Adland_ Searching for the Meaning of Life on a Branded Planet - James P. Othmer [83]
“Do you know that a few years ago, at the funeral of one of my grandparents, I was standing beside my father, and when the ceremony was over, he looked at me and said, ‘So, Rose, when are you going to do something worthwhile with your life?’”
This was the same man who sent the worldwide man expert to a boarding school in Scotland when she was four years old and who, as a scientist for the U.S. military, had helped to develop the Stinger missile. “You mean worthwhile, like inventing a bomb?” she told him. “A missile that could kill and devastate entire populations?”
After I finished my beer and said good-bye, I got onto the down elevator, this time unescorted, and thought about the state of man, Marlboro and otherwise, and the Stinger missile. I wondered if it was ever actually marketed and, if so, whether the message had been supported by research.
Advertising is not the noblest creation of man’s mind, as so many of its advocates would like the public to think. It does not, single-handedly, sustain the whole structure of capitalism and democracy in the Free World. It is just as nonsensical to suggest that we are superhuman as to accept the indictment that we are subhuman. We are merely human, trying to do a necessary human job with dignity, with decency and with competence.
—Leo Burnett
*1 The blog, Agency Spy, had criticized a leaked, internal, cliché-ridden inspirational memo that the creative director had written. The post and the anonymous comments that followed, as is often the case with ad blogs, were brutal and personal. Then a few days later, with the news of the man’s death, the posts took on a different tone. Some contended that the blogger and the blogs cowardly, anonymous hecklers were responsible for driving the man to jump. Others blamed the stress of the industry. Then one notable post made an allegation that the Chicago Tribune and Chicago Sun-Times chose not to run: the presence of another woman in the hotel, which set off an entirely different ethical discussion about privacy and the ramifications of too much transparency in the blogosphere.
*2 Leo legend has it that when the agency opened in the midst of the Great Depression in 1935, a Chicago newspaper columnist predicted that Burnett would be out in the street selling apples within months. Burnett vowed to give them away instead, and in an agency built upon symbols, the fittingly loaded symbol of apples in the lobby, beckoning clients and visitors alike to indulge, has prevailed for more than seventy years.
*3 It’s true. According to a recent Adweek article (“Marketers Use Hypnosis to Mine Deep Thoughts”), many brands and agencies are putting focus group participants under. For instance, wide-awake participants said that the name of the carmaker Volvo equals safety. Yet when asked the same question while hypnotized, they revealed a less flattering truth: Volvo also equals being middle-aged. The participants were then given the suggestion that as soon as they woke up, they were to rush out and purchase a new, fully loaded Volvo (only kidding, I think).
Zapping the Zeitgeist
Half the money I spend on advertising is wasted; the trouble is, I don’t know which half.
—John Wanamaker
The Super Bowl of Super Bowl Ad Reviews
This wouldn’t be a proper book about advertising without a consideration of its biggest day. I wish I could wax obnoxious about my storied Super Bowl advertising past, but the sad truth is I came close to airing a Super Bowl spot only once, in 1997, and the reason it didn’t air wasn’t my fault. It was the Denver Broncos’ fault.
That’s because my agency’s new Denver-headquartered telecommunications client had said