The Corporate Pitch
July 2005 By Denny Hatch
|
Who Speaks for Your Company?
The new General Motors strategy of offering employee pricing on all new models resulted in a 47-percent sales increase in June. Ford promptly followed suit.
Chrysler went them both one better by not only offering employee discounts but bringing back Lee Iacocca--the man who saved the company in 1982 and became its spokesman--to do the TV commercials, complete with the line he made famous, "If you can find a better car, buy it."
In 1955 Ogilvy & Mather dreamed up the idea of using the CEO of Schweppes USA, the elegant, bearded Commander Edward Whitehead, as the centerpiece of the advertising campaign that proclaimed the glories of "Schweppervescence!"
In persuading the commander to take on the added duties of pitchman, legendary huckster David Ogilvy told him, "People are more interested in individual personalities than in corporations."
However with the exception of Commander Whitehead, Ogilvy was fiercely opposed to using the CEO as the public face of the corporation and even put his objections into verse:
The Pioneer: Frank Perdue
Frank Perdue was the first of the CEO media celebs who went on television hawking their wares.
Humor is dangerous in advertising. But when Frank Perdue looked directly at you and said, "It takes a tough man to make a tender chicken," the viewer had to smile and feel good about this homely man who was truly believable.
Perdue was never comfortable in front of the camera. In a 2003 interview with Julie Sloane of Fortune he said, "Filming those ads never got easier for me. I never liked to do them, but they worked--after two years of radio advertising, our sales went from $50 million to $80 million. After one year of the TV commercials, 51% of New Yorkers recognized the Perdue label. I ultimately did 156 different ads in all."
The new General Motors strategy of offering employee pricing on all new models resulted in a 47-percent sales increase in June. Ford promptly followed suit.
Chrysler went them both one better by not only offering employee discounts but bringing back Lee Iacocca--the man who saved the company in 1982 and became its spokesman--to do the TV commercials, complete with the line he made famous, "If you can find a better car, buy it."
In 1955 Ogilvy & Mather dreamed up the idea of using the CEO of Schweppes USA, the elegant, bearded Commander Edward Whitehead, as the centerpiece of the advertising campaign that proclaimed the glories of "Schweppervescence!"
In persuading the commander to take on the added duties of pitchman, legendary huckster David Ogilvy told him, "People are more interested in individual personalities than in corporations."
However with the exception of Commander Whitehead, Ogilvy was fiercely opposed to using the CEO as the public face of the corporation and even put his objections into verse:
If the client moans and sighs,
Show his logo twice the size.
If he still should prove refractory,
Show the picture of his factory.
But only in the direst case
Should you show the bastard's face!
The Pioneer: Frank Perdue
In the 1970s, Mr. Perdue started the ad campaigns that would make him famous. He appeared in 200 different ads from 1971 to 1994.
It helped that he looked like a chicken. And Ross Perot. And Edward I. Koch, the mayor of New York. His bald head, droopy-eyed expression and prominent nose made people smile and feel comfortable with him. They tended to trust him more than they did slick-looking announcers.
It helped, too, that he had a nasal twang that contrasted with the unctuous tones of the usual pitchmen.
--Melanie Warner
Frank Perdue obituary
The New York Times, April 2, 2005
Frank Perdue was the first of the CEO media celebs who went on television hawking their wares.
Humor is dangerous in advertising. But when Frank Perdue looked directly at you and said, "It takes a tough man to make a tender chicken," the viewer had to smile and feel good about this homely man who was truly believable.
Perdue was never comfortable in front of the camera. In a 2003 interview with Julie Sloane of Fortune he said, "Filming those ads never got easier for me. I never liked to do them, but they worked--after two years of radio advertising, our sales went from $50 million to $80 million. After one year of the TV commercials, 51% of New Yorkers recognized the Perdue label. I ultimately did 156 different ads in all."
Companies Mentioned:
 |
|
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
