SO WHAT DO YOU THINK – TOO VIOLENT?
By
ATL introduced this ad at ITEXPO West in Los Angeles and let me tell you, it was really hard for me. For those of you who know me, this is really not me. It is edgy and pushes violent, two things that I am not. I would say that I haven’t been edgy for about thirty years and have stood against violence for forty.
When I told the advertising people this just wasn’t me their response was, “so much of your target audience is middle age women?” No, there are almost no middle-age women owned telecommunications companies. That’s why telecom trade shows still have girls in hot pants and cheerleader outfits. I tested the idea on my good friend Nate Bledsoe from X5 Solutions and he said that he was impressed I called the thing you pull a cotter pin because usually only people who know about grenades (as he apparently does) know that is the name. I have to admit it must have been the advertising people who knew that because I would have called it “that thing you pull.”
We actually tried to use dead grenades as props at out booth but the exhibit security felt it was not the best of ideas. They did, however, let us take our ammunition box which we used to collect business cards. Between the ammo box and the grenade ad we had the attention of many people and received several reactions. Being around all these grenades must have gotten to us because on the way home we contemplated throwing one of the grenades into the back of a pick-up truck that cut us off on a Los Angeles freeway. (We reconsidered because the jail time might interfere with our getting back to work.)
So what do you think? If this ad was in your show bag, which 6000 of ours were, would it get your attention? What would your perception be of ATL? Should we use it at Comptel – Las Vegas March 2011?
“To thine own self be true” seems fairly applicable here. I know we don’t use ATL because it’s ‘edgy’ or ‘cool’. We use ATL because we get good service at fair prices. On the other hand, we may not represent the typical customer’s attitudes and perceptions.
I really appreciate your comment and after this experience I’m sure you are right. It was very uncomfortable sitting there with pictures of hand grenades when it was so not me. While ATL is still one of the best kept secrets and I need to continue to try to think of attention catching ideas, I am still a Hedgehog. Good to Great describes the hedgehog business person as someone, “taking one simple concept and just doing it with excellence and imagination.”