In an episode from the second season of the Canadian television hit show Slings & Arrows, Sanjay Ramey (the chief of fictional advertising agency Frog Hammer) tells a prospective client, Richard, the following:
People are tired of ads in all their forms. They don't believe anything we say, and it doesn't work. We at Frog Hammer ask ourselves very simple things: Is it wondrous? Does it move you? Is it culturally authentic? We believe that people are sick of being lied to. If you use truth, you can sell people anything. If you want them to react, to feel or buy, tell them the truth! The truth is the new lie!
What makes Sanjay's sales pitch so ironic is that it's the truth.
Richard is the business manager of the financially troubled New Burbage Theater Festival, and he has a real business problem: His customers are old and dying and he needs to reach out to a younger audience before his business goes bust. Inspiring and enigmatic, Sanjay convinces Richard to turn his back on convention and mount a brutally honest rebranding effort.
Listening to Sanjay, Richard comes to the realization that consumers no longer buy hype and are bored stiff by features and benefits. Honesty, authenticity, relevance, and emotional appeal are the ways to attract the modern consumer.
He allows his new agency, Frog Hammer, to replace the expected highbrow Shakespearian sales pitch with a multi-media advertising campaign that tells it like it really is: "Macbeth was an ass." The result? A youthquake: The season quickly sells out to young audiences and Canada's power- and influence-wielding Minister of Culture, who reluctantly financed Frog Hammer's rebranding of the theater, had to sneak in because she couldn't get a ticket.
When did "telling the truth" become the right thing to do?
A few years ago, Seth Godin wrote a book titled All Marketers Are Liars. His point? Marketers are storytellers, and over the years their stories have become unbelievable, very predictable, and no longer relevant.
How many times have you heard the vapid pitches "we care about you," "personal service," "ours is better," "lowest prices," or "100% guaranteed?" How many times have marketers claimed that their brand is "sportier," "sexier," "pure," "natural," "great tasting," or "good for you?"
In the old days, marketers could use hype and exaggeration to get noticed and people would simply accept it. Not anymore. Today, if you want consumers to pay attention, you had better be truthful. And if you want them to fondly remember your brand, you'd better be emotional.
Brands That "Get It"
Just about everyone has seen the Las Vegas tourism campaign, in one form or another. It's very easy for anyone who's spent a few days in Sin City to recognize how smartly truthful this concept is and nod with a wry, knowing smile after seeing it.
It's remarkable that even an 11-year-old who has never been to Las Vegas can also "get it." At a birthday party not long ago, a few boys (my son included) made some harmless, but extreme mischief. The parent in charge offered them a deal: If they cleaned up the house, she wouldn't tell their parents. Their response? "You mean like what goes on in Vegas stays in Vegas?"
About a month ago, Starbucks ran a full page brand ad in the New York Times showing two interlocking coffee rings, with the word "hi" written in the place where the rings intersected. The headline read "Reconnect."
