Letters to the Editor
COULDN’T BEAT THE HEAT
I had an experience similar to the one Beth Negus Viveiros described in her column (Pushing the Envelope, September).
I stayed at a Holiday Inn in New Jersey this past August during a heat wave. After checking in, I noticed my key card had a bright pink sticker on it stating that if I wasn’t satisfied with anything, I should contact the front desk and the problem would be remedied.
When I got to the room, the air was stale and stuffy. I turned on the air conditioner and before I left to dine at the hotel restaurant I received a call from the manager on duty. She wanted to welcome me to the hotel and said if anything was unsatisfactory I should contact the front desk. I thought that was nice.
After I returned from dinner the room was extremely hot. The cooling system vents were blowing hot air even though the thermostat was set to 68 degrees. I turned it to 50 and there was no change.
I called the front desk, explaining that even at the lowest temperature and the unit set on A/C, the air conditioner wasn’t working properly. I was expecting a resolution which to my mind would’ve been a service call from a repairman or a new room. The response I received was to open the window.
Well, I did that — and in the future I’ll stay at another hotel.
Did I complain or voice my concern? Sure. I called the front desk. The matter should’ve been handled immediately, especially since they went to all that effort to place those nice stickers on the key-card sleeves and made that additional phone call to the room.
Oh well, promises, promises.
Love Beth’s column!
Mary Case
Marketing Communications Manager
Volvo Construction Equipment
Shippensburg, PA
LAZY AGENCIES
Near the end of Tom Collins’ piece on the Breville blender ad (The Makeover Maven, April), he writes: “The illustration is an example of the common (mistaken) idea that first you should shock the reader with a ‘stopper’ of a picture, no matter how unrelated, and then strain to draw a connection to the ad’s basic message.
“But the best illustrated ads use graphics to reinforce the verbal message and dramatize the unique selling proposition or unique brand personality.”
I wonder who made that statement, because this approach to advertising is rampant, especially in the business-to-business world.
I suspect this is because agencies are too lazy to find out about their clients’ products and services, so figure they can use a “shocker” or “borrowed interest” graphic — often together with a cheap pun or wordplay headline — as a substitute for the hard work of learning about their client and their client’s target customers.
Anyway, I’ve been telling clients this for years. But they see it done so often by their colleagues and competitors, they figure it can’t be that bad an idea.
And what a contrast between the ad Tom chose to make over and the story on the guys from Blendtec in the same issue (“Crazy Dudes,” by Brian Quinton)! Wanna know how powerful your blender is? How about putting a handful of marbles into it? Or a garden rake handle? Now that dramatizes the benefit!
Tim Orr
Barnett Orr Marketing Group Inc.
Nashville, TN
Tom Collins replies: Thanks, Tim. I don’t know of a source for that statement. I guess you’ll just have to attribute it to the Makeover Maven. David Ogilvy might say something like that in one of his books — if you find it, let me know.
