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Alright, I’m a big boy and I’ve long since learned that the mainstream media will almost always regard direct marketing with condescension. (Rare exception: Malcolm Gladwell’s brilliant 2001 profile of Ron Popeil in the New Yorker)....
Traditional brand advertising earns grudging respect for the occasional commercial that bows before Baby Boomer vanity (Chiat’s vastly overrated “Big Brother” ad for Apple), and for producing characters, like David Ogilvy, who lend a sheen of sophistication to the otherwise filthy, dirty enterprise of selling stuff.
Case in point: Sunday's “Pointed Copy” piece, Rob Walker’s “Consumed” column for the last NY Times Magazine of 2006. At first, I was pleasantly surprised that a direct marketing copywriter, the late Arthur Schiff, was among those honored by the magazine’s annual tribute to the year’s notable departeds.
Schiff was the man behind the famous/infamous Ginsu knife and its much-parodied commercials. Like the Mr. Whipple and Bounty ads, the Ginsu spots have earned their place among the pantheon of widely despised ads that were, nonetheless, wildly effective.
But this is where Walker’s pointed piece goes dull. “Getting people to take notice remains the central mission of marketing today,” says Walker. Wrong. Dead wrong. The central mission of marketing has been, is today, and always will be to get people to buy something – be it a product, idea or even a “brand.”
This core misunderstanding erodes the rest of the column. Walker goes on to mock-celebrate the Ginsu ads for their famous tropes: the karate-chopped tomato, the key sawed in half. To these he attributes the success of the ad – they got attention.
But that’s not why the ads succeeded. Sure, getting attention was an important part of the game. But the reason the ads stayed on the air, year after year, was because they moved tons of knives. And the reason they moved tons of knives – a reason Walker completely overlooks – is because they memorably promised something people wanted: cheap knives that cut anything and everything without losing their edges, yet never need sharpening.
So what? The problem is, too many people who go into advertising (and marketing) make Walker’s mistake. They focus their efforts on getting attention rather than generating action. Then they confuse sophistication with success, and fail to recognize the value of the “stupid” idea that does what marketing is supposed to do – sell stuff. Anything less misses the point.
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Comments
A wise boss once told me, and I'm sure he stole it from somewhere else, "nothing happens, til a sale is made."
Jonathan, thanks for the reminder that it is marketing's main role to help ensure those sales are made.
Posted by: Paul Barsch | 01.02.07
Jonathan,
I like the way Paul puts this: "...it is marketing's main role to help ensure those sales are made."
Perhaps it's because I learned what I know about marketing in the corporate world, but I think the best ways to do that are:
1. Work hand-in-hand with sales and all those departments that interact with customers.
2. Be a support function as well as a builder of the Brand.
3. Be the market expert: What do the prime and best customers look like and what are their needs, wants and desires? And share that information company-wide.
4. Create great, usable leads and work with sales to turn those leads into customers.
5. Oversee the elements used to create great customer experiences and be accountable and responsible for those experiences.
Of course, this is just a sampling of what marketing should do. Neverthless, these things work whether we are an internation juggernaut or a business of one.,
Posted by: Lewis Green | 01.02.07
Jonathan - Thanks to you (and Paul and Lewis) for starting the year off with a good reminder of what marketing is and does.(It don't mean a thing, if it ain't got the swing!)
We also need to always make sure that, in working with the sales organization, we are maintaining the balancing act between the short term (sell stuff now!) and the longer term (build sustainable markets).
Posted by: Maureen Rogers | 01.02.07
"And the reason they moved tons of knives – a reason Walker completely overlooks – is because they memorably promised something people wanted: cheap knives that cut anything and everything without losing their edges, yet never need sharpening."
Great post, Jonathan. It reminded me of my favorite Ginsu knife pitch of all time, "It slices ham so thin...your in-laws will NEVER come back!"
Ah...the magic of REAL marketing!
Posted by: Ann Handley | 01.02.07
Thanks, everyone!
For me, it all comes down to this: respect the real. Behind all the fog of branding, creativity, messaging, positioning, etc., etc., there's someone selling, someone buying. And if it takes a karate chop to a tomato to make the connection, so be it!
Posted by: Jonathan Kranz | 01.03.07
Jonathan,
Hear, hear! All we need to do is look to the long list of memorable, funny, heart-warming ads that represent products that no longer exist.
While awareness is a part of the puzzle, it shouldn't ever be the final target we're aiming at.
Drew
Posted by: Drew McLellan | 01.03.07
You cut a can in half with a knife and I will pay attention. But you know what? As many times as I've seen the ads (I am a baby boomer, so I've seen a lot of 'em), I've never once purchased a Ginsu knife.
Posted by: Rhea | 01.04.07