Passing thought:
On a recent episode of Mad Men, the Emmy winning show on TV, the Maytag client was agitated when someone on the show Maytag sponsored referred pejoratively to a character as an agitator. " You can't do that when the exclusive feature of our washing machine is an agitator." Maytag launched a mild protest.
Segue to the 1960's when Y&R put together a TV special for Chrysler , one of the agency's largest clients. As Harry Belafonte came on stage to greet Petula Clark, a beautiful blonde pop star from England, he put his arm around her waist. He might just as well have embraced an IED (improvised explosive device) but what exploded was the Chrysler client. "That black man touched that white girl on our show. There go our dealerships in the south". The telephone switchboard lit up . "I'll never buy another Chrysler car." Chrysler threatened to take the account from Y&R and demanded the account executive in charge be fired. This was a live show so editing was not possible. " He never did that in the rehearsal" was all that Colgan Shlank. the poor account guy, could feebly explain. After awhile calmer heads prevailed and the incident became history. Colgan Shlank kept his job and thereafter a policy of no touching was strictly enforced.
Today we have a black man running for President of the United States. How things have changed. Or have they?
Meanwhile, as the new kid on the block at Y&R, I was enjoying doing the grunt work that senior writers were shielded from since their work on ads for major media paid the bills. Sales promotion and trade advertising didn't. One of my first assignments was to write a four page newspaper insert announcing the Drackett company's TV sponsorship of an oater called Wagon Train, starring Ward Bond. The Gulf account had a huge appetite for collateral material. So in concert with a talented art director, Kevin McNally, we ground out such Gulf station point of purchase materials as opening day announcements, highlighting the appearance of clowns, free balloons, kiddie carnivals and all the usual hoopla designed to attract motorists to come in and fill up. Someone had to think up that stuff and write the words. Not exactly award winning material, but I just kept reminding myself that I was a copywriter at Y&R and a lot of other copywriters out there were not. They would have gladly traded their jobs at other ad agencies for mine, but not at my salary.
Dermott McCarthy, then copy chief who later became a dear friend and supporter would never fail to remind all that Al Hampel will forever be remembered for writing those immortal words that brought more people into Gulf stations than any other incentive." Al wrote 'Men' and the copy on the other door, 'Women'."
How was I ever going to break into the corps of elite writers and thinkers around me? They were hot and experienced but not too snobbish to offer advice to a tyro. I might have been a pain in the butt, but those senior Y&R stars took the time to chat and inform the junior who just dropped into their midst. I devised a plan on how I would get noticed. It was a simple strategy. I considered all the talent around me as competition. I was determined to win by working harder and never being satisfied with the first ideas that came to mind, but to keep going for something better. Later in life I designed a button in the form of a stop sign that said "Don't Stop." I assumed the big idea was out there waiting to be found and I was determined to keep going til I reached that "aha, that's it" solution to a creative problem. My strategy for advancement was not a new plan in the business world but it did entail sacrifice. I devoted almost all my spare time to thinking about a better line or word or concept. I thought about my assignment on the bus, while walking to the office, watching TV, before bed, on waking, even on vacation with my family. Was I being fair to them, or myself for that matter ? Vacation was supposed to be a time of diversion and respite from the stresses of the job. My wood shedding* the problem took a toll of my health and my role as a father of two young boys. Bob Work who hired me, said, "you're not being fair to yourself."
* Wood shedding: to practice and practice and practice til you get it right. Eric Clapton was a well respected guitarist in Britain. Yet there was still a desire to get better. He took time off to practice for two years straight. I adopted the principle of wood shedding as a way of getting better at the craft of copywriting.
Working on the General Electric dishwasher account, I named an exclusive new feature, "Power Shower" It was readily accepted by the GE client and was immediately incorporated into all GE dishwashers, where it lives to this day. The GE client was so pleased he gave me a GE radio and stipulated that I work on all GE appliance accounts. If the client likes you, you gain leverage in an ad agency. The account executives made sure you stuck with their business and spread the word about a creative young kid in sales promotion.
The assignment was to create a statement enclosure that was sent to Gulf credit card holders with their monthly bills. Kevin Mc Nally designed the piece. I named it "Between Tankfulls" a masthead at the top of a small newsletter that is still mailed to Gulf credit card holders.
With four words, "Power Shower" and "Between Tankfulls" I began the building of my reputation at Y&R.
Before long I found myself working on trade advertising, the ads that appeared in special journals circulated among retailers and distributors of products and services. This category is now known as business to business advertising and these days enjoys a more prominent role in the marketing mix.
For Life Magazine I wrote a trade ad featuring a testimonial from Arnold Palmer. To get the story I and leading photographer Ormond Gigli flew to Pittsburgh and drove to Latrobe to interview Palmer about being a regular reader of Life. We had to backtrack to downtown Latrobe to pick up a copy of the magazine. There was none in the Palmer house. I told Palmer I would make sure he would get a complimentary subscription. He called out to his wife, Winnie, "Win, this man is going to get us a prescription (sic) to Life." Such was my introduction to the veracity of testimonial advertising. I got the story, Gigli got his pictures but the trip did not end there. Palmer who was then learning to fly insisted on flying us from Latrobe to the Pittsburgh airport. We crammed into the back of a single engine Cessna with Palmer at the controls. No sooner did we lift off and the plane nosedived back to earth. Gigli dug his fingers into my knee and wouldn't let go. All I could think was, my first trade ad would be my last. Only the instructor sitting beside Palmer safely corrected Palmer's error. We still had to sweat out the flight as Palmer again took over in order to log some flight time for his license and flew the rest of the flight to Pittsburgh where the instuctor landed the plane. Today Arnold Palmer flies his own Jet to all of his tounaments. To think I helped him get his pilot's license.
Comments