CHANGE IS A FOOT AFOOT

Next Sunday is Independence Day. 

And in honor of the theme of independence on a tiny scale (certainly nothing as grand as celebrating the American Experiment in the age of pandemic living), I’m changing the complexion of Hot Shots. 

This weird little effort has been dedicated to advertising in one way or another since it began about 15 years ago. 

It's possible that you've been along for the entire ride. Many have, and it's humbling.

Much of the writing has been focused upon opining on advertising. 

Maybe it’s time for a change.

Hot Shots is morphing into something new. 

Stand by for the newest and latest evolution of Your Weekly Screeder, coming soon…
Cheers,

Blaine Parker
Your Lean, Mean Creative Director in Park City
 
LIGHTNING BRANDING ON AMAZON
The Kindle edition of our new book is now available at Amazon for the bargain price of $19.95.
 
For details about our new Lightning Branding courses, both do-it-yourself and we-do-it-with-you editions, click here. (There's even a video of us!)

Persuasion, Not Politics

On the face of it, this might seem like a political rant. It’s not.

It’s a rant about persuasion.

Right now, The Fabulous Honey Parker and I are in rural New Hampshire.

Each morning, we take a walk along a country road.

During that walk, we pass a mailbox.

On the mailbox is a bumper sticker.

The bumper sticker says, “STOP VOTING DEMOCRAT!”

It could easily say “STOP VOTING REPUBLICAN!” That part doesn’t matter.

If advertising is entering into a conversation the customer is already having, here’s the conversation around that bumper sticker:

“STOP DOING THAT!”

“NO!”

The End.

Doggie commands are not persuasion.


Sit! Speak! Roll over! Stop that! Buy this!

Yelling commands at a total stranger is not making a persuasive case.

It’s just repellent and self-defeating.

Thinking they're being persuasive, somebody is just shutting down the conversation before it begins.

A more persuasive way to make the case is to draw the prospect into a dialogue.

Have respect. Start a conversation. Ask a leading question.


“HEY, DEMOPUBLICAN VOTER: HOW DO YOU KNOW YOU’RE NOT MAKING A TRAGIC MISTAKE?”

Granted, a lot of prospects will say, “Because…” and justify it.

But because it’s a leading question, there’s a higher likelihood of drawing someone into a conversation.

Then, with a conversation, there’s the opportunity to make a case by providing new information and some key facts.

Whether politics or commerce, standing on a corner and yelling a command is a no-win situation.

Being respectful, creating doubt about one's choice, and offering a better alternative goes much further in an effort to persuade.  

And it’s less likely to explode before the conversation begins. 

Of course, that doesn't all fit on a bumper sticker.
Cheers,

Blaine Parker
Your Lean, Mean Creative Director in Park City
 
LIGHTNING BRANDING ON AMAZON
The Kindle edition of our new book is now available at Amazon for the bargain price of $19.95.
 
For details about our new Lightning Branding courses, both do-it-yourself and we-do-it-with-you editions, click here. (There's even a video of us!)

Marketing Word Of The Word Of The Month Is: “Barcalounger”

Why?

I have no idea. It happened spontaneously.

Perhaps I was subconsciously craving delightfully ridiculous phonemes.

And, of course, this begs the question: What the heck is a phoneme?

Phonemes are clearly distinct units of sound that give a word its character.

So, bonus Marketing Word Of The Month is “Phoneme.”


Two words for the price of one. I am nothing if not a giver.

Anyway, by the standard of the Ridiculous Phoneme Test, “Barcalounger” is a clear candidate for MWM.

The hard “K” sound.

The “lounge” component, which makes you wrap all of your articulators around it with a big, round sound.

Say it aloud and proud: BARK-A-LOWN-JUR. All those components!

It has presence and power while maintaining a degree of ridiculousness.


Yes, presence and power--much like the designer himself, Edward J. Barcalo.

The man was a force in business.

He founded the company that is his namesake in 1896.

In 1916, he became president of the Associated Manufacturers of New York.

He registered various patents that demonstrate his capacity for presence and power and ridiculousness.

His patent for a bed spring brings with it a certain significant and business-like yawnability.


Meanwhile, there’s also Mr. Barcalo’s patent for canned synthetic snow.

Three words that have probably never been assembled thusly before or since, “canned synthetic snow” offers the kind of industrious ridiculousness one might hope to see in a man whose heritage product is a lounge chair with a funny phoneme-filled name.

“Barcalounger.”

It’s a word that became comedy gold for generations of writers, comedians, directors, and other people whose job it is to elicit any reaction on a laughter response spectrum from giggle to guffaw.


But the ones laughing all the way to the Barca bank must be Ed’s heirs.

One hopes they continue to reap the profits of their elder’s insight regarding the American penchant for supine seating.

Say it again. BARK-A-LOWN-JUR!

The mechanics of its pronunciation are epic.

It ranks up there with “Saskatchewan,” “septuagenarian” and “saddle soap” for its unique musicality, yet stands apart for its utter lack of an “S” and bringing the “kuh” and the “juh.”


And sure, this also seems uniquely and fabulously American.

But did you know that long before Barcalounging entered the American consciousness, the French were already on the scene?

Let’s lounge all the way back to 1850. This is half a century before Edward even considered the business of being a lounging Barcalo.

Some industrious French designer person gave the world a steel-framed folding camp device that could be used as a chair, a bed and a chaise longue. (That is not a typo. L-O-N-G-U-E. “Longue” is a French word pronounced “long” and meaning, surprisingly, “long.”)

One can only hope that the French camping recliner comes with convenient holders for both the long-stemmed camping wine glass and the compartmentalized camping snail plate.


That said, it seems that Americans brought the reclining chair into its own.

Two cousins named Knabush and Shoemaker received the first patent on a reclining chair that was the nascent La-Z-Boy.

Another forceful gent, Daniel F. Caldemeyer, patented his own chair. It was based on his knowledge of the science of kinetics acquired while serving in the United States Air Force.

Mr. Caldemeyer eventually evolved his product into astronomically high-priced chairs for the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo space programs.


SIDEBAR: The naming of the various rocket programs after Greek gods makes one speculate.

Is there any Greek deism at work in the science of lounging kinetics?

And could Barcalounging have been an ancient Olympic sport?

So many questions, but I digress...


There’s even a Caldemeyer chair bearing the presidential seal in the Smithsonian.

Lounging (or longuing, as the French might say) make one long for a simpler, more reclined time.

And in these contemporary days of conflict and friction, all these long chairs and ridiculousness beg the question, can’t we all just get a chaise longue?

Your Marketing Word Word For The Month: Barcalounger...

But, if a French person had invented it, would it be a Barcalongue?

Barcalong, would you, mon cheri?
Cheers,

Blaine Parker
Your Lean, Mean Creative Director in Park City

LIGHTNING BRANDING ON AMAZON
The Kindle edition of our new book is now available at Amazon for the bargain price of $19.95.
 
For details about our new Lightning Branding courses, both do-it-yourself and we-do-it-with-you editions, click here. (There's even a video of us!)