Schools say that they want to graduate students who will become “life long learners”. Good idea, as the world is so fascinating. As a student of business, you should watch for small developments and changes over time as well as the big ones. One thing that is always amusing is television advertising, how the prescription drug companies attempt to nonchalantly discuss really personal health issues with us, for example. For the pregnancy test kit containing a special strip they suggest, “Just pass it through your urine stream…” Pretty slick. It is better than the alternative: “Take the strip out of the package and pee on it!”
Another curiousity is how a company like Ace Hardware can’t seem to settle on a tag line. For years, the jingle was, “Ace is the place with the helpful hardware man.” Tsk, tsk. How sexist! The change had to happen, and it did when the company replaced “man” with “folks”. Problem solved? Apparently, not. Perhaps the jingle was deemed to be too long. For the last several years the company has been going with the simple statement, “Ace, the helpful place”, which has to be one of the stupidest things I’ve ever heard! How, exactly, is a place helpful? Do the walls lean over and ask you if you need help? Does the floor intuitively sense what you want and light a path to the aisle where you can find what you are looking for?
This leads me to the reason I’m writing today. For months now there’s an ad campaign running that features by far the best ad copy I’ve ever seen. BTW, “copy” is the main written or spoken content of the advertisement. The campaign? Dos Equis’ “Most Interesting Man in the World.” One advertisement, narrated by the incomparable Will Lyman of PBS Frontline (and more recently BMW commercial) fame, shows his various worldly exploits while the stating:
His reputation is expanding … faster than the universe
He once had an awkward moment … just to feel what it’s like
He lives vicariously… through himself
He is the most interesting man in world.
One line more brilliant than the next. Sheer perfection! What else is there to say?