Broadcasting Telecasting (Oct-Dec 1959)

MONDAY MEMO from W. B. GEISSINGER, president, W. B. Geissinger & Co., Los Angeles The 'Big Lie' won't sell goods Adolph Hitler is supposed to have said, "If you tell a big lie often enough, people will believe it." Some years ago a few automobile dealers in Southern California began to act as if they believed what Hitler said. They applied his misconception to business and succeeded so well in the beginning that the philosophy of the "big lie" became mildly epidemic. It was like a stone thrown into a placid pond; the ripples widened rapidly. Deluded by this "quick money" mirage, an ever increasing number of Southern California car dealers commenced to make all kinds of extravagant claims. Some of these claims were utterly fantastic, not only in print but on the air. Super-salesmen thumped car tops, slammed tonneau doors, pounded fenders and beat their breasts until they sounded like Tarzan bellowing from a treetop. Old-line auto agencies, however, all of them ethical car dealers, stayed clear. They remained conservative." Yet they became greatly concerned about this pernicious inclination to indulge in questionable marketing practices. Sooner or later, they felt, everybody would suffer. The legitimate aims of advertising were being perverted and eventually the industry would get a black eye. Green Bay Tree • Paradoxically enough, though, bad advertising suddenly seemed good for business. False as this premise was, and despite the fact that it invited disaster, it seemed to belie the methods of honest motorcar agencies. Business apparently was colossal for the pretenders. Naturally this intensified the temptation to follow suit. Now in a car market as large as Southern California, a deviation such as this could not be overlooked. So something had to be done — something drastic. But what — and when? At that time we had been handling Enoch Chevrolet, a metropolitan car agency, for about a year. Like other advertising agencies serving ethical car dealers, we too wanted an answer to that "what and when" question. In the old newspaper days I had learned on a city desk that the quick way to dispatch an evil is to ridicule it. So we decided to try that approach on this "big lie" technique. Off-Beat Approach • Stan Freberg was then experimenting with off-beat humor for Capitol Records. Since ridicule and humor go hand in hand we thought perhaps he could come up with the right answer for us. At first Stan was reluctant to participate. Off-beat commercials, he feared, might hinder rather than help his purpose. Eventually, however, he saw it our way. And the commercials he worked out were sensational — an instantaneous hit, both in sales power and entertainment value. Using a broad dialect, he kidded unmercifully the raucous and extravagant car claims then prevalent on the air. For contrast, he ended each of W. B. Geissinger is board chairman and president of W. B. Geissinger & Co., Los Angeles. He once was financial editor of now defunct Los Angeles Morning Tribune. A fter World War I service in Navy, he moved to San Francisco as assistant city editor of Bulletin before it merged with Call and Daily News. He left to open his own agency and subsequently sold it to join Sunkist Growers, where he became advertising director. After 14 years there he joined Lord & Thomas as vp in charge of Chicago office. He left L&T to become vp of BBDO and opened its L.A. office, which he headed until he founded his own agency in 1947. our commercials with a strong statement that at Enoch Chevrolet you could get honest merchandise minus phoney claims. Being the first of their kind, these commercials started a trend. I am happy to say Stan Freberg cashed in on them. He now specializes in producing off-beat commercials. But it is hard to stop a snowball that is rolling down hill. The off-beat commercials slowed down the "big lie" but did not end it. However, these sardonic sales messages paved the way for a change we made in marketing methods which has since been widely adopted throughout the Southland. It has had a leavening influence on exaggerated claims in the motorcar trade. Personal Touch • We started it all quite accidentally because we decided to personalize Enoch's commercials. Since the treatment we proposed had no precedent, there was considerable risk involved, for it was not only revolutionary but problematical. But through the cooperation of George Cashman, president of Enoch Chevrolet, adapting the plan was greatly simplified Instead of using professional announcers, who sometimes annoy and irritate listeners and viewers, we put Mr. Cashman himself on the air in informal television sales talks. He discussed the merits of various models of new and used cars in a conversational tone that was more folksy than executive yet it carried the authority invested in him as president of the Chevrolet agency. He did not shout, he did not pound fenders, he simply stated motorcar facts and accented real values. He spoke in plain, straightforward language. Coming from the top executive it definitely carried weight. To say the plan succeeded is an understatement confirmed by the fact that Enoch Chevrolet has risen from 27th to 3rd place among 140 Chevrolet agencies in the nation's largest and most competitive motorcar market. And the wide use of this technique by others makes us feel that perhaps we contributed something constructive to advertising. For despite Hitler's claim, we had proved that a "big lie" won't sell goods no matter how loud you shout it. no matter how loud you shout it BROADCASTING, October 5, 1959 25