Smoke and mirrors: The magic of success
by Rich Awn, AE WOR 710 AM (212)642-4543 [email protected]
"There's a million stories in the naked city!" barked the GSM. "I need you to sell units every day! Why is this so hard??!!" emphatically pointing in my face.
"Oy vey!" I groaned to myself, slumping back into my ergonometric chair, pushing aside a pile of moldy business cards strewn asunder.
Is this a rhetorical question or is this job really hard sometimes?
Let it be known that with 3 full years of experience (yes, I'm a noob), there's been no shortage of rhetoric heaped on the plate of my GSM to explain why certain accounts "just go away" or "never got off the ground." This kind of tall tale invariably forms that all-too-painful knot in your throat followed shortly thereafter by a tsunami of sweat from the brow, moving on to a perpetually sinking stomach, and the inevitably dreadful preemptive void you know is increasing in your wallet.
It's a hellish place to be and we as sellers have polished our steely shields of "creative explanation" to a lustrous sheen of perfectly reflective chrome, right? We can regard ourselves in this distorted mirror of lame excuses, curse and ponder why our best efforts have somehow gone awry. Maybe even take a moment of self-loathing reflection to revisit what shoulda-woulda-coulda happened. Why then, I ask, must we sulk and diminish in the gloom of smoke and mirrors when the bucolic garden of power and prosperity is waiting just beyond the illusion? It's focusing on our success stories that will bring us there, my brothers and sisters! Success!
Who doesn't have a honkin' fish story to tell? For some, the successes are numerous and frequent. For me, there is one in particular sequence of splendor that stands out as the most triumphant success story to date. It hinges on a little company called Glaceau; they produce a variety of non-alcoholic beverages under the brand names Vitamin Water, Smart Water, and Fruit Water. Maybe you're familiar. Let's face it, how could you NOT be?! Their messages are omnipresent!
Glaceau is the fastest growing, most delightfully huge beverage corporation in the world right now (as far as I know) who doesn't particularly scare my pants off, contrary to most mega-companies. The bulk of large-scale food/beverage manufacturers tend to induce feelings of paranoia about scary labor practices and a blatant disregard for the health of their consumers. Glaceau, however, sets new precedents in how they market, manufacture, and distribute products that look great, taste great, and actually have some awesome health benefits! Go Glaceau! Clearly, my admiration for their business ethics and love of their products started the fire in me to pursue an impacting partnership.
And so the story goes... it was a dark and stormy night. Okay, it was a fluorescent light-saturated morning in the sales bullpen at WNEW-FM, where my career began, when I thought it might be fun to follow up on that lead I took off the side of a passing delivery truck. It went crashing through a mini-pond sized puddle in the street and nearly splashed my freshly pressed pants were it not for my Spiderman-quick, street smart reflexes (yeah, right).
On the side of the truck was an image of a stunning rainbow; a spectrum of appealing, yet medicinal looking bottles that completely consumed my field of vision. I was transported by the sharp Helvetica font and minimal graphic design elements and whisked away to the Land of Tomorrow where people drink their vitamins and travel around their cloud cities through transparent tubes on horizontally moving conveyor belts. This beautiful ad, to me, represented something very special and undeniably enticing.
I began using my earnest method of prodding the corporate headquarters like I was playing a game of Operation(c). Relentlessly, I poked and grasped at their administrative body with a blunt pair of cheap metal tweezers, ergo my telephone. I tried in vein to grasp and behold those tiny white plastic thingies shaped like a piece of bread, a wishbone, a water bucket, and a femur, ergo the elusive decision makers. It wasn't until I was shaken by that awful BUZZER sound and the electric red nose of that damned cartoon patient glowed menacingly indicating my turn was over.
The answering machines were always the same, "Hi, I'm (Blah-Blah Blah McBlah), brand manager for Glaceau Vitamin Water. I'm not available to take your call right now but leave a message and I'll be sure to get back to you." Why do they lie? I'd respect them way more if they said, "...and I'll be sure to delete your message immediately. Nice try, radio guy! HAHAHA!!!"
