I believe that not just Marketing Wisdom, but some kind of Marketing Defense is called for now that advertising spending has shrunk to the point where my local daily newspaper is down to just two sections: Bad News and Sports.

There haven’t been too many voices of optimism in the last few months amidst the overwhelming chorus of Jeremiahs, but I have found some cheer from Warren Buffet with his much cited quote: “The time to be afraid is when others are greedy, and the time to be greedy is when others are afraid.” While Mr. Buffet was likely talking about investing strategy, his words seem to me to apply to many more aspects of life…including marketing.

It’s Monday morning as I’m writing this and in my e-mail I find the weekly update of Brandchannel.com, which is a must-read website / newsletter / blog for anyone toiling in the marketing field. Granted, it’s produced by Interbrand the self-proclaimed “world’s biggest branding resource,” but the self-proclamation notwithstanding, the site is a trove of useful information.  One such nugget is an article by Kevin Randal, Director of Brand Strategy & Research at Movéo Integrated Branding, a brand consulting and marketing communications firm based in

Speaking of my local two-section daily paper, buried amongst the gloom and doom in today’s edition was an article mentioning that Fed Chief, Bernanke was predicting that the recession will “probably” end this year if banks loosen their purse strings. I suggest that businesses unfreeze their ad budgets as well. Some modest ad spending with the resulting expansion in newsprint would be a strong signal that American commerce isn’t taking French lessons.

“Could my recommendation be tinged by more than a little self-interest,” says the grumpy guy in the back? Just so you know I’m not an “ad agency,” which means I don’t commission paid media and therefore have no stake in any media buying. Nor am I a great fan of the local media who readily offer free ads to advertisers so that the advertiser has no need to hire folks such as myself.

What I am is a passionate believer in the value of marketing and the fundamental need for commercial ventures to communicate their goods, services – and most importantly – their benefits to others…whether or not I’m involved in the process.

A profound piece of Marketing Wisdom is that when the marketing environment is the most intense, the ones who succeed are most likely those who figured out how to lighten up. “Are you nuts?” I hear a pinched voice squawk from the back row. “But it’s really scary out there. We can’t afford to mess about with our measly marketing budget. We need to be careful and prudent.” Hmmm… What being “careful and prudent” really means is that if (most likely, when) your tepid efforts fail to move the needle, at least you won’t be criticized for doing something stupid.

All I can say, is, “Lighten up!”

By way of example here are three campaigns that have impressed me with the relevant silliness, by which I mean the campaigns are light-hearted but the humor is based on the brand premise.

Faux Mini Cooper campaign – Counter Counterfeit Commission. When the revived Mini-Cooper brand scooted on to the market some years back a number of serious-sounding consumer advisory commercials appeared on TV drawing the view to this website:

http://www.counterfeitmini.com/detect_a_fake.php

The premise of the campaign was brilliant. Call attention to this Dinky Toy on steroids by warning consumers about hucksters who by means of some half-baked racing stripes are attempting to pass off rust bucket clunkers as Mini-Coopers.

Duck Brand Tape – Stuck At Prom Contest. According to Wikipedia, Duct, or duck, tape was developed during WWII to seal ammunition cases. It went on to be used to repair almost everything else including jeeps, planes and weapons. In the last 60 or so years, the vinyl-backed fabric tape has acquired an almost mythic reputation as an all-purpose solution for fixing just about anything. The folks at Duck Brand Tape hit upon a wonderful way to highlight the often-absurd uses folks have for their product. Every year they encourage high school students to make the Prom outfits from Duck tape and submit photos. Check it out.

http://www.stuckatprom.com/contests/prom/

Best Buy – Geek Squad. I love this mostly because the brains at Best Buy took what was once a derisive term and while not making it cool, made it relevant and useful. The distinctive black and white VW Beetles and the geek garbed techs make the in-store service, or house calls seem unusual and – dare I say it – hip. If you need to be reminded go to:

http://www.geeksquad.com/

Okay, okay, so let’s say that I’ve convinced you that wacky creativity will make your molehill marketing budget look and act like a mountain of moolah. Before you tap into your inner creative genius here are a couple of cautionary guidelines.

1) Don’t steal.  I have been present at a number of “brainstorming” meetings where the client’s hot flash was to co-opt an idea that he’d seen the night before on TV. In one case the client wanted to create viral videos using the Trunk Monkey idea. Never mind that the idea came from a series of syndicated commercials created by an agency that derives its primary revenue from licensing them to car dealers all over the world. (Thank you again Wikipedia.) Suffice it to say, had we proceeded, the agency’s legal team would have been in immediate contact. 

