Sponsor (Oct-Dec 1964)

COMMERCIAl. CRITIQUE Poor old dumb oonsumer By Judson H. Irish Vice President Creative Director Foote Cone & Beldins, New York ■ I was mulling over the current clutch of commercials, ours and everybody else's. Is this fun? Nope. Now and then, sure, you see one you think is first class. But how often. Why so seldom? What goes wrong? My old friend Gabe Ondeck says the perfect commercial is "original and different — but tried and true." Easy to say, Gabe. But awfully hard to do. Why? You start with a question like that, you can wind up anywhere. I was saying to myself, "Is a television watcher a woman one minute and a consumer the next? Is a commercial going to change her from one to the other?" What about a copywriter — is he a consumer? Does he stop being a consumer when he faces the typewriter? What does he turn into? Cecil B. DeMille? A mind-reader exploring the copy chief's mind? A computer trying to predict a score? (All of them?) Is an account executive a man, then? Is he ever a consumer? Does he stop being a man when he becomes a consumer? Does he stop being a consumer when he thinks of the client? Is an agency president a consumer? Is he a human being? Does he love and hate, get hungry, have pimples? Does a television producer ever buy shoes or nose drops? Does a client ever go to the supermarket, the drugstore? What does he do there? Does he buy anything — or just look around? If he buys things, doesn't this make him a consumer? Is he a better client because he's a consumer? A worse one if he isn't? Where does all this get us? Down to fundamentals. I hope. Somewhere inside every consumer is a man or a woman — even inside us advertising types. Or put it another way: inside each of us advertising practitioners is both a consumer and a man or a woman. (Old Sigmund would say both.) Reassuring notion, that, if you stop to think of it. It means if we can only still the babel of all those other voices buzzing round in our heads — the showman (the showoff), the apple polisher, the prevaricator, the coward, the self-seeker, the advertising "expert," the obstructionist, the wisecracker, and all the other undesirable characters we see in our mirror — and listen to the clear, honest voice of the consumer in us, who is also, by the way. a living, breathing, feeling man or woman, our communication will vastly improve. Our commercials will vastly improve. Lots of guys have gone to a lot of trouble to find out what the consumer thinks about your product, before and after she watches your commercial. Kind of fun to see what they say (especially if it's good) Kind of exciting to wait for the score, figure what it'll be. Kind of exhilarating to hit a new high. Pretty darn depressing to drop through the floor! No excuse, though, cither way. to abdicate your own prerogatives as a consumer, whoever you are — creative person, account man, client, anybody. No excuse for letting your own powers of judgment, appraisal, selection and rejection dry up and wither away from lack of use. Judson Irish, who has been an executive at seven of America's top 50 advertising agencies, now is a vice president of Foote, Cone & Beldlng. He is also creative director of the New York office, in charge of copy, art and television production as well as chairman of the creative committee at that agency. Prior to his arrival at FC&B in 1961, Irish was senior V'ce president and creative director at Donahue & Coe. He has also been senior vice president and copy chief at Ogiivy, Benson & Mather, copy supervisor at Compton and an executive with Doherty, Clifford, Steers & Shenfjeld, Kenyon & Eckhardt and Benton & Bowles. I say listen to that voice ■ — that utterly dependable, can't-be-fooled, it's-my-money-and-I-want-full-valuefor it consumer's voice that commands, irresistibly, "buy!" or "don't buy." Encourage it. develop it, rely on it. Use it all the time. Listen to it every time you writQ a commercial, board a commercial, produce a comrriercial, screen a commercial. Certainly it's tough to admit, even for a mmute, that you're just a plain old human being, just a common ordinary consumer — isn't it — when you'd so much rather be a master of selling psychology, a brilliant marketing tactician and all that jazz. Well, if being a poor old dumb consumer will help me be smart enough to create a commercial that other poor old dumb consumers will watch, and react to, and buy from, I'll gladly settle for that. Won't you? ♦ October 12, 1964 61