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"What Would you Do Now, Bill?"

10/12/2015

LEMON.

This Volkswagen missed the boat.

The chrome strip on the glove
compartment is blemished and
must be replaced. Chances are
you wouldn't have noticed it;
Inspector Kurt Kroner did.

There are 3,389 men of our
Wolfsburg factory with only one
job; to inspect Volkswagens at
each stage of production. (3,000
Volkswagens are produced daily;
there are more inspectors than
cars.)

Every shock absorber is tested
(spot checking won't do), every
windshield is scanned. VWs have
been rejected for surface
scratches barely visible to the
eye.

Final inspection is really something!
VW inspectors run each car off
the line onto the Funktionsprüfstand
(car test stand), tote up 189 check
points, gun ahead to the automatic
brake stand and say "no" to one
VW out of fifty.

This preoccupation with detail
means the VW lasts longer and
requires less maintenance, by
and large, than other cars. (It also
means a used VW depreciates less
than any other car.)

We pluck the lemons; you get the
plums.

RECOGNIZE THAT?

Especially if you are of a certain age, it resonates.

Created by advertising great Bill Bernbach, it is possibly the most famous ad in the history of Volkswagen.

Well, maybe until Deutsch-created the "Darth Vader kid" commercial that played in the 2012 Super Bowl.

Deutsch's ad is greatly loved, but has very little to do with any actual reason to buy a Volkswagen. It's a story about a kid and keychain remote.

It's merely cute.

It could be an ad for any car with keyless entry.

Bernbach's ad is a much better sales tool.

And now, it's also much more ironic than anyone could have imagined.

The big question is...

HOW THE HELL?

How does the world's largest auto maker perpetrate a scam like the bogus emissions testing debacle that, as of this writing, has sent VW stock plummeting by almost a third?

There is nothing in the "Lemon" advertisement that hints at the possibility that VW would one day be capable of such foolishness.

On the contrary, it seems impossible.

In an effort to better understand this extraordinary breach of consumer trust, an interesting phrase has popped up: "Normalization of deviance."

The normalization of deviance comes about when someone commits a transgression, wittingly or not, yet everything works out OK.

So subsequently, it seems OK for people to keep purposely committing that error.

So they do.

And other mistakes are gradually heaped on top of that.

A WORST-CASE RESULT IS NASA

The culture at the space agency became so rife with the need to fly that faulty O-rings and heat shields were allowed to become the norm.

Integrity was replaced by willful ignorance.

Eventually the results were catastrophic.

It's hard to know exactly what cascading episodes of stupidity led to VW's normalization of deviance.

And it's truly epic.

The thing is, how much normalization of deviance happens in everyday life without such catastrophic results?

SEE ALSO: TEXTING WHILE DRIVING

This has to be one of the most idiotic manifestations of normalization of deviance.

"I can text and drive fine! I've never had a wreck!"

WHAM!

Eventually, some driver ends up with the impression of an iPhone in his forehead thanks to the airbag on his Jetta.

But at least the Jetta passed the emissions test.

Normalization of deviance crops up in very small and nefarious ways, too.

Nobody will ever die.

But things just don't happen the way they should.

ADVERTISING IS RIFE WITH IT

Decisions are routinely made in violation of best practices.

A good direct response copywriter can look at a piece of ad copy and tell you right away if something in it is wrong.

But the copy runs anyway.

Because something in it makes the advertiser feel good.

And the executives handling that client would rather make the advertiser feel good than tell him his ad won't work.

Been there.

Seen it.

"THE CLIENT WANTS TO PUT HIS PHONE NUMBER IN THE COMMERCIAL"

"He shouldn't do it. The ad is working."

"He wants it."

"The phone number will only confuse people and distract them from the real call to action, which is 'come into the store now.' That's the only way to get the offer."

"But the first week it ran, people kept calling him about the ad."

"Yes, and they found his phone number even though it wasn't in the commercial. That should tell you something."

"He wants the phone number in the ad."

"It's not going to work. It's going to kill the results."

"Do it."

So, under orders, it gets done.

And what happens?

AS PREDICTED, THE ADVERTISING STOPS WORKING

And the client walks away his advertising saying radio doesn't work.

All because fear and ego stand in the way of smart thinking.

Where's the integrity?

Where's the executive who's supposed to look out for the advertiser's best interests?

