The 2 DTC Hall
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Marketing ON THE EDGE The 2012 BY JONATHAN ISAACS Too Much Head. Not Enough Hips. DTC Hall of Fame With so much competition within the industry, how do you stand out to clients? Or – in looking at the larger picture – to patients? It’s all in how you tell the story. To paraphrase Maya Angelou, people may forget what you said, but they will remember you made them feel. It’s Time to Celebrate the Stars of the Industry… henever I try to explain the power of storytell- Now I’m not saying we shouldn’t be the most knowl- ing, I use a jaw-droppingly profane and surprising edgeable, articulate people we can be. We should. Or that W 2005 documentary called The Aristocrats. It features deep, elegant insights and business strategies aren’t pivotal. Of many famous comedians and actors discussing, deconstruct- course they are. But it’s not enough to be effective. We have ing and telling their versions of a very old, very transgressive to be sexy. We have to be pervasively creative. All of the dirty joke that goes something like this: A family act goes to time. In everything we do. see a talent agent. The agent asks what they do. The family As Eric Clapton, the legendary healthcare marketer and performs the act (and here, the joke teller is amateur guitarist, once said, “It’s in the way supposed to ad lib the most shocking acts of that you use it.” So in my opinion, you will debauchery they can imagine). The awed have more influence over a situation by agent asks the family what the act is called, being the most interesting than by being the and the punch line is delivered with gusto: smartest. Because what people believe comes “The Aristocrats!” down to who they want to believe, who Everyone gets the same basic elements they love. And everybody loves a storyteller. and structure. The brilliance comes from It’s not an “advertising” thing, it’s a what people do with it after that. Actor “human being” thing. Deborah Dick-Rath Stu Klein Don Lowy Sheri Stump Kevin Pollak tells the joke while doing Why, just last week I was on jury duty. CEO & Founder Healthcare Practice Lead President & Founder Senior Marketing Director an impersonation of Christopher Walken. The prosecution and defense were like Epic Proportions LLC Interpublic Donald Lowy Consulting Pediatric ADHD, Behavioral Bob Saget subverts his “America’s Funniest competing agencies. They had the same Health Business Unit Home Videos” good guy persona by making the joke into facts. The same opportunity. My jury was the de facto client. Shire an outrageous, taboo-busting rant. There’s footage of Gil- Two were texting. One was playing Angry Birds in Space. bert Gottfried telling an obscenity-riddled version at a Friars’ One was snoring so loudly I offered her Breathe Right strips Club roast soon after 9/11 that suddenly becomes a moment on our break. The other eight were paying attention. of catharsis for the entire audience. Sarah Silverman pretty The prosecutor was very competent. He concisely laid out much steals the movie when she turns the joke into a creepy the evidence, called credible expert witnesses and connected “autobiographical” confession that somehow ends with her dots in a professional, workmanlike manner. The defense in a compromised sexual situation with 80-year old TV and attorney called no witnesses. He didn’t dispute any facts. He radio host Joe Franklin. just took those facts and spun them into an entertaining, self- If you haven’t guessed it already, in advertising (especially deprecating story involving his Labradoodle, Mr. Peepers, healthcare advertising because it’s more insular), we are all that had a different ending. An ending where the defendant pretty much telling the same joke. We work with the same didn’t do it. Guess who won? DTC Perspectives Is Proud To Congratulate companies, clients and brands. We wave to each other in It is not a client’s job to recognize brilliance in an idea just lobbies and airports on our way to the same pitches. We fire because we see it. Or intuitively know how we could be a up the same PowerPoint presentations (or if we’re feeling These Outstanding Individuals! one-of-a-kind partner. No, once we take the stage, it is our especially sassy, Keynote!). We reference much of the same job to take all of our smarts and weave a story that inspires, research and insights. We recite the same facts. charms, and seduces them into a higher sense of enlighten- For additional coverage and photos of the Don’t kid yourself, one way or another, every day we ment. Otherwise, in the end, the joke is always on us. stand up in front of our clients and perform “The Aristo- September 13th induction ceremony please visit crats.” So you would think, much like Louie C.K. or Kevin Hart we would emphasize our sense of showmanship. Lov- Jonathan Isaacs is Chief Creative Officer of Ogilvy Healthworld, NY, www.dtcperspectives.com under the Awards tab. ingly burnish our deliveries. Make our time together unpre- part of Ogilvy CommonHealth Worldwide. Drawing from his posi- dictable and entertaining. Instead, far too often in healthcare, tion as a marketing authority, he identifies the latest advertising and we just shove all of our book learnin’ in a sock and bludgeon creative trends, and shares his astute views. He can be reached by email our clients into unconsciousness. at [email protected] or telephone at (212) 237-4713. Hall of Fame 44 | DTC Perspectives • Fall 2012.