Have you ever had one of those days when it was difficult to focus?
That can be a good thing or a bad thing. (Hey, that was profound wasn’t it? Ok, not so much.) Some of you prefer to think of those days as when you are multi-tasking.
For example, I’m going to tell you two short stories and give you an example of a real advertising and marketing campaign. Then, you have to come up with the “key learning”. Ready?
Story One: Four people found a magic bottle and rubbed it. A genie appeared and told them they would each find a swimming pool behind them that they were to run toward. Just before they jumped into the pool they were to yell out what they wanted in the pool when they jumped in. The first person yelled out wine as they jumped. They found the pool filled, to their delight, with vintage fine wine. The second person ran and jumped yelling, vodka. Same thing. The third, being a bit different, yelled and jumped into their pool full of beer. The fourth person failed to notice that the three who went before him had splashed around making the deck very slippery. Off the fourth person went. But, just before they got to their launch point, they slipped. Out of their mouth could be heard “Ah, sh---.”
Story Two: As the farmer drove his wagon down a curvy dirt road, he came upon a car in the ditch. Being a helpful person, he immediately hitched his horse to the car to pull it out. He then hollered “Ok, Barney, pull. Ok, Sarah, pull. Ok, Prince, pull. And finally, Ok, Buddy, pull”. The car came out of the ditch. The driver was confused as he thanked the farmer. “Sir, you only have one horse. Why did you call out all of those names?” The farmer smiled and said “Buddy, my horse is blind. He didn’t know he was the only doing the pulling.”
Coors brewing launched an advertising campaign in Spain using their tag line at that time of “Turn it loose”. Unfortunately, when it was translated into Spanish it was “You will suffer diarrhea.” It didn’t do well.
So, what possible morals do come up with? Maybe one might be, “Be careful of what you ask for. You might get it.” Another might be “Mind over matter is real.” And then, third lesson might be, “Slow down long enough to avoid mistakes that don’t have to be made.” (No, one of the choices is not that Buddy has multiple personalities.)
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