POP!: Stand Out in Any Crowd

by Sam Horn

An inspirational handbook introduces the POP! process--to make messages Purposeful, Original, and Pithy--in order to promote one's ideas successfully, discussing such concepts as Muse It or Lose It, the Eureka Moment, the Jerry Maguire Rule, Contra-Brand, and Idea Chemistry.

Genres: Business, Nonfiction, Writing, Entrepreneurship, Personal Development, Professional Development, Communication

256 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2006

About the author

Sam Horn is the founder and CEO of The Intrigue Agency, the Force For Good Project, and the Tongue Fu!® Training Institute. She helps people craft clear, compelling, actionable, additive initiatives, communications, books, pitches, and presentations that scale their impact for good.

Speaking: Three TEDx Talks. Corporate and association clients include Oracle, Accenture, Intel, YPO, Capital One, SXSW, US Embassy in London, Asian Leadership Conference, National Governors Association, and ASAE.

Coaching: Clients include Richard Branson’s New Now leaders, EO Board, TED Fellows, and hundreds of founders, presidents of NSA, ICF, ASAE, SHRM, and Fortune 500 executives. Sam was also the pitch coach for Springboard Enterprises, which has helped entrepreneurs generate $98 billion in funding/valuation.

Writing: Ten books, including POP!, Tongue Fu!®, Someday Is Not a Day in the Week, ConZentrate, What’s Holding You Back?, Talking on Eggshells, and Washington Post bestseller Got Your Attention?

Her books have been published in seventeen languages.

Event planning: Executive director/emcee of the Maui Writers Conference for seventeen years. “Best writers conference in the world.”—Writer’s Digest

LinkedIn Learning Instructor: What do Amazon, Walmart, and KPMG all have in common? They’ve all used Sam’s LinkedIn Learning course as part of their employee training for leadership, communication, customer service, team-building, sales, and professional development.

Force For Good Project Mission: The Force For Good Project was launched as a result of Sam Horn’s 2025 TED Town Hall talk. Its purpose is to support, showcase, and connect individuals who are acting in integrity, making a difference, and creating ripple effects of positive, proactive change.

Want to hire Sam Horn to speak for your event, interview her for your publication or podcast, or serve as your coach/consultant? We welcome the opportunity to work with you. Please reach out to us at Sam@SamHorn.com.

Reviews

[Charmin]

Good for anyone looking to create or expand their business or service.
Be Purposeful-Original-Pithy.

HIGHLIGHTS:
1. Coin your own term for the topic.

2. Identify common challenges facing people that need my service.

3. Express the core of the common problem.

4. Be funny and philosophical—make people laugh AND think.

5. It is our responsibility to craft messages that capture and keep our target audience’s interest.

6. We communicate because we want to share a message that matters.

[David O'Neill]

Sam Horn does a great take on creativity with words. The best part is the common thread of actionable exercises, good for personal, group and teaching practice.

[Amy]

An excellent example of how to turn a workshop into a well-written book! I am not really a "Marketing" person, but I wanted to understand that perspective, and this book does a great job of making the marketing process clear and straightforward. There are suggested exercises to get you thinking about how to implement the concepts, and it is all broken down into easily understood steps.

Sometimes it is a bit too formulaic for me, sometimes edging toward end results that feel a bit contrived, but then, I am a technical writer, not a marketing writer, so it might just be a matter of perspective.

Anyway, this is a well written book, but I still think Horn's best book is Take the Bully by the Horns.

[Samill07]

POP! Is not your average book, there is not a story involved in it, there is not a main character, there is no dialogue or character development, and honestly it’s probably unlike anything that you have ever read. This is a book that guides you or your business to become successful in selling yourself or your product. Throughout the whole book at the beginning of each section, each one of them begins with a motivational quote or in better terms, a relevant quote, mainly by well known authors and people that has to do with the rest of that section. The book is very compelling and even though there is not a really story behind it, this was one of the best books I’ve read. It’s unique name which stands for Purposeful, Original and Pithy is used throughout the whole book and it is repeated many times to show how to use it in the real world. If you want a unique read this is definitely the kind of book to look for.

[Jacky Minkler]

Loving it! Perfect for personal branding and elevator pitches, especially if you are a recent grad or new in an industry. Also great if you are planning to start a company or do any type of marketing at all!!