It was 14 months later, a thousand more attempts, and a new position at the great station of WOR which set off the mystic chain of falling dominos. I'm sure it was just my good fortune to have been assigned to the seminal New York ad institution, Media First International. MFI proved to be the initial spark in the ether that lead to the big bang of accomplishment in this story.
It was literally my first week on the job et voila! I'm engaged in a daily dialogue with one of the industry's most respected and powerful buyers regarding what was, at the time, the Sara Lee Coffee and Tea promotion of the Chock Full 'O Nuts brand of coffee. To me this was huge and in my relatively naïve sense of over-ambition, I was compelled to compile an elaborate proposal, utilizing every available resource under my station's jurisdiction. By the time the pitch was through, I'd thrown in VIP parking passes to Shea Stadium, helicopter rides to the Hamptons, a lifetime supply of extra virgin olive oil, and my first born.
Well, they bought it.
We settled on a couple ski trips to Stratton, some bonus spots and the order was in my hands the following morning. Sure, sounds like a success and we can end the story there, right? No. It really felt more like a gift. At the end of it all, I'd worked with the buyer to put the right pieces in the right places in order execute an initiative that satisfied all the necessary conditions set forth by the planners and VP of marketing at Sara Lee.
Borrrrring!!! Where's the drama? Where's the suspense? When does the selling begin? Brace yourselves, brave sellers, because this is when things really start to get interesting.
A truly serendipitous happenstance occurred about a month into the campaign - I received a call from the client. The account team at Media First would've blown a gasket if they knew I was speaking with their coveted contacts but I had an out. It wasn't I who initiated the conversation, it was they. It was their Merchandising Manager, Mike Allen, a truly admirable player in the ad game, who was following up on those Stratton trips. I told him he had nothing to worry about and the trips were his to use at his discretion during such and such dates and so on and so forth. As we chatted, Mike and I found that we were getting along famously. Somewhere in the course of lollygagging, he'd mentioned to me that he'd only recently taken this new post at Sara Lee. He'd mentioned that he'd previously been an employee of a cool little beverage company based on Long Island called Glaceau.
GASP! I nearly laid an egg.
"Glaceau? As in Vitamin Water?" I erupted, "NO WAY! I've been trying to get them to do radio for years, literally!" I screeched. Without a pause, Mike was only too happy to provide me with kind words of encouragement and an entirely new list of contacts for marketing managers and regional sales managers who he was sure would have a real interest in some of my ideas.
That afternoon I dove into Mike's contacts like Rodney Dangerfield at the end of "Back to School" - you remember the Triple Lindy? Yeah! I scored a clutch meeting with beverage troubadour, Bob Ziegler, now Brand Manager for Smartwater and Fruitwater. His job at the time was to get the product into the hands of the people of New York City, Long Island, and New Jersey. He was implementing a strategy by which he tied his products into multiple local events but hadn't really ever given much thought to a broadcast partner, let alone a radio station! I told him I could provide a consistent flow of spot advertising for him to customize at any time throughout the year in addition to a combination package of four quarterly, station-driven events, each one reaching a different subset of our listeners.
To Bob, all he really wanted were those four events but the radio advertising idea was intriguing enough for him to hear me out. Because WOR carries category specific programs which coincide synergistically with the interests of vast numbers of his local consumers, it became apparent that he had a much more of a valuable deal on his hands than he had originally anticipated. A couple luncheons later, some legal department voodoo and a clear strategy by which to make this agreement fly, WOR became the first radio station in New York to carry the message of Glaceau's provocative beverage brands and the feather in my cap was placed proudly and high.
I'm so grateful to the individuals instrumental in making this hard fought battle a win-win-win for everyone involved. In the end, I suppose it takes a seller a moment of reflection to see the err in his or her ways. One can never really tell where ones conversations with whomever may someday lead. I guess that's the moral of this campfire story, partners. Now go and rustle us up some more free range accounts grazing in the wilds of the urban prairies! Hiooo!
