Yes, I'm a Mentor
A Dummy's Puppet's Ramblings - from Chip Martin, Puppet
Mannequin American views and guidelines on marketing/PR trends plus bits of humor and interesting but useless information. For information on Chip's background, go to http://www.dale-brown.com/.
Drink a Lot ... But Responsibly
Today's "drink responsibly" messages, in which brewers and distillers who depend on young drinkers to consume heavily, must also spend money to suggest "but not too heavily." That, of course, is sound ethical advice. But let's be honest. It's also a bit disingenuous. These messages emanate not from good conscience but from regulation and fear of litigation.
Think about it ... it's expensive for these companies to devote 5% of their total ad budgets to undo the other 95% -- especially since the "responsibility" messages are typically lame, working directly against the edgy/sexy/macho/cool image many distillers spend years and fortunes trying to cultivate.
But one product is gaining attention, praise and sales by being both honest, and clever.
Captain Morgan's Spiced Rum has swashbuckled to prominence in the last decade. The 17-year-old slogan: "Got a little Captain in you?" - suggests the slightly subversive influence of liquid courage. Characters end each ad vignette by striking a buccaneer pose. The guys in the original ads apparently spent entire weekends in bars ordering Captain and Cokes. They seemed to be nice guys, but they also depicted the reason safe-drinking messages need to exist. Because when these types leave for home, they can be menaces.
The heroes of Captain Morgan's new how-to-behave-drunk spots are exactly as cheeky and subversive as the ones in the how-to-get-drunk ones. Last year, two charming, over-served guys went into a pizzeria and ordered a pizza for home delivery. Then they used the delivery guy as their designated driver to get them home. Funny and responsible.
This year, a guy is asleep in his apartment when he's awaken by a text from his lunkhead buddies at a bar. The message includes a photo of his friends posed with three hotties and the caption "GIRLS! OREILLYS! NOW!" The guy jumps out of bed, gargles, deodorizes and rushes to O'Reilly's -- only to find a dead scene, a safe-sex poster featuring the identical hotties and his friends waiting for him to drive them safely home.
It's clever and honest in one of advertising's most callous genres. Note too, that the mischievous boys always go home unaccompanied by babes. This yields a probably unintentional but equally refreshing subtext: Get a little too much Captain in you, and you fail every time.
Click here to see the ad.
Billboard
Sharing at the Vent Convention
During the first night of this years' International Ventriloquists' Convention attendees had the opportunity to meet and talk one-on-one with professional vents. Here a crowd gathers around Dale (they mistook him for someone who knows something) to ask questions and get advice about performing, puppet manipulation, marketing and more. Some even asked for his autograph. (He probably had to print his name in crayon.)
The red ribbons on nametags indicate first-time attendees, of which there were over 80.
Below is a picture of Dylan Burdette who we first met when he was 5 years old. For some reason Dale actually had an impact on Dylan, who decided that he wanted to become a ventriloquist. (I offer my sincerest apologies to Dylan's mom.) Now, each year Dylan comes to the convention (with his mom) and appears in the Junior Open Mic sessions, and each year he demonstrates marked improvement. Dylan also takes part in the convention's Junior Vent University and says it "... really helps to improve every aspect of my ventriloquist skills." While Dale encourages Dylan, I mentor his Mannequin American partner, Reggie.
We always look forward to seeing Dylan and offer kudos for his having a dream and being willing to put in the effort to make it a reality!
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