Texas

I just got back from Texas.

I flew there to do an agency pitch for a potential new client. The flights got delayed, and I knew I would be at least 30 minutes late getting to the client's office (and there were around a dozen people waiting for me). Not a very good way to start a new business pitch.

There is something I instantly liked about Texas. You can go blasting down the highway at 85 miles per hour and nobody gives a damn. In fact, there were cars passing me!
The other thing I noticed were the flags. Texas flags, Texas State flags. Lots of them.
In the 50 miles I drove, I must have seen six or seven Texas flags, I didn't see one Stars and Stripes.
I'm from Pennsylvania, and if anyone asked me what our state flag looks like, I wouldn't have a clue...but we have the Stars and Stripes flying all over the place.
I think we may want to keep an eye on Texas.

Back to the pitch.
So I show up 30 minutes late, walk into a room with a dozen busy professionals and they were the nicest, warmest bunch of people you could imagine.
I remember several years ago, we were pitching a big account and it was down to us and two other agencies. One of the other agencies, got lost on the way to the pitch and the client cut them out. They said that it demonstrated poor planning. We won that pitch, but they were not a nice client to work for.

We had a great presentation with lots of back and forth interaction. Good questions. The prospective client is a hard core direct marketer that sees the value of brand integration. They asked the same question that every direct marketer asks me, "How do we integrate Brand into our Direct without lowering response?"

I have the answer. I've been working on it for years. But let me start by telling you what it's not.
It's not "using the brand colors" or "adding more pictures". It's not "keeping 1/2 inch of white space
around the logo" or "putting all copy in one type face." That's what the Brand Police do, and what the Brand Police want you to do will not fuse brand and direct together to give you the sales you need to grow your business or the loyalty and advocacy of your customers that will continue to grow your business organically.

Jon

A Story

I'm going to tell you a story.

Back 25 years ago, when I started my agency, I was schlepping my portfolio around trying to get some work.
I got a meeting with a guy named Shell Alpert, who at the time was a very famous copywriter.
I went into his office where he was sitting at a typewriter with a cigarette dangling from his lips and an ashtray that had an 8 inch pile of cigarette butts in it.
I sat down in front of his desk and he looked up at me and said, "Kid, do you know who I am?" "No sir", I said. He picked up a magazine and tossed it across the desk to me. "That's me", he said. On the cover of the magazine was Shell's picture with a six page article inside.
I look up in awe and said, "Mr. Alpert, how do I get to be as famous as you?"
"Do you really want to know the secret", he asked? I nodded and said, "Yes sir, I do."
He leaned forward and looked me right in the eyes and said, "Just stick around, if you're still here in five years, you'll be as famous as me."

Of course, he never told me how hard it is to stick around! But it was good advice, and anytime things got tough I remembered his advice and stuck around.

Jon