Presentations in Action - Jerry Weissman [11]
In the late 1970s, the Army was experiencing serious defections from its ranks and was having trouble attracting replacements. Almost half of those ranks were populated by high school drop-outs, a demographic most likely to drop out of the Army as well. The churn was costing the government almost $2 billion a year. The other armed services—the Air Force, the Marines, and the Navy—were experiencing much less churn because their ranks were filled with higher percentages of the more stable population of high school graduates. Under Mr. Peacock’s leadership, the Army decided to create an enlistment campaign to attract more of that demographic group. They considered many aspects of importance to the target group of 18-year-olds and eventually focused on three central themes:
• Patriotism
• Manliness
• Personal aspiration
The Army then conducted market research to see which of the three themes resonated with the target audience. They tested them in surveys at hundreds of shopping malls around the country, and the third won, hands down. The personal aspiration theme became the “Be All That You Can Be” slogan. It was expressed in a full multimedia suite, using real soldiers instead of actors, complete with catchy theme music and professionally produced video spots.
The Army then engaged the N.W. Ayer advertising agency to roll out the campaign in many media outlets, mostly television. Within about six months after the launch, the percentage of high school graduates in the Army rose from less than 50 percent to more than 70 percent—an astonishing success.
An important by-product of the campaign was improved morale within the ranks, as evidenced by a significant uptick in reenlistment rates.
We can learn a double lesson in this story: The “Be All That You Can Be” theme succeeded because it was aimed directly at its target audience—the young men who aspired to improve their position in life. The slogan was essentially a benefit statement or WIIFY, the subject you read about in Chapter 3, “The ‘So What?’ Syndrome”; it also incorporated the powerful word you.
Whenever you present, offer your audience a WIIFY or multiple WIIFYs, and say you frequently.
Then you can be all that you can be.
11. How Long Is Too Long?: When in Doubt, Leave it Out
In 1988, Bill Clinton, then the governor of Arkansas, gave a nominating speech for Michael Dukakis at the Democratic National Convention. By convention rules, Mr. Clinton was allowed 15 minutes, but he brought an 18-page speech. According to the New York TimesF11.1, he read almost every word, rambling on for so long that the delegates began to chant, “We want Mike!” Ignoring their chants, Mr. Clinton went on and on and on. When, after 30 minutes, he finally said, “In conclusion ...” the crowd roared their approval.
Years later, in his autobiography, Mr. Clinton admitted, “It was 32 minutes of total disaster.”F11.2
For his first venture onto the national political stage, Bill Clinton neglected to take a lesson in brevity from other national leaders’ speeches:
• Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address: 272 words
• Abraham Lincoln’s second inaugural address: 700 words
• Winston Churchill’s “blood, toil, tears, and sweat” speech that launched Britain’s entry into World War II: 627 words
• John F. Kennedy’s inaugural address: 13.5 minutes
Barack Obama, Mr. Clinton’s Democratic successor, learned well from his predecessors. His now-famous speech at the 2004 Democratic National Convention ran 16.5 minutes, and his own now-historic 2009 inaugural address ran 18.5 minutes.
Bill Clinton ultimately learned his lesson. As president, he became a charismatic speaker, able to captivate any audience. After he left office, he leveraged that skill on the speaking circuit, with fees for his keynotes earning him eight figures annually.
The best business example of the value of brevity comes from that most mission-critical of all presentations