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Advertising:
1980s Style
Brian
Trumbore
President/Editor, StocksandNews.com
I have saved tons of articles and other
assorted stuff over the years, and little did I know
I'd be able to use some of it on this site. The other
day I was going through a box of old articles and
I stumbled on copies of a long-running ad campaign
that United Technologies Corp. used to run in the
Wall Street Journal; one of the most famous in advertising
history. Many of you will recognize these? they're
different ?and it gives me a little break from my
normal fare.
UTX
ran these adverts in a column format?for instance?
When's
the last time
you sat in the
bleachers?
?.etc.
For
my purposes, though, I'm going to run them in standard
fashion. [You shouldn't lose much of the original
intent.] Most of what follows appeared in the early-to-mid
1980s; in other words, during the era of Ronald Reagan
and "Morning in America."
And
if you're in sales or marketing, I can guarantee you'll
find something you can use in your presentations or
seminars.
---
Where
Do You Get Your Information?
When's
the last time you sat in the bleachers? When's the
last time you heard a Jefferson Starship record? [More
than a million were sold last year.] Did you see Superman
II? [It did $14 million its first weekend.] Do you
read Reader's Digest? [The circulation is 31 million
worldwide.] Have you seen the top 10 TV shows? When's
the last time you took a trip on a Greyhound bus?
How many times each month do you shop in a supermarket?
Have you seen evangelists on TV? [Viewers send them
millions of dollars.] Have you browsed through a card
shop? [Hallmark sells one billion cards a year.] Have
you stood on an assembly line? Gone down into a coal
mine? Spent time on a farm? If you don't know what's
happening in other people's worlds, you can't make
good decisions in the business world.
Decisions,
Decisions
Sometimes
the decision to do nothing is wise. But you can't
make a career of doing nothing. Freddie Fulcrum weighed
everything too carefully. He would say, "On the one
hand?but then, on the other," and his arguments weighed
out so evenly he never did anything. When Freddie
died, they carved a big zero on his tombstone. If
you decide to fish - fine. Or, if you decide to cut
bait - fine. But if you decide to do nothing, you're
not going to have fish for dinner.
Aim
So High You'll Never Be Bored
The
greatest waste of our natural resources is the number
of people who never achieve their potential. Get out
of that slow lane. Shift into that fast lane. If you
think you can't, you won't. If you think you can,
there's a good chance you will. Even making the effort
will make you feel like a new person. Reputations
are made by searching for things that can't be done
and doing them. Aim low: boring. Aim high: soaring.
Once
An Acorn
Sometimes
to make it big you first have to make it small. Conrad
Hilton started out sweeping floors in a dusty New
Mexico hotel. He cleaned up as owner of a famous hotel
chain. John Paul Getty started with a $500 oil lease
in Oklahoma and became one of America's richest men.
David Packard baked the paint onto his first product
in a kitchen oven. 45 years later, he was running
a $4.7 billion company. There are anonymous men and
women starting small today whose names will be household
words in 20 years. Will one of those names be yours?
Get started!
It's
What You Do - Not When You Do It
Ted
Williams, at age 42, slammed a home run in his last
official at bat. Mickey Mantle, age 20, hit 23 home
runs his first full year in the major leagues. Golda
Meir was 71 when she became Prime Minister of Israel.
William Pitt II was 24 when he became Prime Minister
of Great Britain. George Bernard Shaw was 94 when
one of his plays was first produced. Mozart was just
seven when his first composition was published. Now,
how about this? Benjamin Franklin was a newspaper
columnist at 16, and a framer of The United States
Constitution when he was 81. You're never too young
or too old if you've got talent. Let's recognize that
age has little to do with ability.
Have
You Looked In Your Backyard Lately?
Dr.
Russell Conwell of Temple University once delivered
a lecture in which he told of a man in Titusville,
Pennsylvania, who sold his farm for $833 to look for
oil in Canada. The fellow who left Titusville never
found oil, but the man who bought his farm did - and
launched a billion dollar industry. Today, with faster
communications and transportation, it's not so important
where you are, or that the grass might be greener
in the next field. What counts is that piece of real
estate between your ears. Is it rich, fertile, productive?
Or is it a wasteland? If it's either, a change in
geography won't matter. Unpack, and take a closer
look at your own backyard.
Something
To Cheer About
If
you sometimes think the front page and the evening
TV news bring nothing but doom and gloom, here's something
to make you feel good about America: In a worldwide
survey, it was found that 84% of Americans take great
pride in their work, vs. 36% of Europeans and 37%
of Japanese. 71% of Americans would be willing to
fight for their country, vs. 43% of Europeans and
22% of Japanese. Americans also lead in national pride
(80%). These are sparkling figures. They ought to
be on the front page.
Common
Sense
A
best-seller in 1776 was Tom Paine's "Common Sense."
Maybe someone should do a 1985 update. You have many
decisions to make every day. Just weigh your answer
against the simple question, "Does it make good, common
sense?" If it does, do it. If it doesn't, don't. Common
sense says, don't smoke when you're filling your gas
tank. Don't run through red lights. Don't overeat.
Don't spend more than you make. Common sense is sometimes
called horse sense. For good reason. Have you ever
seen a horse at the $2 window betting on how fast
a person can run?
We're
Gonna Miss Ya, Duke
[Ed.
note: Appropriate as we just passed what would have
been John Wayne's 100th birthday.]
When
you came riding into town, varmints scrambled, dance
hall girls powdered their noses, and yellow-bellies
ran for the hills.
You
ambled into our hearts, stiffened our spines, and
made us stand taller.
From
the sands of Iwo Jima to the gates of the Alamo, you
taught us all a lesson.
Sure,
your movies were play-acting. But they showed that
our true strength is in our people. The worker on
the production line, the fighting man, truck driver,
waitress, miner, farmer, nurse, cowboy.
Wherever
you're going, Duke, roll yourself a smoke, take a
slug of whiskey, lean back, put a thumb under your
suspenders - and take pride that you taught us the
meaning of true grit.
John
Wayne gave more to America than he took from America.
How many of us can say the same?
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More
of these next week.
Brian
Trumbore
BUYandHOLD
does not recommend any securities. The security mentioned
above is being used for illustrative purposes only
and should not be regarded as an offer to sell or
as a solicitation of an offer to buy.
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