2) Run your ideas by an impartial jury. Perhaps you’re the funniest guy down at Red’s Recovery Room and your jokes have them falling off their bar stools at happy hour. Still, when you come up with a sure-fire marketing concept, do yourself a favor and run it by one or two of your more sober friends. Better yet, run it by your mother-in-law. If she likes it, you’re solid. Here’s an example of someone who didn’t screen his idea before hiring the sign company. Bad Ass Coffee is the name of a strip mall coffee shop not far from where I live. Every time I drive by I can’t help wondered why anyone would want “ass coffee” even if it were good.

3) Hire someone who creates for a living. Honestly, there are folks out there who make their living thinking up ideas for other people who need the help. Compared to the cost of the damage one can inflict on business with homemade creativity these professionals are a bargain. Some years back I was working on a brand of varietal grape juice. It was non-alcohol wine made from appellation grapes, in other words, sophisticated juice. The brand’s owner wanted us to shoot a TV spot featuring an airline pilot addressing his passengers in one scene and the parents of a teenaged driver addressing a car full of kids in the next. Both were to turn towards the camera and say, by way of recommending our client’s product, “Get Juiced.” Fortunately for him we were able to dissuade him from producing that concept, but he was never convinced that he wasn’t a creative genius.

By the way, if I have to tell you why his suggestion was possibly the worst advertising idea I’ve run into, perhaps you are that undiscovered creative genius.

Oh, and before I forget, what do feral cats have to do with marketing wisdom? A few days ago a particularly aggressive telemarketer called to promote a once-pervasive but recently irrelevant book full of ads of businesses and their phone numbers. When my always polite wife politely declined their offer, the voice on the line demanded to know what sort of marketing we did. My wife replied that we trap feral cats, stencil our logo on their fur, and release them back into the wild.

Here’s a Marketing Wisdom tip that should be obvious to everyone after the recent Presidential election. If you want to win hearts and minds to your business, product or service, offer HOPE!

President-elect Barack Obama has never run any organization of significance and his record in the Senate is anything but definitive. Before the campaigning began he was virtually unknown outside of Illinois, yet he defeated better-known politicians backed by legions of passionate followers. In the end, he persuaded a majority of Americans to trust him with their future by emphasizing his belief that he can change their future for the better. Now, if that’s not a classic brand promise, I don’t know what is.

Obama’s election should bring encouragement to anyone bringing a new product to market, and it should remind anyone marketing a category leader to take a hard look at their marketing message. But – most important – I believe that the lesson of Obama’s campaign for every single marketer out there that they should emphasize the future and not dwell on the past…or the present for that matter.

Right now the nation is gripped in a paralysis of fear and regret. The national soundtrack is provided by the media who are constantly clanging the bells of DOOM. The nation’s mood ring, a.k.a, the Dow Jones Industrial Average, has turned a mordant black. Pundits are making specious comparisons between 2008 and 1931, and calling Obama the new FDR. Given the drastic decline in readers of printed news media, I guess I can’t blame the press for trying to boost their sagging sales by smearing the coming apocalypse across their front pages.

But let’s state the obvious…2008 is not 1931. Despite the fact that a recent graph of the DJIA looks like a seismograph recording a magnitude 10.5 earthquake, America is still the dominant economic force in the world. When pundits crow that “things have changed” all they’re really saying is that things aren’t the same as they were yesterday. Well, duh!

One more thing: if you look at the credentials and the agendas of the people who are telling you that America has been brought to her knees, and that our days of glory are gone, please note that these Jeremiahs carry a brief for burning Old Glory in the streets. Many of them belong to the gang that told us the 9/11 terrorists were justified in their heinous behavior. Others belong to the crowd that wants to limit the US Navy from testing its Sonar lest the dolphins get nosebleeds. And others are…well, French…or they are fellow purveyors of ritual anti-American diatribe otherwise known as east coast liberals. You know these people: they believe that Michael Moore creates fact-based documentaries, Oliver Stone has talent, and Al Gore invented the Internet.

Aside from these crepe hangers who delight in wallowing in the current national angst, most of the rest of us would like to put our hair shirts back into storage and get back to work. And if you want to appeal to us, offer us something that will help us do just that. Obama offered us attitude. In fact he did little more that repackage that most fundamental of American traits – the “can do” spirit.

I’m not talking about flag waiving. Despite the fact that we’re fighting two wars in the Middle East this is not the time for jingoism. However, I do think that Americans need to be reminded that we are an immensely resilient, resourceful and creative people. When you hold our feet to the fire, we can work as smart as Japanese, as hard as Koreans, and as selflessly as Chinese. Perhaps that’s why there are so many Japanese, Koreans and Chinese building careers and families in America.

I suggest that, instead of hunkering down under the bed and waiting for the storm to pass, you might give some thought to the fact that – like you – your customers need some encouragement that their good times aren’t all past and gone. Pull up your socks, square your shoulders and show the world what you’re made of. By definition, your business, product, or service exists to improve the lives of people. When you tell people this, you are offering them hope.

The foundation of America is the hope that we all can live a better life, so let’s all start acting like Americans.