Oh, no, they didn’t.
Oh, yes, they did.
They did for the first time I can ever remember in 30+ years of doing this.
A client now says they might not run their spots because, and I quote, “They are too funny.”
First of all, you would think, in the whole process whereby the client finds us, hears our stuff, goes to the website, meets us on the phone, meets us again with the creative staff assembled, during which time we talk about concepts and our approach and what we can do to humanize this business, during all that process you would think it would have come up.
You know, the part about us not using our trademark humor? The thing that has kept us in business for four decades now? The thing people traditionally come to us for, depend on us for, entrust their advertising dollars to us for, enjoy the rewards they reap for? Oh, okay, we can use it, but please hold back.
The British have the best word for it, I think: We are gobsmacked.
This also raises the question: To whom are we obligated here? To our client, yes. But also to their customers, to the radio consumer audience. And I don’t think, given our position in the industry, it is too lofty to say we owe it to the medium to give it what we truly believe in.
We have to assume that these advertisers have come to us to up their ante in the market, give them spots that break through the clutter on the air, and maybe, just maybe entertain a little while they sell whatever. That implies that they will trust us to do what we do best, just as we promise to always deliver the best we have in us. And create spots that we think sells this enterprise in the best possible way.
In short, is the customer always right? Is it too presumptuous of us to think we know better? I have written here about not fearing humor, about letting the pros do their work. Cited sources that nearly 70% of advertising deemed to be impactful employs humor.
Right about now, I’m darned near 100% mystified. It is a first for a client to ask us to be just a little duller, please. People won’t take them seriously if their spots are so funny.
Not sure how this will play out. Watch this page. I’ll keep you posted.
Reading this column marks the first time I’ve ever heard anybody besides myself challenge the notion that the customer is always right. The customer IS paying the bill, the customer IS entitled to expect that we give them our best work, the customer IS always to be treated with respect…yes, a thousand times yes, I get all that and believe it. But if the customer was right about advertising, they wouldn’t have come to us because they wouldn’t need us in the first place, they could do it themselves. It’s the same reason I hire a plumber or a mechanic or an electrician: I can’t do a lot of those jobs myself, and if I hang over the shoulder and second-guess every move of the pro I’ve hired to do that job for me, I’m not going to get his best work either. It’s the same reason I would go to Advertiser X to get the product or service they provide, whatever that is, because that’s what they DO — so it is a little annoying when Advertiser X becomes the tail that wags the dog when we’re trying to create a spot that works for them. It would be nice if they trusted us to do what WE do.
Breathless, I now climb down from my soapbox, realizing that my impassioned outburst was no more than preaching to the choir as it were, because you already know all this. It is such a relief for me to know that someone else in the world of advertising knows it, because I have the toughest time getting it across to the AE’s that I’ve worked with, who believe we should let the customer not only walk all over us, but roll out and vacuum a red carpet over ourselves as the traffic department serves hors d’oeuvres.
And please don’t take this as a sour-grapes rant, or assume I don’t love my job. I do love it, I enjoy it, I believe I do it well, and that’s why this bothers me. If I didn’t care, it would be easy to chuck it all and move on to something else. You don’t hang in as long as I have for something you don’t care about. But if it’s worth doing, it’s worth doing well. I think you know where I’m coming from.
(Actually, I guess you don’t where I’m coming from unless I tell you; I’ve been in radio since 1983, and have been producing since 1990. Cut a lot of tape before I knew how to use a mouse. But those are just the tools, the skill is in the hands of the user, and the creativity is between his ears before you ever hear anything with the ears. However, that’s another rant, so I should sign off here before I get riled up again…)
You are so one mark as to the customer being right. I have not written or produced spots for a broadcast since 1984. I began as a neophyte with no schooling or training beyond the halls of the School of Hard Knocks. What was amazing to me and to the station manager as well, was the simple fact that the spots I wrote and produced worked. There was always a measurable increase of customers for our clients. The greatest difficulty , for me, too many customers think too highly of themselves and their business and or product. The other abomination for me personally, was the self voiced spots of car dealers. They would write the copy, make an appointment with me to come and voice the spot. Then it was up to me to edit, redub, overdub, or whatever else I had to utilize to make their spot decent. Not perfect, not good, some not even respectably listenable, DECENT was the best I could hope for. Decent in that I could enter the spot into rotation and have it fit if uncomfortably within our overall programming.
I utilized a technique that would be enviable even in today’s broadcast thorn thicket. I had the ability to give a client free spots in the overnight portion (midnite to 5 am time slot). When people began to show up at their pos and mention the freebies, that’s when they would be willing to listen to me and my product.
The real significance of spots working was my ability to tell the station manager it didn’t matter whether he liked the spot or not, because the customer liked it. Now friends and neighbors THAT is an accomplishment.
In my usual verbose manner, I have managed (I hope) to tell you that I was successful beyond my wildest dreams. Not only that, but I loved it!!
To say I was always able to dissuade the customer from his mindset would be a gross misstatement.
The most horrible example resulted in a 6 hour live remote giving away hotdogs at a mobile home sales lot. I still have nightmares about that one. It wasn’t as bad as the WKRP turkey drop….at least that was funny.
The customer is ALWAYS RIGHT!
I’ll pause a moment to allow you time to remove those middle fingers from blocking the screen.
Ok…they are right to seek professional help for the thing they so miserably fail at understanding – advertising.
They are right in understanding that great creative is an essential for effective advertising.
They are right knowing that effective ads are often ads that use humor effectively.
Then they do that thing that so many companies do because their leadership skills need an upgrade…they hire a pro to fix the problem and then tell them how to do their job.