I’ve been a fan of the Honda ads for a long time. The first one I remember getting all evangelical about, in 2006, featured the line, “It’s good to hate.” Officially about their new diesel engines, for me the ad was a call to arms – let’s change what is bad.

See what you think:

This morning I came across “Keep Doing.” Like the first, it was made by UK agency Wieden & Kennedy, voiced by Garrison Keillor, and riffs on the theme of sorting things out.

I can’t imagine playing Keep Doing for people whilst we wait to start a meeting – which I did countless times with the 2006 ad – but I can already feel this quote working its way into my world.

Doers do things, things to move us forward, to make stuff better.

Neatly filed under Making Promises
Tags: advertising, doing, Untitled

I had two conversations in pretty quick succession that pointed towards the extremes of service we face every day.

Both talking about (different) new products. The first, a “name” advertising guy, said,

“It’s possible to cover up a bad product with good advertising.”

The second, a middle manager at one of the world’s biggest computer companies, said,

“We need to make sure the back end is bomb proof before we get the sales force excited.”

Which product would you rather buy?

I’m not suggesting that the advertising guy was recommending what he was saying, or even liking it. He wasn’t. But the fact that he had this answer down pat shows that too few companies take the approach of the computer guy.

Faced with an opportunity to make money, which option do you take? The quick don’t-ask-difficult-questions-how-many-can-we-shift approach or the slower hold-on,-let’s-make-sure-we-do-this-right approach.

Where’s the money?

A certain big computer company might say, “go slow, add a few steps, make sure the back end is bomb proof.”

I’d say, “skip.”

Neatly filed under Keeping Promises,Making Promises,Skippiness
Tags: advertising, marketing