One time, John Webster was doing a pitch for Johnson & Johnson cotton buds..
People needed educating about when and how to use them.
The main use for cotton buds of course, is to clean out your ears.
Either when they’re full of wax or when they’re full of water, say just after a shower.
The brief was to get them seen as an item in everyday use.
So John thought the best way to do that was to get them into the language.
That way it sounds as if everyone’s doing it.
A good way to do that would be to use rhyming slang.
So it would just be seen as an ordinary, everyday thing.
So John thought he’d turn the name Johnson & Johnson into a verb, and pair it up with the rhyming slang for ears.
He knew “Brighton” was short for “Brighton Pier” which was rhyming slang for ear.
So he wrote the line, “Johnson & Johnson your Brightons every day.”
And, as usual, what John did was very catchy, and we had a seamless pitch: planning, media, and creative.
Every department presented it’s section of the inexorable logic, and was received really well by the client.
It culminated in the line “Johnson & Johnson your Brightons every day.” and how it would work across all media to get into the language.
We couldn’t see any way the agency wasn’t going to win this.
Except.
It turned out the main client was a bit of an expert on cockney rhyming slang.
He said to John, “I’m afraid you’ve got it wrong.”
John said, “Pardon.”
He said, “Brighton Pier isn’t rhyming slang for ear. ‘Donald Peers’ is rhyming slang for ears, after the crooner.”
John said, “But I’ve heard people talk about their ‘Brighton’.
The client said, “Yes, I’m sure you have.”
John said, ”Well if “Brighton” isn’t short for ear what is it short for?”
The client said, “Well @Brighton’ isn’t short for “Brighton Pier”actually, it’s short for ‘Brighton Rock’.
And I’ll give you a clue, it doesn’t rhyme with ears.”
If John Webster can get it wrong sometimes, the rest of us needn’t feel bad about the occasional ‘Brighton’ up.
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Dave, even when Webbo was wrong, he was brilliant. Encouraging us to J&J our Brightons could’ve revolutionised the, um, male hygiene market.
Dave, nice post as usual and it gives me the excuse to reference the genius of Family Guy’s take on J&J : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_1X2JsAqB2o (couldn’t resist it…!)
Guess these days, planning folks would have googled “brighton” first?
I live in Hampton Wick. I run down to the nearby palace although I don’t get my Hampton Court! Have you see Terence Stamp in ‘The Limey’? It is a riot.
I’ll have a butchers this weekend John.
Sorry to be awkward here, but isn’t the rest of the slogan a bit iffy anyway? I mean, Johnson & Johnson make a whole load of products beside cotton buds. You wouldn’t Unilever your washing-up, or have Heinz on toast - why didn’t the first half of the slogan refer to cotton buds, rather than their manufacturers?
http://ex-blank-page.blogspot.com/2009/08/in-reply-to-daves-great-posts-67.html
Was it a regional campaign, Dave?
Just like Terence Stamp in ‘The Limey’, the parlance might not be understood outside of London Town?
Paul K.
I think that’s a very fair point.
Nowadays we’d call them Q tips or cotton buds.
But at the time they were being launched, a name for the product didn’t yet exist.
So I assume he used ‘Johnson & Johnson’ instead of saying ‘little sticks with cotton wool on the end’.
Personally I prefer George Lois’s press ad for Earex (I think) done over a decade earlier in New York.
He showed a broadsheet page with a huge ear full of paper clips, matchsticks, pencils and anything else people used to stick in their ears.
So he showed the product as a safer alternative.
I certainly didn’t think this was one of John’s best ideas.
The purpose of the anecdote was just to show that even John Webster could get it wrong sometimes.
So the rest of us mere mortals needn’t feel so bad when we do.
getting it wrong. finally I have something in common with John Webster.
now, that’s comforting thought
but seriously… Dave, how do you give out jobs to your creative teams? I’m mean, surely not everybody is for every job, right?
do you base your decisions on their past projects, look at their lifestyle, personal interests and hobbies or just let them try something completely new?
Hi Riki,
For me it’s a lot like a football team.
Do you give the ball to Keane or Beckham?
Depends on the brief usually.
Is what’s wanted a hardworking campaign, or something that should surprise you?
Like any team, you should have both types in the department.
nicely put.
thanx.