use unconsciously to make information desirable.

It’s called creativity.

… but it’s only 1% of the creation.

For everything else, here’s DiMOLNAR.

“Genius is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration.”

—THOMAS EDISON

The Great Library

So there are patterns behind creativity.

… and these patterns are reeaaaally precious.

But, where are they?

To my disappointment, nowhere.

• “It’s creativity, it cannot be taught”
• ”If it could be passed on, everybody would use it”
• “Every masterpiece is unique”

No patterns.

I fucking see them, we all see the power they have, but officially they “don’t exist”.

Phantoms… phantoms everywhere.

Those who use them don’t bother to tell them — or they just hide their secret.

Whatever the reason, I couldn’t find a framework to make an ad, write a book… or just polish my ideas.

So I created it.

• hundreds of books
• thousands of videos
• millions of words

… and 10 years of hard work, here it is.

A framework to write ads. To create videos. To compose music. To produce movies. Series. Startup pitches. Podcasts. Speeches. Presentations. Political campaigns. Books. World’s.

DiMOLNAR is the Great Library of Alexandria… for communication.

It’s the “greatest hits” of content creation.

… packaged into a step-by-step process that anyone can use.

There are hundreds of blogs with tactics. Here, you can learn the common patterns of the winning ones.

The biggest tech algorithms change from day to day. The human brain has remained unchanged for thousands of years. Everything you will learn is evergreen.

Learn once… know it for the rest of your life.

Call it however you want:

• content
• growth
• evolutionary psychology
• persuasion
• artwork
• branding
• design
• influence
• marketing
• thinking
• creativity

It’s about us, people.

Our physical system — the brain.
And our mental system — the ideas.

We’ll explore everything to craft and sell your vision.

Like diffusion models. Or crossing the chasm. And Aristotle’s model of communication.

I will introduce you to Claude Shannon, the “father of information theory”. And Kurt Lewin, who is the ”father of social psychology”. I have already mentioned Herodotus, the “father of history”. I will mention Robert Cialdini, the “grandfather of influence”.

… and I swear I don’t have a father complex.

Freud will tell you. Or Daniel Kahneman, the first psychologist to win a Nobel Prize… in economics.

Thanks to Richard Dawkins, who made me love the theory of evolution. Thanks to Charles Darwin, who created the theory of evolution. And special thanks to the Heath brothers, who were the epitome of inspiration with their legendary book: Made to Stick.

“Knowledge is rarely enough to spark change; it takes emotion to bring knowledge to a boil.”

—Chip Heath

That’s why I named my model “the STICK framework”.

In their honor.

“If I had seen further than others, it is because I stood on the shoulders of giants.”

—Newton

As you see from the list, this journey will be strongly science-backed (from academia to pop-science). But I will not bore anyone with experiments. These will be links only.

It will be deep, not wide. Just a few articles… in 5 big parts.

The good news?

It will be fully learnable — for everyone!

Remember the Greeks, from Socrates to Alexander the Great.

You’ll be able to use it in any industry — Hollywood, Madison Avenue, even Wall Street.

No matter if you are:

• Content creator
• Teacher
• Marketer
• Screenwriter
• Designer
• Lawyer
• Composer
• Startup founder
• Parent
• Influencer
• Showrunner
• Politician
• Producer
• Game developer
• Lobbyist
• Product manager

It’s for the 1% of the population (creators) who turn content into king for the 99% (consumers).

You probably already use 1-2 principles. Maybe you know a lot of them. But I will put them into a crazy-effective system.

Oh, and it’s all completely free.

(however, you can speed things up if you support me)

Who is DiMolnar?

Are you skeptical?

So am I.

That’s why I worked on it for a decade:

• studied psychology (inner world)
• applied marketing (outer word)

… to learn and practice everything that I found (here’s my story):

The theory & practice of building & selling.

My goal is to understand it better — through writing.

Do these patterns work?

