Often it’s the small, random details in a story that make it feel authentic.
Back in the 1950’s THIS guy (pictured right) – Ellerton Jette – was CEO of a small men’s shirt company called Hathaway. Hathaway started small in the 1850s and wasn’t much bigger in 1950.
Arguably the biggest thing you could do in 1950’s was to get THIS guy (pictured right) on your side.
His name was David Ogilvy and he ran a marketing company called Ogilvy & Mather.
Ogilvy is a legend to people in the advertising industry – sometimes called ‘the father of advertising’ – but for the rest of us, think of him as the original Don Draper from Mad Men. Here was a guy who was good enough to single-handedly change the fortunes of your company.
Jette’s main problem was Hathaway only had a modest $30k marketing budget to work with – not the kind of budget that Ogilvy & Mather would usually bother with. Ogilvy knew from experience that it’s often the small clients that will scrap hardest for every billed minute and fight every change.
So, when Jette finally managed to wrangle a meeting with Ogilvy, he was smart enough to immediately kill Ogilvy’s biggest concerns.
He made two promises:
- He’d never change a letter of Ogilvy’s copy
- He’d remain a client for life
The lesson? If you want someone to help you, find a way to help them first.
Ogilvy surprised him by agreeing to take on the account.
The Man in the Hathaway Shirt
Ogilvy’s campaign idea doesn’t sound all that innovative, even for its time. A worldly, distinguished-looking businessman model was selected and the photo shoot was booked to take place in a fancy men’s tailor. Nothing remarkable there.
But on the way to the photo shoot, Ogilvy stopped at a dime store to purchase a couple of 50-cent costume eye-patches. Fifteen minutes into the session he tossed one to the model, who wore it for the rest of the shoot.
When the campaign launched, the ‘Hathaway Man’ was given a rich and exotic back story to go with his rich and exotic shirt fabrics.
The rest, as they say, is history.
The ‘Man in the Hathaway Shirt‘ became hugely successful for the company and featured in dozens of advertisements till well into the 1980’s. Hathaway grew to become the second largest shirtmaker in the U.S.
Continue reading %How a 5-cent Eye-Patch Created a Million Dollar Story%
Source: SitePoint