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Case Studies
Thunderhead – Dollywood – “Find The Emotion and Cut Everything Else.”
Dollywood wanted a spot to announce their new wooden roller coaster and Season Pass offer. First problem was the coaster hadn’t been built. Second problem was the client wanted to mention all the other marvels at the park so right in the middle of an otherwise wonderful script that played a kid’s bravura against the cautionary warning of a wise old salt like Clint Eastwood, there was a laundry list of attractions unrelated to the new coaster.
At the time, Dollywood’s advertising, like all other amusement parks, relied on smiling faces, families enjoying themselves, always on a sunny day. Other than the supers at the end, they were indistinguishable. Besides the weakness of the “Me Too” strategy, the roller coaster was named “Thunderhead”—not immediately suggestive of a sunny day and laughing kids.
With footage of another wooden coaster, I made a cut concentrating entirely on the thrilling fear everybody loves in a good roller coaster. I dropped the list of other attractions entirely and steadily beat the drum of the emotion of fear shrouded in ominous clouds of mystery.
The third problem was that the pricing of their Season Pass offer was complex because taxes and final price varied in different states. The client insisted it be thoroughly explained in supers and narration to make absolutely certain customers weren’t confused or dissatisfied when they bought their passes. We could have spent the entire thirty seconds trying to explain all that and still ended up with confused customers. Whatever the price, they would all obviously end up paying more than the lowest price—a foolproof recipe for feeling jipped. So I figured, just forget the whole thing. All ticket prices, in whichever state, came out to less than $60, so I suggested the announcer simply say, “For less than sixty bucks.” If you paid $58.38, or $59.95, you’d still be happy. Worked like gangbusters and set Dollywood’s advertising on a new course, culminating in a 2008 Best In World from the International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions for a spot I wrote and created titled, “You Won’t Believe It Until You see It Yourself.”Hilton Hotels – “Brand is the relationship the consumer has with the product, not the other way around.”
McCann was struggling to create a new campaign for Hilton Hotels to attract business travellers. The category seemed to be a competition to see how many different ways agencies could say, “We give you free orange juice and a newspaper!” Another national chain was running a campaign with the Rockettes high-kicking on the sidewalk and singing the praises of their free services, but of course, nothing’s free. You gotta pay for the room first and they don’t come with Rockettes. Our creative wasn’t any better. Over lunch with then Creative Director Denny Kuhr, I suggested we concentrate on the consumer, not the product, and build a campaign that would salute what makes American business people so great. Tell business travellers Hilton respects and admires them and, of course, Hilton practices their great American values. Denny took off from there and wrote three killer spots, “Competition,” “Ambition,” and “Effort.” Mike Karbelnikoff and Graham Henman co-directed them beautifully and Hilton's profits jumped.One World – Guess? – “How About One Idea?”
Guess wanted a 15 minute film to open their first international sales conference. It was going to be a glamorous and historic affair and they wanted the film to include interviews with the company founders and explain how all their different divisions and marketing initiatives fit under one umbrella. Basically, they wanted to say EVERYTHING. At my interview for the job, I suggested that’s not what they needed.
I recommended the film be no longer than two minutes and that it do just one thing: slam home one idea, the main idea of the conference, "we are one brand," in a bold and dramatic way. They were reluctant, so I suggested, “Let me try it, but I’ll also cut a longer film that describes all your different marketing levels, your history, and so on. I’ll make it modular so you can easily break it into shorter parts to use in meetings specific to the subject: new store launches, new line launches, etc.”
They were knocked out by the two minute sizzle film I made. Went over so well, the audience asked to see it three times. One idea is almost always better than ten.Century-21 - “Rainy Day” – “You’re crazy! You’re Crazy! Screamed the AE.”
As a very young producer, I was sent to represent Broadcast Production at an internal meeting with stern instructions to keep my mouth shut. None other than John Bergen, the legendary Creative Director from McCann NY who oversaw some of the best worldwide Coca-Cola campaigns would be at the meeting.
Dutifully, and totally intimidated, I didn’t say a word during the discussion of some dull, emotionless storyboards created by McCann LA in which, as always, a happy Century 21 agent in their orange blazer shows a young couple a typical starter home on a sunny day. John wasn't saying anythng either. I thought he was probably tired from his flight. He seemed to be falling asleep. Suddenly interrupting the conversation, he looked across the table at me and asked, “What do you think?”
The room went silent. Gulp! Nerves got the better of me and I started mumbling. “Why do we always have the agent showing people some dinko one-story, two bedroom with a cement walkway, as if that’s the prime feature of the house. It’s not a house they’re buying. It’s a home. It’s where they’re gonna raise their kids, where they’re gonna weep with joy at Christmas.”
The Account Supervisor looked worried for me. John looked bemused and said, “Go on.”
