DMCNY 2008 June Luncheon 

Cone recently published a book titled. “Powerlines: Words that sell brands, grip fans and sometimes change history.” Memorable slogans result in a win The presentation illustrated that those in the commercial world can learn a lot from the marketing techniques used in the political arena. Cone contends that there hasn’t been a decent political slogan since 1984. To illustrate his point he asked if any member of the audience could recite the slogans used by John Kerry or George W. Bush in 2004; and none could. He pointed out that in presidential campaigns every time one candidate had a stronger slogan than the other, that candidate won; essentially the strongest slogan carries the day. And in cases where both slogans were mediocre, the elections were very close. He added that in the commercial world a company can be successful without a slogan, but it’s just a lot harder.

How slogan relate to marketing
Cone presented major challenges faced by marketers. $40 million dollars a month is spent on marketing and advertising in the United States. This equates to three to four thousand messages a day that the average American is bombarded with. The challenge for marketers is to figure out how to cut through the clutter. Cone then tackled the trend of young art directors creating advertising that 63-year-old baby boomers cannot read. He demonstrates this point by showing several recent ads with fine prints that were virtually impossible to read. He noted that 98% of ads today are impossible to read. Another challenge was referred to by Cone as “Homogenous Kodak Moments.” This challenge was demonstrated by a series of ads containing Kodak Moments with ads containing unoriginal settings and pictures.

Cone elaborated that businesses should always ask, “How can we set ourselves apart and blow away the competition?” The key to this question is ‘me-ism,’ essentially the emphasis should always be centered on the customer. He stated, “You have to understand human nature. It’s all about what are you going to do for me!” Reverting back to the premise of the presentation, he asserted that those in the commercial world should think as if they were running a political campaign. Every political campaign has 5 essential ingredients, which are an engaging personality, a power line, visual/sound excitement, real news and a reason to take action. Crucial in a commercial context is a brand promise that would stick in people’s minds, and a unique selling proposition that projects personality. “We need an election day for everything we a do. A strong and compelling reason to respond right now,” Cone stated.

Political campaign and consumer product examples of good slogans
He demonstrated this point with an interesting narrative about the election between Henry Clay and James Polk in 1884. Clay, a great orator and a well-known politician from Virginia, thought he had the election in the bag because Polk was a little-known governor from Tennessee. But Polk had a great and memorable slogan, which was “54/40 or fight.” This referred to a territorial dispute with Britain. Polk won the election despite being the underdog because he based his campaign on a major issue that every American could get behind. Another reason for Polk’s upset win was due to a ‘dumb’ slogan used by Henry Clay. Clay’s slogan was “Who is James Polk?” Among the list of other dumb slogans on Cone’s list were “For president of the people” and “The Experienced candidate.” At the top of Cone’s list of the nastiest campaign slogans were one used by Grover Cleveland against James Blaine which was “Blaine, Blaine, James G. Blaine, the continental liar from the state of Maine.” Blaine retaliated after it was revealed that Cleveland had fathered a child 10 years prior and had been secretly funding and raising the child.

Blaine’s retaliatory slogan was “Ma, Ma Where’s my Pa?”
According to Cone, all wining candidates and all winning companies need to have personality and attitude. Among the slogan chosen by Cone as having personality and/or attitude are “Happy days are here again” for FDR, “I like Ike” for Dwight Eisenhower, and ‘It’s morning again in America’ for Ronald Regan. All these candidates won by a landslide. Cone then mentioned companies with slogans that have attitude. Among them were “It’s the real thing” for Coke, “Nothing comes between me and my Calvins” for Calvin Klein, “15 minutes could save you 15%” for Geico, “Las Vegas. What happens here stays here” and “Our food is fresh. Our customers are spoiled” for Fresh Direct.

To sum up the lesson that those in the business world can learn from campaigns, Cone created a to-do list. The list read as follows:

• Create a real power line. A tag line that will last forever has real attitude, define your company and make your company distinctive.
• Be or hire a spokesperson
• Never ever change a great line
• Make your taglines appear so people can see them.

Boardroom Prize
At the luncheon there was also a special presentation of educational scholarships. Brian Kurtz, Executive Vice President of Boardroom Reports, awarded three students the Boardroom Prize. And, professors from each of the three schools were also present for the award ceremony. The winners, their university and sponsoring professors were:

• Yony Arad from NYU with Marjorie Kalter as sponsor
• Abigail Freeman from FIT with Terry Fiore as sponsor
• Emer Lawn from Pace University with Harvey Markowitz as sponsor