If he tells the advertiser, "No," what's the worst that happens?

The advertiser leaves and takes his money with him?

Guess what: it happened anyway.

And this happens all the time.

Bad advertising happens because a client insist he wants it the way he wants it and nobody will stop it.

Letting this happen becomes a way of doing business.

"NO" IS A POWERFUL WORD

It can save lives.

It can save money.

It can save reputations.

And in the case of Volkswagen's normalized deviant behavior, "no" would have definitely saved money and reputations.

It's unlikely that anyone will die over this debacle, but there could be some ruined lives out there.

And as far as reputations go, VW's is shot.

Who is ever going to feel good about an ad for Volkswagen ever again?

Your brand is the one way your core customer should feel about your business.

And VW is now a brand that is considerably more disappointing than a blemished chrome strip on the glove compartment.

Suck on that lemon, my friend.

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WELL, THIS WAS UNEXPECTED...

10/12/2015

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Last week, in honor of Labor Day, your faithful scribe threw out an offer: in recognition your personal labors, we'd do a free analysis of a marketing promotion with great expectations that failed miserably.

Really, a lot of folks aren't courageous enough to trot out their miserable failures.

But we know that you, as a reader of Hot Shots, are different.

You are a pro.

And a pro like you recognizes that failure IS an option.

It's part of the path to success.

But sometimes, in that failure, you end up with a total head scratcher.

THE FIRST RESPONSE TO OUR OFFER CAME FROM AN UNEXPECTED PLACE

And it came with an unusual story.

On the face of it, this one appears to be a huge success.

And it's an unusual kind of promotion.

Admittedly, I didn't see this gem coming.

But the more I held it in my hand and turned it around and peered at it, the more it seemed to fit the criteria, just from a different point of view.

So be prepared: as you know, you read the screed for thoughtful analysis and piercing examination.

We're going in deep, so get ready.

This may be the longest screed ever.

It also appears to be about the radio business--but it's really about almost any business trying to get attention.

This gem comes from a longtime personal friend and professional cheerleader, Dick Taylor.

It's uncertain how my association with Dick even came to be. It is in some tenuous way connected to a certain advertising academy in the remote hill country of Austin, Texas.

DICK HAS RECENTLY MIGRATED FROM RADIO SENIOR MANAGEMENT TO UNIVERSITY PROFESSORSHIP

After spending 30 years in the trenches of the radio business, Dick now warps fresh young minds in Bowling Green, Kentucky.

And as a professorial type, Dick also opines on the state of media via his blog. (Call it a 21st century manifestation of higher education's publish-or-perish directive.)

The blog is called, oddly enough, Dick Taylor's Blog.

The story that Dick sent us is, as mentioned, a story about raging success. He begins by saying:

"I'm coming off a blog post that has gone viral in the radio world. Thousands have read it and sent it to others. Two radio publications published links to the post. Other blogs have re-blogged it. Even some radio folks--big names--that I remember trying to become connected with on LinkedIn in days gone by, have dropped me a note saying they read what I wrote and liked it."

The blog post he's talking about is a rant (gentlemanly, of course) about some big cuts in the area of professional radio air talent.

SEEMS SOME LEGENDARY RADIO AIR PERSONALITIES HAVE JUST BEEN THROWN OUT ONTO THE STREET

The reason is because (once again) genius and ability come at too high a price tag for management.

Dick's point was ultimately about the grim state of radio. About how bean counters are running the show.

Bean counting means that everything (including creative talent) is reduced to numbers.

Dick opines that, when you reduce everything to numbers, "it eviscerates the human element from the decision making process."

Yes, the faithful reader to Hot Shots knows that your faithful scribe has previously opined opinedly on this very opinion.

But never has it been put quite as nicely as Dick puts it when he says: "Radio is an art form. When you remove the artists, there's not much left."

THIS BARN-BURNER OF A BLOG POST HAS CAUGHT ON LIKE WILDFIRE

Says Dick of what happened in the wake of his Labor Day weekend post, "I really thought on a spectacular weather-wise holiday weekend that the traffic to my site would be really slow.

"But quite the opposite happened.

"It's been published in NOW, Radio's Daily Management Newsletter, and Radio Ink.

"It's been posted in the Puget Sound Radio and Larry Gifford just tweeted me to set-up an interview for his Radio Stuff Podcast.

