VIDEO: Bueller...Bueller...Bueller

This SuperBowl Commerical will do one of two things: bring back fond memories or tick you off at messing up your fond memories. Either may or may not increase the likelihood you'll purchase a Honda CR-V. But isn't it fun to try?

Here's Broderick as Broderick in the spirit of Bueller:

Can nostalgia sell cars?

During my test drive the other night, my handwriting analysis/salesman said no, right after assuring my friend Kristin, testing driving from the backseat, that this -

- might return. But the wood-paneling would not.

The Unsalesman: a new twist

Come for the Jeeps. Stay for the handwriting analysis.

A new marketing angle?

Not exactly. But it worked. And, in business, shouldn't we do anything - legitimately, that is - if it works?

Here's the back story: I was roaming the South Point Chrysler Jeep Dodge dealership late one evening. This was after I'd dropped my own vehicle off at the service station and before my ride had arrived. I knew I shouldn't look at the new Jeeps. You don't frequent bakeries when on a low-carb diet, either. But I did it anyway.

Dain found me near a crimson beauty. Four doors and all for me. She hummed at me. I heard her. When he asked me if I wanted to take her for a test drive, I did the responsible thing and refused.

Yeah right.

If she hummed sitting idly, she sang like a siren on the highway.

When we returned, Dain offered to get me some numbers for me to obsess and wallow and fixate over, although he phrased it as "think about". That's when, as I began filling out the paperwork, he told me about his hobby of handwriting analysis. Hobby? I needed to see this.

With a sheet of paper and a scratchy pen, I scribbled out a page of blather and turned it over to him. From two paragraphs he could see that I:

- deeply valued my personal space
- generally hid my emotions
- could, at times, be quite gullible
- had a general optimistic tone
- nearly always went my own way
- valued physical things, from the outdoors to physical health
- and, once making up my mind, stuck to it.

"You got that from two paragraphs?" I've had lifelong friends know less.

My accidental wandering had actually led to a unique, memorable experience. Why? Because he had me not focusing on my finances but instead focusing on myself. Was this his sale's technique? His marketing mojo? To get the customer thinking about the customer, and then get that customer thinking about the customer and his product.
And then marry them.

My personal space would fit nicely inside that new Jeep.

Had he thrown in a cup of fresh fruit, I would have signed the papers and indebted myself with glee. It was quite remarkable. Testing driving a vehicle had gone from a technical experience to a personal journey.

It works for Dain. That's him marketing himself, whether he realizes it or not. It carved a niche. How can you forget a car salesman with a shtick like that?

Answer: You don't.

LinkedIn Polls: Do they need to make sense?

I answered it. Even commented on it. All before I realized it contradicted itself.

Is the electric car , the car of the future? Is there another way?

When reviewing the answers, I couldn't pinpoint mine. Who knew how I answered, which makes this poll scientifically sound.

Oh, those questions are tricky....with their open ended mystery and lascivious punctuation marks. When using them in your marketing copy, make sure they are facing the same direction.

So, in hindsight, is there a way to answer this doublespeak poll question? Or is there another way?

Trailer VIDEO: Monumental

Hmmm....

During a youth writing class last summer, a very talented, and equally stubborn, 13-year-old argued her case against history. Specifically, she argued a visit to a museum I had scheduled to take my class that afternoon.

Her arguments?
It's boring.
It isn't interactive.
No entertainment value.

We debated the validity of her claims (I asked her if she believed the bombing of Pearl Harbor was a rather dull story, or if there was simply nothing stirring about Titanic - both major motion pictures). Eventually, she relented to go, especially after I asked her if movies, those great bastions of education, where interactive. And, if so, how theater management felt about her running her hands all over the projector screen.

"You're saying I need to learn to like it," she said.
"I'm saying you've never really experienced it," I answered.

When we arrived, I challenged her to absorb the stories around her. To use it to build upon her writing. To take it in and make it part of who she was, who she would be. To recognize the priceless worth of the stories being told. 

When we left, she pulled me aside, her eyes wonderfully overwhelmed. "I never saw history like that before," she said. "I just never saw it. I'll never look at a museum the same again."

That, my friends, is getting a sweet drip of history on the tongue. And realizing it's far sweeter than imagined.

VIDEO: Can this car commercial boost your business?

Finally. Old men are about to have their day.

They've been patient. Waiting. Holding all those stories to themselves, waiting for the day we sat down on the floor around their feet and turned our ears back to listen.

Meanwhile, our marketing has gone wide and thin. Instead of taking a potential client deep, we took them long. That meant quick Tweets and fluctuating Facebook posts, tossed out like seed in the wind. They spread far, while often never burying much beyond the top soil.

Now Audi has been the first to step up and ask Grandpa to tell us a story. Does it work?

Here's how Michael Staires accurately put it:

Back in 2005, Daniel Pink told us it would happen. He said that the future would belong to the storytellers. I'll bet even ten years ago if the creative director walked into the Audi boardroom and told the directors that he wanted to do a series of ads based on Herman Melville's "Moby Dick," with no references to horsepower or fuel economy or even plush leather seats or stereo system they would have fired him on the spot. How can you sell cars without extolling the features of the car?

You tell a story. That's how.

What can we learn from this? A few things:

1. Moby Dick is a classic.
2. Pretty boys may have outlived their selling power.
3. Audi is a marketing genius.

A good story will get attention every time. Extra emphasis on "good".

It needs to appeal, to enchant, it needs to promote while not selling. It also needs to entertain. If you aren't having fun with your marketing campaign, neither are your potential customers. What we call "professional", which subconsciously we really mean "dry, boring, plainly conveyed, and safe" is often a mistake we make out of fear of trying something new, something no one's seen before, something some will love and others will not. It's a gamble!

But it'll get attention. And the story, even more than glitz, glitter, and online neon, still gets attention.

So what do you do if you don't have a budget for videos? Ah. I'm so glad you asked. You create a newsletter campaign so dynamic, so enthralling, it's a one-page page turner.

If only there was a business copywriter who believed that "business is people and people are stories". Where oh where does one find such a writer?

Tough Job. His. Not mine.

Sat in on a photo shoot with client Mark Sherwood of 4E Fitness at Don Kreutzweiser photography. Was exhausting sitting in that swivel chair watching Mark do pushups. I'm going to be sore tomorrow.

Quote Them: Ah, Lil.

I always wanted to be somebody, but now I realize I should have been more specific.

Lily Tomlin