I love great ads. I try to deny that they influence me at all, but with all the money they spend on trying to make me spend my money, I suppose they work. The best ads, the most creative ads are the ones that stop me in my tracks. They command my attention. I love the stuff that comes from GEICO. I can’t get enough of that camel crying out, “Mike Mike Mike Mike Mike…Guess what day it is…it’s hump day!” Love it. Love the gecko too.
He’s some little character isn’t he? Did you know that his name is Martin? Did you know that his voice is that of English comedian Jake Wood? And by default, we know he is from New Zealand because he eliminated Australia and England in some of his episodes.
And the camel? His name is Caleb. And the pig…his name is Maxwell. See how much I love these commercials?
I don’t know if they have changed my purchasing habits. I just like them.
And what about the highest rated ad campaign of all time: “WHERE’S THE BEEF?”
In the world of advertising the thing that makes an ad successful is how much it is liked. Likeability is the key to success…for ads and for people.
Go ahead, don’t be shy, if you like this post go ahead and click the like button. The one right over Clara Peller’s head.
Liking is the second component of the marketer’s triad : Know, Like and Trust, so it’s no surprise that we can’t trust something we don’t like.
President Lyndon Johnson, a master at persuasion developed his ten point formula for success…to improve his likeability. Oh, to return to the days when presidents were liked. Here are LBJ’s Likeability points:
- Learn to remember names.
- Be a comfortable person to be around.
- Acquire the quality of being relaxed and easy going.
- Don’t be egotistical (arrogant).
- Be interested and interesting.
- Get the scratchy stuff out of your personality.
- Attempt to heal all grievances.
- Practice liking people until you learn to do so genuinely.
- Never miss an opportunity to congratulate someone on their achievements, or to express sympathy in sorrow or disappointment.
- Give spiritual strength to people, and they will give genuine affection to you.
The other night during a podcast interview the host asked me, “What advice I would give to a young dentist starting a practice today?”
I said I would would be like Donnie Brasco, the undercover FBI agent who spent two years working his cover in a New York uptown bar building trust. He did it slowly, getting to know the regulars. He made sure he was liked…and then gradually built a trust.
Today’s advice is probably what Clara Peller told her children when she wasn’t yelling, “where’s the beef.”
Be nice…be likeable.