"The blog post has generated 3,710 views since it went up.

"No doubt about it, this post caught fire.

So, you ask, where is the failure in this promotion?

Let's look back to what Dick says himself: "The irony is, things I thought were much more monumental I've written on my blog have been rather lackluster in resonating with folks."

IT SOUNDS LIKE DICK THINKS EVERYTHING LEADING UP TO THIS WILDFIRE HAS PERFORMED SOMEWHAT BELOW HIS EXPECTATIONS

Granted, in the world of blogging at large, almost 4,000 views, several re-posts and one interview might seem modest.

Until you consider that Dick is blogging on an arcane topic that has truly limited appeal: the radio business.

Through that lens focused on arcane subject, we're looking at a wildfire success.

So why has this one subject lit a fire under his target demographic where his other posts haven't?

Why are big wigs coming out of the woodwork to connect with Dick when they previously paid no attention on LinkedIn?

In our humble opinion, what Dick has done represents a perfect storm of marketing genius for the internet.

IT STARTS WITH THE ONLINE IMAGE

Dick always shares his blog posts on Facebook.

The image that went with this blog post is a famous (infamous?) image of the legendary jock Larry Lujack.

In the photo, he's toasting with a cup of coffee, and is smoking five cigarettes--three in his mouth and one in each ear.

It's an image that grabs anyone's eye--but especially the eye of someone who already knows it and has an appreciation for the history of radio and the cranky genius of Mr. Lujack.

Mr. Lujack was a man whose nascent career as an acerbic on-air comic grew out of goofing on farm reports and became huge.

Mr. Lujack was so iconically cranky and distinctive on air that Rush Limbaugh once told The New York Times Magazine that Mr. Lujack was "the only person I ever copied."

(If that piques your ire and disgust, consider this: that comment made Mr. Lujack even crankier. He said of Mr. Limbaugh, "His appeal escapes me.")

SO THE IMAGE CAUGHT PEOPLE'S ATTENTION

Even Dick asks, "Was it the Larry Lujack picture that attracted folks? It certainly wasn't the lame headline."

Yes, the image did. But the "lame headline" is where we disagree with Dick.

The headline is, "We Never Called It Content."

It's a reference to the old adage (if a Bill Gates quote can be old enough to be an old adage) that "Content is king."

Dick writes, "Radio is a pretty simple business. You play recordings people want to hear. You keep your hand on the pulse of the community you're licensed to serve and report on what's going on that people need to know. And you hire personalities that become the audio glue that keep it all together, running smoothly and engaging the listener."

The problem, though, is obvious: radio today largely lacks that vital audio glue.

Calling the art of air personalities "content" diminishes the art form.

It reduces it to the level of thoughtless posts and tweets and pins.

THE "LAME" HEADLINE IS ANYTHING BUT LAME

Instead, it immediately piques the ire and interest of the astute reader who is already sick of the evisceration of talent from radio.

Dick goes on to say, "This post was one that I was writing to 'vent my spleen'...(in the nicest possible way, of course) and I considered to be a rather 'lightweight' post."

Ya see?

We are not always the greatest judge of our own material.

Looking at some of Dicks' previous posts, the titles are things like...

"THE END OF FACEBOOK"

Yes, that's a post title.

Dick goes on to say that the end of Facebook is "about as likely as the end of radio," and "I'm sure I got your attention with that headline."

Here's the challenge: it's a sensational headline, yes.

But we've seen it before.

Google it in quotes. There are over 300,000 results.

And is it going to resonate with the passionate radio hound?

Additionally, the blog post takes four paragraphs before tying the premise into a thesis statement about the state of radio.

In the internet age, those four paragraphs could be three more than anyone is going to read.

The "We Never Called It Content" post dives right into Big Radio Thoughts.

Another recent title...

"CELEBRATING A REUNION"

"It was 45 years ago that I graduated from high school.

"It's really hard to believe that much time has passed, but this weekend I'm back in my hometown of Pittsfield, Massachusetts--in the 'Heart of the Berkshires'--celebrating that teenage milestone."

Nostalgia.

Personal.

Radio arrives at paragraph four.

And the real professional point doesn't come until much, much later.

Thoughtful, yes.

But that post is not going to be shared by an industry monolith like Radio Ink.

Another...

"WHY IS SO MUCH OF TELEVISION SO BAD?"

