[Organ music swelling] Last time on Sage of Persuasion:

Trivia: One artist who has capitalized off tying his music to particular brands is the artist Moby. Apparently, creativity runs in his family. Which famous author is he related to?

Answer: Herman Melville, author of Moby Dick

A Sense of Persuasion

We’d all like to think we don’t let our senses or emotions lead us into purchasing decisions, but we’d be fooling ourselves if we thought we made cold, calculated decisions 100 per cent of the time. Our senses contribute largely to the decisions we make on a daily basis. Think about it – ever gone grocery shopping when you’re hungry? Has a smell ever transported you back to a particular time and place? And these sensory experiences don’t just contribute to a particular purchase decision. They can solidify our lifelong relationship with a particular brand of shoe or soda. As O’Reilly sums it up “brands aren’t about what you know; they’re about what you feel.” A successful brand forges a relationship with a person and assails all their senses – akin to a romantic “wooing”, complete with chocolates, flowers, and walks in the park. One such example of a full-on sensory branding was Singapore Airlines. They chose not to compete on USP, but on an experience and creating a serene feeling, carefully constructed with attention to details from infusing a special fragrance into stewardesses’ uniforms and hot towels, to the carefully scripted captain’s announcements.

From the sublime to the ridiculous, the sensory experiences continue with sound tests for the “SNAP, CRACKLE, POP-ability” of Rice Krispies in a Danish laboratory, to coating the underside of seats in new Rolls Royce with a fragrance more in keeping with the older models, to Mercedes Benz devoting an entire department to the sound the door makes when it closes, it seems that marketers will stop at nothing to ensure we are persuaded on every level of our being.

And as much as I ridicule some of these things, I can’t say I’m immune. For example, try to convince me that Coke tastes the same in a can as it does in a bottle and I’ll disagree with you til the cows come home. This particular emotional attachment has lead to many a disagreement in the grocery store aisles. No Adam, it’s not about the cost of the Coke – it’s about the experience. And Terry O’ Reilly agrees with me.

The Face of Persuasion

My eyes opened even wider than usual with a glimpse of the words “Nova Scotia” on page 208. It turns out that the Fuller Brush Man – Alfred C. Fuller – the millionaire of song and legend, was born in our charming province. Fuller inherently knew what many suspected – to have a successful business, you must invest in people. He felt good salespeople were the best advertising money could buy. He was obviously on to something there; his small company grew to reap 1 million per year in 1919 and went on to make $109 million in 1960. Our province could use a few more like him these days.

As a Masters Tournament begins that even non-golfers will be glued to, O’Reilly drops a bombshell. Apparently, there was a time when it was not the norm for celebrities to hawk wares or to tie their personal brand with a particular product. In this day and age, where the face and/or behind of the newest teen sensation graces every advertisement in magazines and television, it’s a very difficult fact to swallow. Even more difficult to swallow than the fact that Tiger slept with that homely Jamie Grubbs. Obviously, tying your brand to a celebrity can have disastrous consequences. To which O’Reilly discusses the consequences of going with a cartoon icon (i.e., they can’t cheat on their spouses with tattooed creatures). He also examines some disastrous “reinventions” of dead celebrities, including some hilarious examples like Colonel Saunders and Orville Redenbacher (or Deadenbacher as he came to be known).

The Long and The Short of It

Taking budgetary considerations out of the equation, when deciding to advertise, brands need to make the determination as to whether brevity or length are going to persuade their audience. In the case of the Master Lock Company of Milwaukee, they went with the former. In the case of the U.S. School of Music, they opted for the latter.

O’Reilly harkens back to a time when storytelling, be it in brief but powerful headlines and visuals, or lengthy scripts a la Ogilvy ruled the day. Ads that were very effective both from a persuasion perspective and from a historically relevant perspective include Lemon, Avis, and Rolls Royce. Unfortunately, O’Reilly concludes, the art of storytelling in advertising is going the way of the dodo bird. He references some compelling television ads, one which I was familiar with and one I was not – Fly Fishing by J.R. Hartley and the Canadian equivalent of this ad – Canadian Tire’s “Bicycle”.

While storytelling in the classical sense may be going by the wayside, there has been an upsurge in the trend of “behind the scenes” storytelling. “The Making Of”, camera A and camera B on television shoots, DVD extras, can be major selling points. I’ve had my own experience with this in attending live satellite shows at Park Lane for the Metropolitan Opera, wherein between the acts, they break down the “4th wall” and actually show the behind the scenes action of the set changes and talk to the cast members. Admittedly, it took me a little while to get used to this, but now that I am, I feel it adds another level to the performances and the MET brand.

The Wall of Cynicism

O’Reilly closes his book with historical examples of con men, advertising gone awry and a sober second thought. The bad press and slang terms often associated with the advertising industry (i.e., hucksters) did not appear out of thin air. They originated with the snake oil salesman and have been continued by purveyors of shady products that promise everything and deliver next to nothing. As the old adage goes “nothing makes a bad product fail faster than a great ad”. It’s a rallying cry for those in the industry to remember that at the core of it all, we must have an inherent set of values that we adhere to, not only to achieve our end goals, but to persuade people we’re not all bad. In summary, we must, “Do this or Die”.

A Cape Breton gal born and bred, Erin traded in the tar ponds of Sydney for the windswept marshes of Sackville, N.B. where she received her Bachelor of Commerce, Major in Marketing from Mount Allison University. In addition to her formal education, Erin enrolled in the school of life and has travelled overseas extensively, living in both Scotland and The Netherlands. With respect to her work at trampoline, as the old adage goes, "if Erin doesn't know, it ain't worth knowing." In her spare time, Erin owns and operates Step Lively School of Dance, and waits for Adam to propose.