[Jeff Vankooten]

Fantastic book with very creative advice on how to develop slogans and other word based marketing. I borrowed my from the library, but you'll want to own your own copy because you will refer to it over and over again.

[Mark Fallon]

This book is essential reading for any business owner, salesperson or marketing professional. In addition to great ideas, Horn includes guides on how to implement those ideas to help increase the visibility, and profitability, of your enterprise.

[Heather Delia]

As a PR professional, I found this book to be full of gimmicks and "tricks" and found the ideas to be very elementary. Nobody wants to be tricked and without substance behind a product or service, no tagline or gimmick is going to do any long-term good.

[Cyndie Courtney]

Want to say something in a way that will stick in people's heads? This is the book that will help break up your writer's block and help you find the right way to say it. Creative exercises and interesting ideas fill these pages. Really enjoyed it and check out her other books!

[Meryl Evans]

Book review

[D]

Not just for marketing geeks, this book is a quick read with techniques for creating Purposeful, Original, and Pithy pitches, titles, and taglines for anything (as the title says). Now just do it.

[John]

This is a great book when you are trying to figure out a name, tagline or title for a book or other product. Lots of great ideas and exercises. Some great branding ideas here...

[AlexKw]

really good book for marketing ideas. Even though it was made in 2008, it's advice is still very relevant.

[Peter Darcy]

What a marvelous book! It was published in 2006, but this lady, Sam Horn, is a consummate expert in getting her message across. Not only does she teach you techniques for making any message "pop" with interest, but she illustrates it by her own style. I loved it.

[Joy Kidney]

What useful tools for really thinking through what you have to offer (in my case, it's books) and how to best present it to your audience so that it makes a difference. I'll gladly work through this one again and again in the future.

[Marlys Arnold]

Great resource for brainstorming ... will be pulling this one off the shelf often as I create new products & programs. I used many of the ideas to create a list of possible titles for my latest book.

[Luis Lastra]

An outstanding book. Sam gives yo you everything you need to make a great POP pitch. A must read for all those that search for an excelent performance.

[Rachel]

Simple and brilliant. Simply brilliant! :P

[Hege Marie]

It's okay. Nothing exceptional or new, but a great collection of tools to start off a brainstorm.

[Dr. Velma Bagby]

This book rejuvenated my excitement in writing. Love all the tools provided. Excellent help to any author!

[Ernesto Ruiz]

new method to writing taglines and titles. A must read if you work in marketing, advertising or branding

[Olga]

This was an unusual read for me - a book on marketing. I wanted to read something inspiring that could help me with my calligraphy shop on Etsy and my yoga/psychotherapy services in perspective. In the end, the book turned out to be more of use for writing texts.
Pop! Is about creating catchy names and titles, as well as content, and focusing on the target audience for your product. I liked how the author used standard rhetorical devices for creative play. It was engaging, but mind, it’s been the only marketing self-help book I’ve ever read.

[Jon Tran]

Pop! is an enjoyable read, but doesn't leave you with much but a gimmicky device to break out when you're out of ideas. Its message to create products and ideas that are Purposeful, Original, and Pithy is a great tool to break out every once in a while, but not reach for right away for every project. Horn draws on an array of past personal experiences helping professionals in all areas incorporate her message into their own presentations, books, pitches, and other messages, yet it's clear the more that is read that her method is not right for every case.

[LMS]

Had some good insights and ideas, mostly just to help you know where to start or what to be thinking about when brainstorming titles. However, Sam Horn sure loves puns. Almost all of her favorite titles were a play-on words, some a little too cheesy even for my taste, but it was fun to read about her enthusiasm for them. :)

[Beena]

Helped me learn the tricks of caption-writing.Good for people like me who can never come up with a good catchy caption, no matter how hard I think. Sam Horn makes it all sound too easy. Loves the way she talks.

[Cate Meredith]

Not for me - much too gimmicky and slight. I think it is meant for new grads and people just breaking into the industry. For them, it might work quite well as the writing is engaging. Just not enough substance for me.

[Alan]

I registered a book at BookCrossing.com!
http://www.BookCrossing.com/journal/12120194

[Kate]

Contemporary art clearly

[Crystal]

Good reminder on elevator pitches. While it's meant for marketing beginners, it's a good place to start. Full of good reminders.

[Ty Rice]

Pretty good will really make you think about how you structure your messages/arguments. Also you will learn what pithy means :). Its a good book.