"That's the question that Newton Minow asked on May 9, 1961 when he addressed the National Association of Broadcasters in Washington, DC."

The headline is a leading question--but it's also something that we've heard before.

Television sucks. So what?

The blog starts out as a history lesson that may or may not make the core customer care.

All this to say...

DICK TAYLOR IS A GOOD WRITER AND A CRITICAL THINKER

Which is necessary.

As a man entrusted with warping today's young minds for tomorrow, it's useful that he's a writer and a thinker.

And in the context of academia, talented writing and thinking is vital.

His stated goal for this blog is to establish himself (and by extension, his university) as a radio thought leader.

And on that level, it seems to be working.

However, in the context of making the internet sit up and take notice, there's a whole other challenge.

It's a challenge about being pithy--something that's almost at odds with being a thought leader from an institution of higher learning.

The challenge for the internet is in avoiding complexity.

It's instead about just baiting a hook with the right worm and then setting that hook immediately.

FRANKLY, I PREFER THOUGHTFUL MEANDERING

In the hands of a skilled meanderer, it's ultimately a more satisfying journey--and (one hopes) with a better destination.

Not that I'd necessarily call myself a skilled meanderer, but let's face it: this near-2,000-word screed about Dick Taylor's barnburner blog post is not exactly what kind fodder for the internet attention span.

But then, you are not the typical internet reader.

You're here for a reason.

And that reason isn't exactly related to short-attention-span theater.

(There's also a reason why The Fabulous Honey Parker and I call this operation Slow Burn Marketing.)

ULTIMATELY, HERE'S WHAT'S HAPPENING

Dick, like so many of us, has been writing something other than "content."

Dick has been concurrently writing thoughtful material from the head and the heart.

In dashing off a Labor Day weekend post, he also did something unintentional: he launched a dart directly at a bullseye.

It was emotionally evocative.

It got right to an impassioned point.

And it spoke succinctly about a Big Idea.

All necessary for an internet success.

And this is key: he didn't think too hard about it.

INSTEAD, DICK JUST LET 'ER RIP

And the result was magic.

In his own words, the goal of Dick's blog is to "reach people in the radio, advertising and broadcasting business."

Instead, in sitting back and letting his muse take charge, he focused down on a distinct core customer.

Not just people in media.

But a single person in media.

He narrowed his field of focus to become ever more piercing and singularly relevant.

He targeted the person who cares deeply about radio and what has happened to it because it, frankly, is criminal.

Business people with no comprehension about how to make a powerful and potent creative medium work--have been put in charge of making decisions that undermine the medium's potency and power.

THAT'S what happened with this post and why it went so much bigger.

IMHO.

WITH THE BIG POST, DICK TAPPED INTO SOMETHING LURKING IN HIS OWN PSYCHE

And perhaps it is best reflected in a comment from about a century ago.

Archy and Mehitabel are, respectively, a cockroach and a cat.

Together, they hijacked the typewriter of Don Marquis, a columnist for The New York Evening Sun.

Mehitabel would dictate to Archy, who would transcribe her words by jumping on the typewriter keys. (Archy was not heavy enough to hit the shift key of an old-fashioned mechanical typewriter, so he could use no capital letters.)

Mehitabel famously said, "i never think at all when I write. nobody can do two things at the same time and do them both well."

And therein lies the secret.

Yes, what we do with branding and the subsequent marketing is a thoughtful process.

We need to carefully consider the one way we want our core customer to feel about our brand.

And once that's done, we need to be sure the materials that follow are true to that brand.

But in that process, it's necessary to always recognize the genius that can be tapped in the abandon of improvisation.

Go ahead and just blurt it out.

Some of our most wildly successful work has been the result of a seemingly stupid blurting out.

Just make sure that after you've done the blurting, you remain on-brand.

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IT'S A SAD, SAD DAY IN THE WORLD OF FAST-FOOD ADVERTISING

10/12/2015

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Unfortunately, unless you live on the west coast or are a total ad geek, you are probably not going to know or care.

Not that there's anything wrong with that.

Really, in the grand scheme of life and marketing, this is going to be a blip on your radar at best.

There may not even be any take away for a small business here.

Nonetheless, this must be observed.

Jack In The Box, the (mainly) west coast burger chain, has fired its advertising agency of 20 years.

WHAT PART OF THE COW IS THE ANGUS?

