A Good Advertising Lesson

By Jim Whelan

Thursday, September 27, 2007

It's almost five in the afternoon, and I'm just getting to the office. I had a few things on my list to do this morning, and I didn't get them all done.

I guess the plan was either overly ambitious, or very poorly thought out. It was probably a bit of both, but that's just how some days go.

So when I got to my desk, there was a huge stack of mail. On the cover of the magazine on top of the stack was Cheryl Tiegs. That took me zooming backwards, and I said to myself, "That chick has to be 60 years old." I know this because of that Sports Illustrated cover from back in what seems like childhood.

So I went right to the article, and I was close. Very close, in fact. She says she is 59, so obviously I'm right that she is really 60 or beyond, because women lie about their age all the time.

But she looks good. Very, very good.

And she doesn't have that 90210 look, which you get with a lot of zeroes.

She looks natural, not like her face could break at any moment. Oh yeah...the advertising lesson.

You want some publicity...put a celebrity on the cover of whatever you're selling. You want big publicity... put a good looking celebrity on the cover of whatever you are selling. And you want bigga bigga buckaluckas? Put a 60-year-old woman on the cover that looks like she is 30.

Baby boomers eat this stuff up. That's the 50+ crowd that has a lot of dough, and needs a place to spend it.

What is Cheryl selling?

I don't have the foggiest idea.

But whatever it is, I'm buying.

From the big saddle,
Jim Whelan

P.S. I'm still just astounded by this cover. Whatever this woman has should be bottled and sold. The only place I know where you could get a better deal than whatever Cheryl is offering is at The Joan Randall Agency. I'll even put away the magazine when you call. That's a promise. 206-407-3124.