Hexagram 8 changing to Hexagram 2

[anita]

As someone's who's been a copywriter And Creative Director too) for 25 years, I KNOW that advertsising is about improving the lifestyles of people. (If they don't know what is available and where, how will they buy?) And this does need persuasion.
Fortunately in the agency where I've worked most of my career and where I am now again -- Ogilvy & Mather, we have a very strict rule about not taking on dubious clients and products. And in other agencies too, I have never made false promises in my copy.

And I've always worn lipstick. hee hee.

Best for your Quest

Anita

 

[candid]

Anita - Ogilvy & Mather? Wow, I'm impressed! Are you accepting applications for Account Executives? (Now where did I put that power suit?)

And I've NEVER worn lipstick! It would clash with the mustache anyway.

 

[ann]

I had to join in here.

I've been busy setting up a website for my new business (you'll know the feeling Hilary!), which is about teaching business communications (I've worked for ad agencies too!). Tiny fledgling little company that we are, I thought I'd ask for guidance on setting goals for our first year in business.

And I got 2, no changes. An uncompromising 2. Be receptive, be responsive. I felt I was receiving encouragement. On with the lipstick!!

 

[willow]

Candid said: Words are metaphors to express thoughts and feelings. Speaking them does not nullify knowing. Out of the fullness of the heart, the mouth speaketh. Its only when someone must be validated by their words that the emptiness of their heart is revealed. I believe that is the spirit of book of Tao.

One of the striking traits of (what I will now call) "empty-heart" advertising (thanks Candid) is how often the campaign takes as it's theme exactly what is NOT true about the product and hits hard at your confidence that it is not true.

I realized this long ago thinking about the Coke slogan, "It's the REAL thing!" Now there are many things you can say about Coke, but if you're marketing a product that used to contain cocaine, and now doesn't, and you're doing it in the '60s & '70s, that's just a full-on frontal assault on "The Truth." It's more than a lie, it seems calculated enough to aspire to be a Big Lie.

I think any tool can be used for good or ill; sometimes all we can do is let the tool itself reveal the inner qualities of the one who uses it.

 

[hilary]

Hi Ann,

Do I ever know the feeling! (Isn't anyone else interested in that chat?) Hexagram 2 in the context of goal-setting is certainly encouraging, but I think that in particular it's suggesting that the direction should be set by the customers. Aim to be the mare, not the rider.

Back to the stable...

 

[ann]

Hi Hilary

Yes, that's how I read it after some reflection. And oddly enough we are setting things up somewhat differently from how we orginally envisaged things. We are making things as flexible as we can so that we can do what our customers want, rather than us dictating what they should have. It just struck me as particularly funny that I got hex 2 when I had just read this thread.

As you say, back to the stable ...

 

[candid]

?It?s the real thing? was Coke?s slogan during the heat of ?cola wars? and heralded Coke?s return to their original formula, which as you point out, it certainly was not. The book, ?Marketing Warfare? by Jack Trout & Al Reis (of ?Positioning? fame) documents the battles for the mind of cola drinkers in what I think is a fascinating study on marketing. This isn?t entirely relevant to this thread but I thought I?d toss it out anyway, in case anyone?s interested.