I found this great article from one of my direct marketing gurus that really put to light advertising reps. For you think in terms of a Yellow Pages rep, tv ad rep, magazine ad rep, billboard ad rep, whatever. Someone trying to put their creative twist on your lifes blood. Enjoy!
[B][COLOR=“black”]How advertising “experts” turn brilliant CEOs
into drooling morons[/COLOR][/B]
Imagine this: You’re the CEO of a major corporation – in this case,
a brewery.
As the CEO, your prime directive is quite simple: Your bosses – the
Board of Directors and your stockholders – demand that every
corporate dollar you spend produces a positive return on investment.
You’re good at what you do. By producing a superior product and
pinching every nickel until the buffalo squirts, your company has
become the most successful in its industry and your market share is
still growing.
Then one day, a guy from a major New York ad agency shows up
in your office. He has bad news for you.
“You’re doing it all wrong,” he says.
“What do you mean?” you ask.
“Your advertising,” he says. “Your ads just drone on and on about
how delicious and refreshing your beer is – and how superior it is to
everybody else’s.”
“So what’s wrong with that?” you ask.
“No frogs.” the adman says.
“Frogs?”
“Absolutely. Fat, ugly frogs on lily pads in the middle of a
mosquito-infested swamp, all croaking your product’s name.”
“Will that sell more beer?” you ask incredulously.
The Madison Avenue wizard waves his hand slowly before your
eyes. “You don’t care if it sells more beer,” he intones.
Your eyes glaze over and, in a trancelike voice, you mindlessly
repeat after him: “Sales … not … important … ”
You can feel yourself slipping under his spell – the Madison Avenue
version of the Jedi Mind Trick – but somehow, you marshal enough
self-control to blurt out another question: “But … how will I know if
these frog ads are a good investment?”
Another wave from the adman: “You won’t know … and you don’t
care.”
“Return meaningless … don’t care …” You hear the words coming
out of your mouth involuntarily as if someone else – a crazy person –
were saying them.
You gather every remaining ounce of strength to ask your final
question: “How … much … for … the … frogs?”
The ad wizard waves again, this time a double whammy – with
both hands: “You don’t care how much it costs …”
The double whammy does the trick. You are completely under the
wizard’s spell.
As you surrender, your eyeballs roll back in your head … a drop of
spittle appears at the corner of your mouth … and you hear yourself
chanting, “Sales meaningless … investment return meaningless …
profits meaningless … just … need … frogs.”
Next thing you know, you – the Harvard MBA … the hard-boiled
businessman who fought his way to the top of the corporate ladder …
the CEO who, in every other area of business demands that every
penny spent produces a trackable, measurable, positive return on
investment …
… YOU are signing the check for a new $50 million ad campaign,
complete with butt-ugly frogs.
