Too Good to Pass Up – here’s an explanation and example to sink into our heads how “Imperfect is the New Premium.”
Exhibit A: When KFC ran out of chicken in the entire UK, did the lawyers write a six-page, carefully worded apology or have a PR team huddle offsite for 3 days? No.
The social media team said…
Rearrange the letters to “FCK” on all marquees.
They were rewarded with a surge of sales and online love.
EGC opportunity/crisis below.
A C-suite team of a $500m enterprise, Tom James Company, is wringing their hands at the Nashville headquarters to decide how to handle Gunnar Churchwell–a 24-year-old suit sales rep who has blown up their highly-regarded training model.
They have about 500 sales reps across the country.
Interestingly, Gunnar is mostly promoting the category as a tailor, and rarely mentions the specific company name, Tom James.
Other sales reps are starting to follow his TikTok strategy rather than follow Tom James’s pound-the-pavement approach and phone scripts, which include not responding if customers ask how you’re doing. Instead, they stay on the topic of suits.
I was asked: What should we do?
Answer: Bet on the future. Bet on Gunnar.
Their national recruitment strategy for the sales team is to hire the Tri Delta rush chairman right out of college and stick to the script.
Free tip: Expand your pool to drama majors.
Pop Culture
As T. Swift gallivants around Europe with Travis, in the distance there’s a freight train she might not see coming.
Her iconic breakup song act is being threatened by rising star Ella Langley, who sings about heartbreak and healing more deeply than anyone on the scene.
Ella might have to dial back a tad on the God, Guns, and Mama stories. But she is country with lyrics like “why you are lying your iPhone face down / and not holding me all night long?”
She’s from Hope Hull, Alabama, and went to Auburn to study forestry. Listen to “He Ain’t You.” She’s the real thing, and even capturing downloads from my uncles and first cousins in Waycross, who still listen to Patsy Cline and Crystal Gail.
Legendary ad executive Bill Backer told us in 1969 that Coca-Cola is “the real thing,” until Coke went all high fructose corn syrup in 1984 and is still pouring it all over human arteries today.
Fake is sticky until we say no more.
