I just read a story about an old lady and her terminally ill husband.
He fell down in the bathroom and couldn’t get up.
The old lady couldn’t lift him herself, so she called emergency services.
Seven medics arrived, trained and ready to deal with any situation.
Three district nurses, two paramedics, and two Marie Curie nurses.
Seven seemed more than she needed, but she asked if they could help get him back to bed.
They said no, none of them could do that.
They didn’t lift people.
He was only a thin elderly man, but regulations stated they didn’t lift people.
Not without special equipment, and they didn’t have any.
So seven highly-trained, emergency medical respondents couldn’t lift an old man back into bed.
And for two hours they stood around him and discussed the situation.
Between them, these people were trained to deal with hypothermia, hyperglycaemia, cardiopulmonary resuscitation, even poor nutrition and grief-counselling.
Seven trained professionals who could attend to most details of most situations that might occur.
But they couldn’t do the simple basic, human thing that needed doing.
So the man stayed on the floor for two hours, while they stood over him and discussed it.
That seems to be pretty much the way things are nowadays.
We have trained experts who can do everything except the simple, basic, things that need doing most.
Try it yourself, walk into any meeting and see who’s present.
There’s probably an Integration Evangelist, a Millennial Sales Strategist, a Brand Ambassador, a Head of Innovation, a Futurist, a Head of Organic Intelligence.
There’s probably an expert in dynamic storytelling, an expert in 360 degree conversations, in native advertising, in multi-channel unified brand experience, in system-wide cultural leadership, even in digital ecosystems.
All the experts sitting around unable to do the simple, basic thing that needs doing most.
Because here’s the simple, basic thing.
£18.3 billion is spent on all forms of advertising and marketing.
Of that, 4% is remembered positively, 7% is remembered negatively, and 89% isn’t noticed or remembered.
That’s roughly £17 billion lying around unable to get noticed.
While all the experts stand around and discuss why that’s not really their job.
Because none of them are interested in the simple, basic thing of getting the advertising noticed.
And all those experts are as much use an ashtray on a motorbike.
As Bill Bernbach said “If no one notices your advertising, everything else is academic.”
YES DAVE!
Spot on.
There are too many people making too few positive contributions.
Also, the thing that struck me about your story…
There were seven people, who were supposedly there to offer medical assistance, but they couldn’t do anything because of rules and regulations.
There are rules and regulations for everything nowadays.
Some good. A lot are bad.
We are living in a world where the sense of what’s right overrules common sense.
A year ago my daughter started studying surgery in Russia after becoming a Doctor.
She has held a live liver, she has felt all the organs inside the human body,
she has performed and successfully completed several types of operations under
supervision on her own. She has attended RTA’s (Road Traffic Accidents) where people’s
bodies have been so mashed-up due to speeding it has been hard to describe where
one part begins and another part ends, but she is very confident and competent.
About a year ago I asked her: “What was it like to feel a real live liver?”
She said: “Ooh! It’s so soft, and it’s lovely and warm to the touch!”
I thought to myself, she’s beginning to talk like a real Doctor.
I joked: “Don’t you feel squeamish when you grope around someones internal organs?”
She said: “No, It’s great because I know exactly where every organ in the human body is now
and what it look like and if something suddenly goes wrong now I know it for real, not theory.
I know exactly what it is or where the problem could be. I now have a complete picture of the whole
human body’s internal organs in my mind like a roadmap. I know exactly where everything is.”
She’s also experienced the death of patients and been present when families have to been informed.
I asked her how that felt. She told me “It’s part of the job. We are there to solve medical problems
and improve the quality of life. We do what we can but we do not and cannot play God.”
You can’t just ‘Google it.’
Hi Dave – just out of curiosity, what’s the source of your often quoted: 4% positive / 7% negative / 89% not noticed?
It’s a great soundbite, and it feels true, but having done a bit of research I can’t actually find what study this has come from?
Or is that the point – the marketing lesson for everyone?
Cheers
The old lady would have better luck instead, calling her neighbors or family first- what happens in Asia, Middle East and Latin America usually.
The problem ALSO lies in the stupidity of marketers. This is the bigger plague which allows conditions like this to fester.
You gave statistics for advertising, and I reckon a similar one applies to marketers who don’t know – should be around 8 out of 10 at least who allow conditions like this to fester.
If they had any smarts they’d have booted all of them out and examined solutions with people who understand and make sense and offer practical solutions…
Dave,
Here’s a girl who could eat the department of Chocolate teapots for breakfast:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CrX5O2XWHws
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How many trained medical professionals does it take to lift a patient? It’s like a bad joke.
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