This blog will be the proof. If you read it, that’s a good sign. If you are not here, it means I’m talking to myself like a fucking insane. Whatever the case, the model is not perfect — there will be mistakes! Help me to correct them, find patterns, dead ends… and solutions.

I’m not a scientist. I’m just fucking curious. Some of the principles come from research. But most come from personal observation. Casual reading. Work. Everyday communication. Content consumption. Personal experience.

“You are more likely to learn something by finding surprises in your own behavior than by hearing surprising facts about people in general.”

—Daniel Kahneman

I did not invent the principles.

I’m a nobody — with an extreme interest in the human brain and its ideas.

These principles are the basic laws of nature.

I just found them and organized them.

… and I sprinkled a little (1%) creativity on them, to have fun along the journey.

Although I will illustrate the principles through writing (hence the fact that you are reading right now), they are everywhere — in apps, sports, movies, games… literally everywhere.

If you want to learn them, follow me on twitter, instagram and email, because I’ll present them a little differently everywhere. Same principles — different formats, insights and examples.

I’ll only write when I have something to say. Your email storage will be safe from me.

BUT!

If you’re going to continue reading this blog, I have to warn you.

Disclaimer

We will break the magic!

This game is all about attention. And kingmakers exactly know how to get your attention — and keep it. For hours.

Just think about:

• the epic books you read all day on Sundays
• the marathons of Harry Potter, The Lord of the Rings or Star Wars movies
• or the late night binge-watching sessions on Netflix

Kingmakers don’t eat them — they made them.

If we reverse the patterns, it will break the magic.

If you don’t want to ruin the kings… stop reading!

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Okay, I’m just kidding.

You will enjoy the content the same way, because we have a paradox.

We all think ads work — but not on us.

I have bad news.

These are your patterns, too. It doesn’t matter if you recognize them or not, they will affect you.

Believe me, I know a lot about them… but they don’t give a fuck, they affect me.

Remember the diamond story?

Look at my wife’s hand.

The principles work, even if you know them — or maybe I’m just stupid?

Probably both.

… but the former is backed up by a lot of research.

Which monster is bigger?

Same size. Your mind is just playing tricks on you.

“It’s easier to fool people than to convince them that they’ve been fooled.”

—Unknown

Accept it, as early in your career as you can:

There’s no immunity.

That is exactly why they are so dangerous.

“An idea that is not dangerous is unworthy of being called an idea at all.”

—Oscar Wilde

This knowledge will unleash something.

Please, for God’s sake, take it very seriously!

Just because you can’t see the patterns, they are here. Like gravity. It’s a fucking powerful force.

If you learn it, you’ll get superpower.

Seriously.

Words. So innocent and powerless as they are, as standing in a dictionary — how potent for good and evil they become in the hands of one who knows how to combine them.

—Nathaniel Hawthorne

You can use it to make the world a better place — or mass manipulation.

The difference is intention.

• The hammer is one of the most useful tools in the world… or a perfect weapon.
• Trucks are the most important link in the trade chain… or mass murderers.
• Nuclear power is the cornerstone of civilization… or Chernobyl.

Every invention can be used for both good and bad purposes.

This applies to our communication model, too.

Tautological devices, ad hominem, negative labeling — they all work, but they are much easier to use for bad than good, so I won’t write about them. Let’s leave that to politics.

You need to choose!

There are two types of people in this world:

• those who create problems (destroyers)
• and those who solve them (builders)

“Libraries were full of ideas — perhaps the most dangerous and powerful of all weapons.”

—Sarah J. Maas

I want to be one who builds, not destroys. And I want to be a lighthouse for people like me.

We play in the creator economy, not in power games.

So I ask the question:

Which are you?

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If you’ve cast your vote — let’s begin the show.

Enjoy the circus!

Welcome to the Academy of Greatness.

“The two words ‘information’ and ‘communication’ are often used interchangeably — but they signify quite different things. Information is giving out; communication is getting through.”

—Sydney J. Harris