Note to CMO: Go Daddy, Apple’s “Think Different,” and the Point of Marketing

by Stephen Denny on February 8, 2010

Quote from Sergio Zyman from his book, The End of Advertising as We Know It: “Apple’s ad agency collected the 1998 Emmy Award for best commercial, the 1998 Silver Clio, and the 1998 Silver Lion at Cannes. The company’s revenues dropped for the next three quarters in a row.”

Quote from Bob Parsons, CEO of Go Daddy, following Super Bowl 44: “We had a tremendous surge in Web traffic, sustained the spike, converted new customers and shot overall sales off the chart.”

Dear CMO:

Ask anyone about Apple’s iconic “Think Different” ad campaign and you will be told that it represents the pinnacle of the medium. If you haven’t seen it – or haven’t seen in a while – go look at it again. It really is beautiful theater.

Ask anyone about Go Daddy’s iconic “Go Daddy Girl” ads from any of the past six Super Bowls and you will be told that they represent, to quote AdWeek, “the lowest of the low.”

Ask any CEO which campaign creative they would rather have walking into a board room and they’d probably say the former. Ask the same CEO which campaign results they’d rather have and they’d all say the latter.

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Note to CMO: Decision Triggers, the Newsletter and Secret Weapons

February 2, 2010

Dear CMO:
I know, I know, I’ve been a bad friend these past few weeks. Lots going on, between the Decision Triggers launch, handling current client work and grinding away at the manuscript. However, I never fully explained the first part, so I thought I’d give you a glimpse into what’s going on.
Dr. Steven Feinberg – [...]

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Note to CMO: Flanker Brands, Sergio Zyman and Unfair Advantages

January 12, 2010

Dear CMO:
“Snapple was a freight train. Everybody was saying in those days colas are dead everybody’s dead and this is the new stuff. We came up with this brand Fruitopia. I remember a reporter asking at a press conference, saying this is a me-too brand. And I said, you bet this is a me-too brand [...]

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Note to CMO: Storytelling, Persuasion and Death by Power Point

December 29, 2009

Dear CMO:
“When you do a Power Point presentation, you hide everything negative behind your statistics and your quotes from authority. You hide all the problems, everything that didn’t work. When you tell a story, the whole gist is to admit the negative side, then dramatize the positive side of how the courageous little company overcame [...]

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Note to CMO: Closure as Competition, from Alexander to Schiphol’s Porcelain Flies

December 21, 2009

Dear CMO:
If Alexander the Great had overseen the development of Schiphol Airport’s urinals, he would have moved the designer forward and to the right.
You see, Alexander had a system that made everything in his army work: life was a competition, and winners were rewarded in the most public way of all – they were given [...]

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