It's Business Time

Long ago, during the creation phase of McBlogland I thought I would write about my business here. I didn't expect to have much else to write about and I really had no idea where this would go. Almost 200 posts later, I obviously found other topics to explore so the business blogging just hasn't happened. Part of that is for privacy, part is to avoid boredom, part of it is to make this my creative escape rather than a another place that my mind consumes itself with all things TrunkPump. That changes tonight, though only slightly and off on a tangent.

In our efforts to work up advertising and marketing materials we micro-over-hyper analyze everything we put out to hopefully avoid unintended negative suggestions. We have done so with differing results over the years. We're not experts. Experts know about the tension color and shape and relationships create in print materials and the way those things tend to affect the recipients. This is also true with videos. Make the cuts too quick or at the wrong time or in the wrong sequence and your viewer will be lost, whether consciously or unconsciously. Add sound to the mix... well, you get it. And, if the sound is necessary to the video, think what that does to the message when it can't be heard. It's a risky proposition to throw something out there and expect it to be received as you intend. Take this blog for instance. I try to write in my voice, as I would speak. Nuance and gentle sarcasm (overt sarcasm, too) may be unrecognizable to the reader that otherwise doesn't know me. I may come off like a jerk. I may be a jerk. This all brings me to last week's trade show and the possibility of bad associations suggested by bad choices creating something that is just plain bad.

A large national company had a pretty big booth, I'd guess 80x80 maybe even 100x100. Each corner had an entrance with a large flat screen tv playing a company history mini-documentary. I know what they were going for, show the rich legacy of this company throughout the past and how that has laid the foundation for a phenomenal future of growth, prosperity and limitless success. What else would they suggest? Now the rub. This company goes back well over 80 years and in their video they do their best to put their timeline in the context of world history. Enter footage of Hitler, complete with the Nazi salute, marching Germans and other loaded images of regrettable 20th century history. Picture seeing this in a video about a company that primarily manufactures and sells lawn care equipment. A strange choice. Imagine not hearing the narrator say "with the backdrop of a world hanging the balance blah blah blah" and only seeing, from some distance, images of Nazi Germany flashing past. Remember, you are looking for a new machine for your landscaping business. Again, an odd choice for... their... um... propaganda. Happily, we haven't made the Hitler mistake. Perhaps I'm being too rough on them for their documentary? Hmmm.

A side note: I am excited about a cool new ad campaign we have based loosely on Mao's Socialist Education Movement. It's part of a five year plan. Gonna be great.