“Well,” said naïve and foolish me, “Isn’t a man’s home supposed to be his castle? Why don’t we make it a really cool house up a long drive on a hill, lights glowing golden against dark storm clouds. And do these Century 21 agents always have to wear those hideous orange blazers and drive a Buick? Why not make her a pretty young woman, hair drenched by the rain, in muddy LL Bean boots. She should be driving a Jeep.”
The account supervisor suddenly shot out of his chair screaming, “You’re crazy! You’re crazy!”
I was horrified. John was unruffled, smiled at me sympathetically and quietly said, “Thank you. You can go.” Knees quaking, I hobbled out of the conference room, trying to think where I might be able to find a new job. Century 21’s next campaign was called “Rainy Day” and became widely regarded as a breakthrough in the category.M.U.S.C.L.E.S. – Mattel – “Working in Hollywood”
Mattel licensed a toy from Japan that had hundreds of different little flesh colored figures, one with a TV set for a head, another with a urinal for a chest, etc. In the U.S., Mattel was calling them “Millions of Unusual Small Creatures Lurking Everywhere” (M.U.S.C.L.E.S.) and I was assigned to produce a terrific concept based on War of the Worlds. MUSCLES were invading! The spot was to be narrated in the same style as the radio announcer from the Orson Welles movie version of War of the Worlds.
During casting, a kindly old gentleman came in to read as the Announcer and, as was my habit at the time, I started into my brief about we wanted it read like the radio announcer in Welles' movie, but he kept mumbling, “I’m the guy.” I thought maybe he was pumping himself up, but then he looked at me as if he couldn’t understand why I kept babbling on. “No, no,” he finally said in frustration. “I mean I am the guy.” “What?,” says I. “I played the radio announcer in the movie,” he said shyly. “Well, that ends this audition. You’ve got the part!”
From that day on, I stopped briefing actors before they audition. Now, I ask questions. In Hollywood, you just never know who you’re talking to until you ask. The spot went on to take an unknown new toy from zero to number four on the best-selling toy list in less than a month, won numerous awards, and was on Ogilvy & Mather’s corporate reel for over ten years.Borax – “Babushka” – “How I lost McCann-Erickson's prize account.”
McCann prided itself on having kept the Borax account for decades – all the way back to “20 Mule Team Borax” with Ronald Reagan as the pitchman. In the 80’s, Borax was pitching a new additive, something deliriously euphonius like “polychromal-dioxy blutimate.” Apparently, it worked wonders on “those hard to get out grass stains.” That was the product superiority claim and the focus of the creative I was assigned to make into animatics. Most of the spots were run-of the mill: a problem solution with two wives in a laundry room; a mom’s exercise class a la The Jane Fonda Work-Out, all the rage at the time; and a funny version that had the wives in the kitchen speaking in “chemicaleese” with subtitles in common English explaining what they were actually saying.
As I was working these up, I got thinking about how detergent ads always tried to make it seem like doing a good job with the household laundry was the pride and glory of every housewife. I couldn’t think of anyone I knew who liked doing laundry. It was, and always has been mind-numbing drudgery.
I started imagining a frigid landscape and two beleaguered women suffering through their chore. The question was, how to get the product advantage into the spot. The fact that it was impossible to pronounce the chemical compound gave me an idea.
I made the other animatics as scripted, but created a fourth that showed a Siberian landscape and a single washing machine, over which hung a banner that read “Laundromatski.” Enter two drab Russian women staggering under gigantic bundles of laundry on their shoulders. In a thick Russian accent, one moans, “Babushka, how do you get these grass stains out?.” Nervously, the other whispers, “I use American detergent, Borax. It has secret ingredient: polychromal-dioxy blutimate!” “Polychromal-dioxy blutimate?” exclaims the other in astonishment. “Americans have everything!”
Due in large part to incredible voice-over performances by Suky Smith and another actress, everyone doubled over in hysterics when I showed it back at the agency. The General Manger gave me a slap on the back! Said he thought it was fantastic.
Next day, the GM and his troops pitched the new campaign to Borax. That afternoon, I was told the client had called after the meeting and summarily fired the agency. I was stunned. That made me next on the chopping block. It was my Big Idea that just lost the agency’s prized account. Then the details emerged. The agency opened the presentation with, “a silly little joke we hope you’ll get a kick out of” and showed the “Babushka” animatic as a kind of ice-breaker. As before, everyone laughed their head off. Then they showed the other animatics and recommended one. I don’t remember which. Borax thanked them and all seemed well. Apparently, the Borax people huddled later and decided the agency was clearly out of their mind to recommend a totally predictable, seen-it-a-thousand-times spot, when the “silly little joke” was so obviously a vastly superior piece of advertising. A couple months later, Borax premiered their famous comedy campaign from another agency: a very funny spot with a shark circling a box of Borax floating in an inner tube in the ocean.