Years ago I studied Kung Fu for a while.
I wasn’t very good at it, but one lesson stuck with me.
The master always said you should punch beyond your target.
If you’re trying to break a plank of wood for instance, you need to aim about six inches behind it.
This means your fist will still be accelerating as it hits the target.
Which gives it a lot more power: energy is still being released at point of contact.
That’s a good metaphor for a lot of things.
Nowadays, in the new brand-speak, it’s called ‘over-commitment’.
Doing more than you think you need to.
This is a really good lesson for everyone.
Especially students.
Students do exactly what they’re told to do by their tutors.
This is dumb.
Because every other student is being told exactly the same thing.
And if you all do the same thing you’ll all end up looking exactly the same.
So you won’t stand out.
And, in advertising, this is not a good idea.
Whatever your tutor has told you should be the start point for what you do.
Not the finish point.
You need to over-commit.
You need to go beyond what’s reasonable.
Vinnie Warren was a young Irish guy who went to New York to get a job in advertising.
He knew who he wanted to work for, Ed McCabe.
Now Ed is also one of my heroes.
His work is powerful, confrontational, unforgettable, and effective.
He built Volvo and Perdue as massive brands from virtually nothing.
Anyone who wants to learn how you do great advertising would want to work for Ed.
But Ed wasn’t hiring anyone.
So, if Vinnie was reasonable, he’d give up and try to get a job elsewhere.
But Vinnie wasn’t reasonable.
He got a job driving a horse and carriage around Central Park at night.
Then, during the day, he pretended to be a student at Pratt Institute so he could study their library of advertising annuals.
And he learned everything he could about Ed McCabe.
He learned where he lived, how he travelled to work, what brands he liked, and what he didn’t like.
Then he’d stalk Ed.
He’d follow him through the streets and on the subway.
He’d watch what he did and where he went.
And Vinnie found out that Ed had one particular hate.
Another New York ad agency called Kirschenbaum and Bond.
So Vinnie put together a deliberately bad portfolio and sent it to them.
Just so he could get a rejection letter from the agency Ed McCabe hated.
The he sent his real portfolio over to Ed.
With the rejection letter pasted onto it.
Above it he wrote, ‘DEAR ED McCABE, I HOPE YOUR TASTE IN ADVERTISING IS BETTER THAN KIRSCHENBAUM & BOND’S.”
Now Vinnie’s behaviour raises a few questions.
Was it illegal?
Possibly.
Was it unreasonable?
Most definitely.
But actually there’s really only one important question.
Did it work?
Well Vinnie got the job with Ed McCabe.
One of the most difficult and talented people in advertising.
He worked with him and learned from him.
He’d already learned the value of over-commitment.
And he’d had it reinforced by working with Ed, who demanded it.
Vinnie brought that over-commitment into his advertising.
Eventually Vinnie left Ed’s agency and started doing the advertising for Budweiser.
His campaign featured the single word “WASSSUUUUP” repeated over and over and over again throughout the commercials.
Was it repetitive?
Yup.
Was it unreasonable?
Yup.
Did it work?
Like gangbusters, as they say on New York.
That’s probably the single most viewed advert on YouTube around the world.
It did more for Budweiser’s sales than the previous decades of advertising.
Vinnie now owns and runs his own agency in Chicago.
He’s picking up more accounts and awards all the time.
All by being unreasonable, and over-committing.
I always tell students it’s pretty simple.
Think of it as a game of darts.
Once you’ve thrown the dart, gravity will always pull it down.
So you have to aim above what you actually want.
If you want the bull, aim for treble twenty.
If you want treble twenty, aim for double top.
You have to over-commit.
Or, to put it another way.
You’ll always get less than you go for, so go for more than you want.
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Well, there’s my fuel for today.
I wish you were my dad
Blimey that was fast Sebastiano.
About 2 minutes from posting to reply.
If you have that sort of energy about everything you’ll do well.
Dave, Look out of the window. That young guy on the corner of Oxford Street and Rathbone Place. He keeps glancing up and your building. And the two young women just talking in the street, weren’t they there earlier? And the guy with the clipboard counting windows. Is that a boy or a girl in the motorcycle leathers on the courier bike. Shouldn’t they have a job by this time of the morning? Will it be dark when you leave the building tonight? You know that moment, the tracking canceling out zoom from Jaws when you realise that they are all following you, zombies, ahhhh. Now I really must get on with some work.gasses avon
who was it that said: “go as far as you can. the client will bring you back anyway.”?
Riki,
I was always taught, “It’s a lot easier to train a wild horse than it is to bring a dead one back to life’.
It works well as a principle for hiring people.
http://ex-blank-page.blogspot.com/2009/09/in-reply-to-daves-great-posts-79.html
Inspiring post.
This is a very interesting post.
Anca,
That’s a very interesting response.
I particularly like Alex Bogusky’s comment ‘I hate advertising’.
That’s brilliant.
Dave, he also said: “I’m always joking and I’m always serious. Because I don’t actually see the difference.”
i was wondering why so many people were googling me today dave. (i have secret technology!). thanks for the kind words. at the time it did feel a bit nutty but i figured why not. i had no shame and nothing to lose. and it worked.
and i love the kung fu punch analogy. i’ve found that to be so true. thanks again.
Dave
My Dad had a similar theory. When I was learning to drive for the first time he thought it would be a good idea to try and start me off in a van. His thinking was that if I could learn to drive a van then a car would be a lot easier. He had a similar theory with teaching me to swim. When he threw me in at the deep end…his thinking was that the shallow would be ‘a piece of piss’, well not literally…well sometimes it was!
If you can keep your head when all about you are losing theirs…it probably means that you studied at the school of hard knocks…or either you have no idea what is going on.
Great line Vinny: “why not. i had no shame and nothing to lose.”
Great advice for students.
really liked the blog, first one I have ever read, feeling positive now. I especially like Dave’s comment, I have been hiring people for 20 years, it took me ages to realise the dead horse wisdom. I’d give Vinnie a job anytime, would probably end up working for him though, unless he applied the dead horse strategy for hiring!
dave, thanks again.
publish that book already…more people should read this.
Feller (Mick McCaffrey - known as ‘brickhead’) I knew in Liverpool ’studied’ Kung Fu in the mid 70’s.
Like many on our estate who took it up, they seemed less interested in the inner-calm and philosophical side, than in the kicking the shite out of ten fellers at once …erm…aspect.
Anyway one day I called for Mick.
His mam opened the door, told me he was upstairs and I went up.
When I got to the landing, I could see Mick sitting on his bed, eyes closed and cross-legged.
I said “Mick” - no response.
I said “Mick!!” - again no response.
Eventually I shouted “MICK!!”.
His angry response makes me laugh to this day.
“Oh fuck off will yer lad!…..I’m meditating!”