The Unchanging Rule
Never cross a bridge until you've built one

When Claude Hammond called and asked me to write an article about some of the changes I’ve seen in Kentucky advertising over the decades from the vantage point of an experienced old advertising veteran, I thought: “Great, just great – Those who have been in advertising as long as I have already know the stories and those who haven’t could probably care less, unless they just happened to be a student of ancient advertising history.”

So, I will spare you the “When I was your age…” commentary and just offer a simple observation; “Never cross a bridge until you’ve built one.”

Was that cryptic enough to get your attention? Good. Now I’ll explain. In spite of all that has changed since I began my advertising career 34 years ago, at least a few things have remained constant. One of these is people. People never change. People still have the same basic human needs, wants, wishes, desires and dreams. We still have a need for recognition, safety and security. The same basic emotions are still at work-love, kindness, greed, fear, anger and others. We are all, to one degree or another, searching for significance.

That can be comforting to some extent. After all, advertising is a “people” business. Not only are people our target audience, they are also our clients and our co-workers. The challenge is that in an information and technology driven age it is becoming increasingly difficult to remember that simple fact, or to teach it to the new young professionals on their way in and up.

By its very nature, advertising is a business that works in short time frames. It is tailor-made for neurotics. We strive to persuade the consumer to buy in 30 to 60 seconds. We use short, catchy headlines and equally condensed body copy. Ad space limitations and economics drive some of these perimeters, but it can be driven by creative strategy as well.

Nevertheless, we easily forget that the potential customer rarely buys on the strength of one ad message. It takes time and multiple exposures to generate response. That’s because, building a relationship bridge between the product and the potential customer usually requires it.

A young man sat down in my office recently. Smartly dressed, armed with loads of statistics and professionally prepared material, this budding representative was eager to make the sale. He barreled though his pitch like a Sherman tank through the Zeigfreid Line. He pumped me for all the information he could get. He asked about my clients, their ad expenditure patterns, and on and on. He waxed lyrical about how his medium was the one-and-only solution to all their marketing efforts. He was a man on a mission and me and my client’s ad money were his Holy Grail. The conversation was nothing more than facts and figures.

When he finished his presentation I thanked him for coming and sent him away empty-handed. No doubt he walked away thoroughly confused as to why I was not as impressed with his media opportunity as he was. He never once noticed the family photos on my desk. He never noticed the unusual original artwork hanging above my chair, the hole-in-one trophy near my computer, the curious hat collection or the rare antique five-string banjo displayed right beside him. He had made an elementary mistake – he tried to cross a bridge without building one.

One of my closest family friends is a missionary in Africa. He builds bridges in the jungle that allow local people to ford dangerous and unpredictable streams during the rainy seasons. These bridges not only help save lives, but open trade and communication between tribes. My friend is so good at this work that the local people have even given him a Swahili name that translates: “The man who works like a machine.”

Even though his reputation follows him, and the materials to build the bridges are paid for by American underwriters, he still needs to win over the local Chief to get permission to build and to request tribal helpers to finish the work. In a recent letter he wrote, “I have learned that the best way to get cooperation is to talk to the Chief first about his family, his cows, his goats, and his new son-in-law, before talking about construction. Out of a half-hour meeting, the first 25 minutes are all about building a bridge of a different kind – trust.”

Potential customers will always connect with a message that says “I understand you. I can relate to you. I can help meet your need. I would like to earn your trust and confidence.” Anything less in advertising or any other form of sales is simply self-serving and will only create resistance.

A goal of advertising is to build a bridge of trust between the product and the customer. While the methods advertising professionals use to accomplish that goal will continue to change with time and technology, the “people” element will always remain the same.

Gene Doyle is president of Creative Media, Inc., a Lexington-based advertising agency. He has been in the advertising business in Kentucky since 1967.

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