Most people old enough to know who W.C. Fields is automatically think of the cynical remarks delivered in his distinctive voice.
But before anyone ever heard him speak onstage (or on screen), he spent years traveling the world as “The Eccentric Juggler.”
It was during those years that he perfected his pool playing routine, recapped below in the 1934 film, SIX OF A KIND.
This is Buster Keaton, who designed and performed all his own stunts.
Everything in this video clip is real. No CGI (obviously, due to the year in which the film was made: 1928). No trick photography. No editing illusions.
He designed it, built it, stood in exactly the right spot, and had faith that he knew what he was doing.
June, 1996: On the last day of May, I flew to Cologne, Germany, where I was a guest speaker at the Cologne RadioForum. Guido Hecker and Thomas Pintzke provided me a fancy suite in the Hyatt Hotel, overlooking the Rhine River, directly across from Cologne’s majestic Cathedral. The view from my portal-shaped window was quite impressive.
I unpacked and went for a stroll outside. Sitting on a stone bench in a public square, I found myself observing an older man who was preparing his marionettes for a performance — sitting in his own chair, talking them for test walks on the plaza. I couldn’t help but notice the great affection and tenderness with which he watched over those marionettes…as though he were watching a toddler taking his first steps.
The Cathedral was so magnificent that I decided to capture it on film. That would be a challenge, considering that I didn’t have a camera with me. I popped into a tourist-y shop and purchased a disposable camera, congratulating myself on how handily I had solved that problem.
Then I tried to take the photograph.
Although inexpensive, the camera (it turned out) took quite good photos. But the lens had only one setting, and the Cathedral was so massive that I could not get far enough away from it to encompass it all in a single snapshot.
So all I can tell you is: Go to Cologne and visit the Cathedral. You’ll be impressed.
When I returned to my room a couple of hours later, I realized the loud noises I had been hearing were emanating from my stomach. I opened the Room Service menu and while trying to decide what to order, I noticed that a previous hotel guest had marked a dinner selection.
“He or she must have known what he or she was doing,” I reasoned. So I ordered what he or she had marked.
The dinner turned out to be a good choice, and I found myself wishing my unknown precursor had made other choice on my behalf: Maybe I would find notes on which TV channels to watch, where to buy a better camera, which direction to walk when I set out for some exercise.
Unfortunately, I found no such guidance for the television set. I kept looking for an English-language program that could divert me while I flossed my teeth. (Flossing is a time-consuming, laborious process for me.)
After passing on Columbo — dubbed in German by an actor whose resonant baritone sounds nothing like Peter Falk — I finally settled on a German-dubbed version of the film, BORN LOSERS. That was the movie that unleashed the character of Billy Jack onto an unsuspecting world. Not being able to understand the dialogue improved the film measurably.
The RadioForum had scheduled a day-long session (Air Personality Plus+) for me. Toward the end of the day, I led the group in an interactive exercise designed to help them create completely original programming & promotion ideas. The latter half of the exercise consists of attendees spontaneously calling out suggestions and creative refinements.
Like a few other seminars I have presented, this one was conducted with “simultaneous translation.”
My words were translated into German by two translators sitting in a soundproof booth at the back of the room. Attendees could listen to me in English….or, with headphones, to the German translation.
Suddenly, one of the translators stepped out of the booth and gestured wildly to me.
“Oh, no,” I thought. “There’s a technical problem. People can’t understand what I’m saying.”
“Excuse me,” I said to the attendees. “There seems to be a problem in the translation booth.”
I turned to the translator and awaited the bad news. She responded by gesturing that I should hand my microphone to her. Great; there must be a problem with the mic.
She took the microphone from me and spoke directly into it:
“Here’s a good idea. Why don’t you have your morning show do a special contest where….”
The translator, who did not work in radio, had interrupted the session to add her own ideas.
A Loyal Reader Asks:
“How do you determine what is good advertising before it airs?
Who can’t say ‘That was a good commercial’ after it has aired and accomplished or surpassed its goal?
If entertainment value is not a definitive element of a good ad (you won’t have any argument from me there), then what are some sure-fire elements of a good spot?”
While you cannot absolutely guarantee that any given commercial will be a success, there are certain elements that will maximize the likelihood of the message delivering the desired results. Those elements include:
• A single, clear, concise core message (vs. a “shotgun” approach that delivers a multitude of messages in the hopes that one of them happens to appeal to the targeted consumer)
• Attracts the attention of the target audience from the very beginning of the spot
• Talks to the targeted listener about something of interest to that listener (vs. the all-too-typical spot that talks about the advertiser).
• Solves a consumer problem
• Utilizes the natural language of the targeted consumer (not advertiser-speak)
• Involves the listener in the sales message
• Allows the listener to see himself enjoying the benefits of the product or service being advertised
• Utilizes “characters” with whom the target audience can identify. (Note: If it’s a solo voiced “announcer” spot, the person speaking is a character.)
• Delivers a compelling Unique Selling Proposition. The “U.S.P.” is the answer to the question, “Why should I spend my money with your enterprise rather than with your competitor’s?”
• Paints pictures that deliver the sales message
• Tells an instantly attention-focusing story that is intertwined with the sales message
• Tells the listener exactly how to act on the sales message
• Motivates the listener to act by including a genuine deadline beyond which this irresistible offer no longer will be available
• Uses few enough words to allow the voice talent to deliver the sales message effectively, without rushing
• Uses music and sound effects only if they enhance the effectiveness of the sales message. (Slapping on a canned music bed to run underneath the voice track rarely accomplishes this.)
• Airs with enough repetition to enter the consciousness of the targeted listener
Will any or all of the above guarantee the effectiveness of any particular commercial? No.
But they’ll darn sure increase the odds….
Could They Possibly Be Less Subtle?
Nice to see that someone is keeping alive the enlightened “Coffee, tea or me?” approach to selling an airline.
In this case, Russia’s Avianova Airlines.
