GET STICKY

Last weekend, my wife and I spent a lot of time talking about advertising. We were preparing a presentation for a group of speaking professionals and internet marketers. In the process, we spent time debating stickiness.

Something “sticky” is any component of an advertisement that sticks in people’s brains and won’t let go.

One of the stickiest ideas of our time is undoubtedly…

“WHERE’S THE BEEF?”

It entered the national lexicon.

It became a catch phrase for anyone, including politicians—not to mention that it sold enormous numbers of hamburgers.

It might even have saved Wendy’s at a time when the company made mistakes that compromised profitability.

Another high-profile example of sticky…

“YOU GOT YOUR CHOCOLATE ON MY PEANUT BUTTER.”

My wife once worked with the guy who wrote that line for Reese’s.

Apparently, it was nobody’s first choice. They had dozens of other concepts they liked better and thought were smarter.

But everyone on both the agency side and the client side kept coming back to “You got your chocolate on my peanut butter.”

Know what?

You can’t argue with something that sticks. Instead of over-intellectualizing it, they ran with it. They recognized it for what it was.

So, sticky is good.

It doesn’t take the place of a smart and relevant sales message. But sticky definitely make it easier for a sales message to penetrate.

There are two huge mistakes we see with regard to stickiness.

ONE: PEOPLE AREN’T WILLING TO BE STICKY

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve written sticky concepts that were rejected out of fear.

For example…

I once wrote a commercial for a custom brassiere shop.

The directive was to target men. That was how the owner got women into her business: by telling the men their women needed her.

Here’s the opening of the commercial…

Hey. Is your wife home?

No?

Good.

Do this, right now.

Go to her dresser. Take out a bra. Try it on….

Whadda ya think?

Doesn’t fit real well, does it?

It’s not comfortable, it’s not flattering, it’s not something you’d wear in public.

Well, guess what: your wife doesn’t like it either. Most women have never been correctly fitted for a bra. So here’s where you win big points…

DOES ANYTHING STICK QUITE LIKE THE IMAGE OF THIS GUY TRYING ON HIS WIFE’S BRA?

And it all played directly into the message the client wanted to send: your wife needs a better bra. Get her in here.

That vision is so sticky that my wife, one of my harshest critics, has never been able to shake that commercial from her mind—and it’s over five years old.

Yet the commercial never went to air. Fear prevented it from happening.

Conversely, one of the stickiest messages we’ve ever created was almost prevented from airing because of the account rep. It mortified him.

Marvin is not a clever man.

He doesn’t have a terrific sense of humor.

You don’t want him at your next cocktail party.

In fact, you don’t ever want to see Marvin at all.

When you see Marvin, it means one thing: transmission repair.

Marvin is the original transmission geek.

He doesn’t tell good jokes, he doesn’t have much imagination.

In fact, look at the name of his company: The Trans Shop.

How creative is that? But then again, how creative does

he need to be? There is nothing creative about a

transmission. It is a cold, ugly piece of machinery.

You don’t want some guy who says, “Hey, let’s see

if we can fit this over there!”

And so on.

This commercial was insanely sticky. People talked about it. It generated tons of new business.

But upon first hearing it, it mortified the account rep. He was certain he was going to lose the account. Fortunately, his boss didn’t agree with him—and when he finally presented it, neither did the client.

Sure, AAMCO is sticky. They’re the 900-pound gorilla of transmission. Double A, BEEP BEEP, M-C-O.

All the more reason Marvin, as the dinky little chimpanzee of transmission repair, needs to be sticky. He is not top of mind. And since he wasn’t afraid to be sticky (and different and disarming and self-deprecating), he got dozens of new customers each month he was on.

BUT IT DOESN’T SOUND LIKE A COMMERCIAL!

Yes, there are advertisers who are afraid of this.

For them, there are words like, “After 17 years in business, our family-owned transmission repair shop with its fully trained professional staff is honest and trustworthy and we want a chance to prove it to you. Call us for all your transmission repair needs. We’re conveniently located at…”

<!– /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-parent:”"; margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:”Times New Roman”; mso-fareast-font-family:”Times New Roman”;} @page Section1 {size:8.5in 11.0in; margin:1.0in 1.25in 1.0in 1.25in; mso-header-margin:.5in; mso-footer-margin:.5in; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} –>

OH, YEAH. THAT’S INSPIRING.

In an economy like this, can we really afford to let clients say things like “for all your FILL IN THE BLANK needs?”

How about, “For all your wasted ad budget needs.”

Now more than ever, our clients need to be aggressive and need to stick.

Ah, but how to be sticky?

Don’t use mealy mouthed, mewling ad speak phrases that don’t surprise anyone.

Be surprising.

Say things nobody expects.

Another way: be concrete.

GUY IN BRASIERRE: CONCRETE IMAGE

It’s solid and memorable.

So is a Chihuahua.

But as evidenced by Taco Bell sales during the time of the Chihuahua, it’s the wrong kind of concrete. It was an anti-sell. “Brain says food for small dogs with Mexican accents.”

Unfortunate association.

But, The Gecko is enormously concrete.

And it plays right back to the company’s name.

(We don’t even need to say the company’s name, do we?)

A GUIDE TO BEING STICKY

There’s an excellent little book by Chip & Dan Heath called, Made To Stick.

And, in a vivid example of the publisher following the book’s advice on concrete images, there’s a big piece of duct tape across the cover.

A compendium of stickiness, the brothers heath explain all kinds of ways that individuals and companies make ideas stick.

Hint: nobody uses the phrase, “For all your FILL IN THE BLANK needs.”

Highly recommended.

And I’ll stick to that.

As Always,

Blaine Parker

Your Short, Fat Creative Director in

Park City