About 2,500 years ago, Aesop taught lessons in parable form.
One of these concerned a dog with a bone, crossing a bridge.
As the dog looks in the water below, he sees another dog with a bone looking back at him.
His immediate reaction is to want the other bone.
So he barks to make the other dog drop his bone and run away.
But of course the other dog is his own reflection.
And in opening his mouth to bark he drops his own bone into the water.
He was bewitched by the illusion of having more, so he ignored what he had and lost everything.
It’s a very simple story.
Nowadays Aesop’s fables are considered far too childish for adults to learn anything from.
Especially not sophisticated marketing experts.
Which is why we keep repeating the same basic mistakes.
Although we’d actually learn more from Aesop’s fables than from all the marketing textbooks.
Because Aesop’s fables are what Bill Bernbach called “Simple, timeless, human truths”.
Take Marks and Spencers.
Twenty or so years ago M&S were in a very solid position.
They had a reputation for simple, good quality, basic clothes.
You bought your suits on Bond Street, but not the basics.
For instance, every year I’d buy half a dozen pairs of plain black socks, half a dozen plain white T-shirts, half a dozen plain black boxer shorts, and 3 plain white shirts there.
Because I wanted simple, plain, no patterns.
Everyone knew that was what M&S did well.
Even Brian Ferry said it was the best place to buy a plain white shirt.
So M&S were making a lot of money, but they wanted more: they wanted to be fashionable.
So they began using fashionable, stylish designers.
They discontinued all the plain, simple basic items.
Suddenly all their clothes had to be patterned, trying to be fashionable.
Which was massive failure because they weren’t.
People who wanted fashionable and stylish wouldn’t shop at M&S.
Meanwhile people who wanted plain and simple couldn’t get it at M&S.
So all their customers went to GAP, Uniqlo, and Muji instead.
These stores happily filled the void left by M&S.
What happened was M&S saw a reflection in the water of stylish, new, high fashion customers.
It was an illusion and, in trying to get them, they ignored the customers they already had, so they lost those.
And once they were gone they couldn’t get them back.
By ignoring something as simple and basic as the lessons in Aesop’s fables they blew everything.
In believing that anything old was irrelevant, they became irrelevant.
In trying to be stylish and sophisticated they ended up looking foolish.
It’s the basic lesson of the dog’s reflection.
Don’t take what you’ve got for granted in order to get something that may not exist.
But we can see all around us advertising campaigns spending millions and making the same mistakes as in the past.
Marketing experts mesmerised by the new, the fashionable.
So they ignore what they’ve already got.
They ignore simple, timeless, human truths, like Aesop.
And yet, Sophocles, Socrates, and Democritus all quoted Aesop’s fables.
So perhaps they shouldn’t be beneath today’s marketing experts.
As Jorge Santayana said: “Those who do not learn from history are condemned to repeat it.”
The same is happening here with America’s oldest store, Brooks Brothers.
They are working so hard to get hipsters that it’s hard to find a shirt that fits anyone with any avoirdupois.
That is, if you’re not skinny, you can’t shop there.
Of course, there’s no alternative in the US.
Though I did buy this year’s winter coat from amazon.co.uk
Figuring the Brits know more about staying warm and dry than anyone.
Thinking primarily of Trevor Howard in “The Third Man,”
and hoping to look like him.
So many companies trying to copy the Zara model of “fast fashion”, that everything you find in stores is always “the latest fashion”. No such thing as essentials, or classics anymore. There’s more than one way to skin a cat. Don’t have to adopt the models of other companies to be relevant.
George, funny you should say that – the only place to get a decent white shirt now is Brooks Bros on Regent St
Fast, disposable fashion isn’t that new.
Remember ‘The Village Gate’, Dave?
Chris Powell used to call it ‘The Paper Suit Company’.
Smashing story as always Dave. What company jumps to mind most for you that stuck to the basics, fended off the flirtations of a sexier position in the market and didn’t fall victim to the above when they easily could of.
Cheers,
Richie
Thanks David – on point as always. One problem – I’ll never be content with what I’ve got. In the words of Don Draper – “I want all of it”. I eat steak for breakfast and make love to my wife 3 times a day. But it doesn’t quench my appetite – I’m still starving. I’m greedy, ambitious and want to shoot for the stars. Fine I might have a Unicorn in the forest, but if there’s a chance to get a Hola Hooping monkey too, I’ll damn well take it.
Hi Richie,
Like anything, we don’t notice the ones who are doing it right BECAUSE they’re doing it right.
We only notice the mistakes.
When things are going right we don’t even notice.
But the best example is Apple under Steve Jobs (2nd time around) check out the Isaacson biography
Great stuff as usual Dave. My best-ever buy were white shirts from French Connection. In the Sale, £15 each, so I bought three.
They had the most comfortable cotton I have ever worn. I can’t explain in words how they felt in the Middle East Sun, they were an absolute
pleasure to wear like sitting in your own personal chill box . I’d be sitting in meetings feeling fresh and calm while everyone else would be
sweating like a pig. I don’t know what the material was made of other than pure cotton, but they were absolutely brilliant. Best buy ever!
And as George Santayana said, ‘those who do not learn from history are condemned to repeat it’.
I don’t know if anyone remembers, but it was the last line of body copy for an old Fallon McElligott in-house ad. Written by Rod Kilpatrick, I think.