Yes, I admit it: I'm one of the many people who took juvenile delight in the commercial attacking Angus burger competition on behalf of Jack's 100% sirloin burger.

Jack is in a meeting, standing in front of a diagram of a cow, and is being asked to circle the part of the cow where the Angus comes from.

This commercial prompted a lawsuit from Carl's Jr./Hardee's for misleading the public and implying that Angus burgers were made from cow anus. (Seriously. That's how stupid we all probably are. We would suddenly think Angus means anus.)

A similar commercial showed a room full of guys laughing uproariously every time they used the word "angus."

These are just two of many Jack In The Box commercials that invited controversy over the years.

They are also two of the many commercials that made burger buyers pay attention to Jack.

During the reign of Creative Director Rick Sitting, Jack In The Box grew from 1200 to 2200 restaurants.

The stock price went from $3 to $91.

Obviously, the advertising worked.

IT WAS ALSO ONE OF THE UNIQUE AGENCY RELATIONSHIPS OF ALL TIME

Jack's agency used to be Chiat/Day in Los Angeles.

That's where Rick Sittig first created Jack In The Box advertising--when Jack was coming off a disastrous 1993 E.coli-tainted burger episode.

The resulting "Jack Is Back" campaign is one of the longest running in the history of fast food advertising.

The campaign was so successful that when Jack's contract with Chiat/Day was up, Jack split.

And took Rick Sittig with them. So to speak.

Sitting left Chiat/Day and started an advertising agency solely to service Jack In The Box

That ad agency had what your relentless scribe believes to be one of the best ad agency names of all time.

HELLO, KOWLOON WHOLESALE SEAFOOD COMPANY

I used to walk past Kowloon Wholesale Seafood Company on Montana Avenue.

There was an old, balloon-tire bike parked on the sidewalk.

Attached to the bike was a chalk board with Chinese writing on it, indicating the day's catch.

Eventually, the name of the agency was changed to Secret Weapon Marketing. (Oh, look--another ad agency that doesn't call itself "advertising," but opts for the more holistic notion of "marketing.")

And for my money, Secret Weapon has one of the best brands in advertising.

They obviously don't take themselves too, too seriously.

And they always limit the agency roster to no more than three clients at a time.

AS A CLIENT, HOW CAN YOU NOT FEEL LIKE YOU'RE GOING TO GET PERSONAL ATTENTION?

Secret Weapon obviously did great things for Jack.

So why the split?

Just a guess here.

And it's taking us back to Fred & Ethel, the dueling comedy twins of so much decision making.

The longtime reader to this screed will recall Fred & Ethel as the absurdist names we've given to the demons better known as Fear & Ego.

In this case, we're guessing that ego is at the heart of this change.

Why?

Yes.

A NEW CMO IS MAKING HIS MARK

Well, "new" is all relative.

Keith Guilbault has been in the position of CMO for almost two years.

But a year ago, Jack did announce an agency review, and brought another agency into the mix.

And now, the work is moving from Secret Weapon to LA hipster agency David&Goliath.

Mr. Guilbault could easily be looking to make his mark after a decade of working on Jack In The Box in various capacities.

We've all seen it happen before.

And it's going to be interesting to see what happens next.

IN THE MEANTIME, IS THERE ANY TAKE AWAY FOR US LITTLE GUYS?

Sure.

Like, don't put all your eggs in one basket. (Secret Weapon was smart enough to have two other accounts--even if neither of them are as big as Jack.)

Or, don't let ego (or fear) drive your business decisions--including advertising decisions. (We have no evidence that's what's going on here, but it's a good lesson anyway.)

And perhaps, dance with him who brung ya. (Well, as long as the guy who brung ya is still kicking butt and taking names on your behalf--which it seems that Secret Weapon was.)

But, again, all of these conclusions assume facts not in evidence. Yet.

Perhaps the best take away for a small business marketer is this: don't be afraid to do advertising that makes folks sit up and take notice.

Which is what gave Secret Weapon Marketing a reason for being and a 20-year relationship with a mighty little client.

A salute to Rick Sittig, Secret Weapon, and a quick, healthy rebound with a new third client.

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"What Would you Do Now, Bill?"

WELL, THIS WAS UNEXPECTED...

IT'S A SAD, SAD DAY IN THE WORLD OF FAST-FOOD ADVERTISING

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