We’re in the process of moving our Madison offices to 33 East Main on Block 89. It’s a wonderful building inside and out, with a 3-season conference room (yes, it’s a deck) overlooking the Capitol Square that I haven’t seen anyone use. The complexities of moving a business are real and a bit overwhelming. There’s the whole technology issue: phones, video conferencing systems, servers, different sharing solutions with our Wausau office, and the list goes on. For the most part, they (you know who your are) keep me away from these complexities preferring to seek my input on the new flat screen and the refrigerator. Fine with me.
They wanted me to go through my stuff, and deep down I think they realized that after creating advertising for over 30 years, I’d have a lot to sort through. On one hand they were right, but on the other, no one realized — not even me — how emotional it could be. There’s 1,500 TV spots, hundreds of direct mail campaigns, more bank advertising than banker boxes, even my first newsletter for Bally Corporation where I interviewed Glen Scarpelli of One Day at a Time. It really got difficult when I had to decide the fate of a dimensional mailing sent to the wives of some sales reps promoting a trip to Orlando. It featured my friend Gary DeFere on the front of a box wearing Mickey Mouse ears with the headline, “Significant Others, Lend Me Your Ears.” You live to see another day, my friend.
What I noticed more than anything else, in this audit of materials dating back to the seventies, was that things really haven’t changed all that much. Sure, there’s the Internet and all of the platforms that have changed the content delivery process, but the content itself — not all that much. Take, for instance, the direct mail campaign we did in 1983 for Wausau Financial Systems. Our client, Bob Weirauch, was having trouble getting his sales message out there; not to his target audiences, but to his own sales people who weren’t delivering the product benefits in a way that he wanted. So, we recorded his message, placed it in a shiny, new Sony Walkman (batteries inserted and ready to play) placed it in some clever packaging, and followed the first mailing with a second containing upgraded headphones and another message. It was the first project we ever created for the client and the relationship lasted 27 years. I’d like to say that we stayed together because we all became fast friends, but the catalyst might have been that we sent out 100 Walkmans, and over the course of one year, 99 recipients become purchasers.
So here’s what I’m thinking. Let’s do the same thing with an iPod Nano. This time, we’ll videotape a message, make a compelling offer, and oh, by the way, the iPod’s on us. Unless, of course, you’re like the one banker who didn’t make a purchase. His company made him return the Walkman to Wausau Financial Systems. Good content 25 years ago is probably good content today; it just needs to be brought up to date — not necessarily by re-writing it so much, but by placing it on a more current platform. Now, I’ve got an icebox I need to buy; don’t panic crew, I’ll go with a new platform and make it a refrigerator.
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