Fun Sells
I’ve been saying this since the beginning, “If you take yourself less seriously, people will take you more seriously.”
I don’t see that approach much today. The caution flag is out, Emerson Fittipaldi.
In the early days of the agency, we handled A.O. White Clothiers, an upscale menswear store in Springfield. The shop was intimidating to the next generation. It was considered your dad’s store. So we developed a targeted direct mail campaign to run over three months to younger customers and prospects.
The retail economy was in the ditch at the time. Sales at the store were soft. We took a playful approach and set up a photoshoot at The Fort in Springfield, where the A.O. crew battled over who was the most popular salesman. We invited people to come in and vote. Strong turnout.
The next photo shoot was at the White Hut, West Springfield’s famous burger stand. The deal offered a voucher for a free lunch at the Hut for everyone who came to the A.O. White store. Real good traffic builder.
The last one was a photoshoot in the store just before the Christmas season kicked in. It featured the sales crew done up as Santa’s helpers. Sales went up for the fall season 15-20%. Macho Camacho! All we did, Slip Mahoney, was loosen the tie and dust off the image.
Fun sells, baby. But here’s one where dumbbells took things too seriously. J. Crew was having some fun selling quirky T-shirts from goofball locations. They did one for Chicopee Falls promoting it as a tourist destination. The buzz really got going when Dr. O’Malley on Grey’s Anatomy was spotted wearing one on the show.
Instead of being good sports and rolling with the joke, the kielbasa capital of the world went flipnutty and wanted J Crew to pull it. What the Christ. They could have worked a deal with J. Crew, sold a ton of them and donated the dollars to a good Chicopee cause. Dunce cap to them. But hey, nice whale on the shirt.
Gainer turned me on to this ad, a good example of taking the fun sells approach today: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MYfw4Ip7C0s
Keep your dukes up.