I may have written about this before, but I’m old, and I think I’ve earned the right to repeat myself occasionally.
When I was a graphic designer, one of my longest clients was the organization behind a local 12k race known around the world (not an exaggeration) as Bloomsday. For twenty-five years I provided advertising and marketing materials for the annual race, held in Spokane on the first Sunday in May (note: the 49th running of Bloomsday is this weekend, hence this reminiscence).
Every year, I created advertising concepts and presented them to the Marketing Committee. The goal in each presentation was to provide professional advertising options that ran from mild to wild. The committee inevitably ignored wild and mostly went with mild. I think they did this to avoid giving offense to those who might take it, eliminate the potential for uncomfortable phone calls, and show their ignorance of good marketing.
This is the way with committees everywhere. I think it’s a federal regulation.
There were, to be sure, a few committee members with actual life experience who knew good marketing. Unfortunately, they were outnumbered by lawyers.
Even dragging a judicatory anchor, I created some pretty good ads over the years.
There was one ad campaign concept that never saw the light of day, and it remains one of my best ideas ever.
Like all good marketing, the concept attempted to solve a problem. Here, the problem was a slight drop in family participation in the race; we wanted to promote more family participation in Bloomsday.
So, my idea was hilarious, simple, and guaranteed to get noticed:
This campaign would have been AWESOME!!!
…and, given the membership of the committee, totally impossible. Never in a million years.
Just imagine the phone calls! The letters and emails! The idiot media stoking controversy! The viral Facebook posts!
Everyone would have been talking, yelling, screaming, and protesting about Bloomsday! It would've been the best advertising campaign of my career.
Sadly, I can only dream about what might have been. The humor-averse lawyers nixed it.
About the Author
Topdog is Steve Merryman, a retired graphic designer, illustrator, and unrepentant asshole. Steve can usually be found working on a portrait commission or some other artwork. Steve fills his days by painting, writing, shootin' guns, cuttin' trees, hiking with his dogs, and savoring a beer or two, all while searching for the perfect cheeseburger. He studiously avoids social media and is occasionally without pants.
Comments 2
Yup. They have no sense of humor. And we’re ruled by the lowest common humor denominator in a committee.
Author
Committees are where all good ideas go to die.