The best sniper rifle in the world is the Barrett M107.
It’s a .50-calibre semi-automatic and fires a bullet twice the size and power of a normal round, it’s accurate to well over a mile.
Which is why the world’s elite forces use the Barrett M107.
In Afghanistan, a unit of US Marines got into a firefight. Normally this wouldn’t be a problem, they were equipped with a Barrett rifle, but the Barrett jammed, the one thing you don’t want a gun to do in a firefight.
This was now a life-or-death situation.
So the young marine sniper did something only an American would think to do. Something that wouldn’t even occur to a soldier of any other nation in combat.
As the marines were in a firefight he was too far from base to call for the armourer to fix the gun, and he didn’t have any tools with him.
So he called the people who made the rifle: he called Barrett Firearms Manufacturing in Tennessee, over 7,000 miles away.
When the receptionist answered, the marine calmly asked to be put through to customer service.
The person who answered in customer service was Don Cook, an ex-marine himself.
Barrett Firearms knew their main users were military, so it made sense to hire people who were familiar with their guns.
Cook asked the young marine what the problem was.
Above the sound of gunfire, the marine explained that his gun was jamming and he wondered if customer service could help.
Cook was familiar with the problem and thought the lower-receiver was probably bent. He was able to suggest a hack.
He told the young marine to remove the bolt-carrier and use the bottom part to bend the lower-receiver back into position.
The young marine followed the advice, then reassembled the Barrett rifle and quickly fired a few test rounds.
When they were both satisfied it was working properly, the marine thanked him and hung up to get back into the firefight. The whole process had taken about a minute.
Now THAT is what you call customer service.
In combat, where it literally means the difference between life and death, that level of attention to all aspects of the job is what’s made Barrett the finest sniper-rifle in the world.
Because the best rifle in the world has to ALWAYS be able to shoot, that means fixing it immediately it goes wrong.
That means the actual rifle isn’t the only part of the system that’s essential.
It can’t be the best rifle in the world if it’s not working.
So with Barrett, you don’t just buy a gun, you buy a whole backup service that makes sure the rifle will always do what it’s supposed to do.
Every aspect of that company is working together to make sure that rifle is the best in the world.
That’s how it should be with our business.
It’s no good doing great ads if no one sees them because the media let us down.
Media has to make sure the ads run in the most creative positions possible, where everyone will notice them.
Great ads that don’t get seen aren’t going to work.
And it’s no good doing great ads if the client won’t buy them.
Account handling has to make sure the client is creatively aligned with what we’re trying to do, not just selling the client the easiest thing for a comfortable life.
And it’s no good trying to do great ads if the brief is wrong.
Strategy has to think about the business problem creatively, what we’re doing and why, not just formulaic thinking for an easy ride.
Just like the Barrett rifle, every department has to operate at the top of its game for the overall result to be the best.
If anyone isn’t operating at the top level then that’s the weakest creative link.
And the entire chain of creativity is only as strong as the weakest link.
What if everyone’s super screwed up, as is happening in a recent act? 🙂
I had a British client in Dubai that I got on very well with. He asked me to critique a tv ad done for their business when it was parked at GGT. i asked my client if they ever met any creatives at GGT. The response was “not once”.
I told him that the tv ad looked like a moving press ad, and he agreed, saying we didn’t like it either but had to pay for it.