Camden Bernatz (00:00:02) - Welcome to brands and campaigns, the stories and people behind clever marketing moves powered by EKR. I'm your host, Camden Bernatz, creative director and head of brand strategy at EKR. Do you know what the oldest franchised restaurant in the United States is? No, it's not McDonald's, not Chick-fil-A, not even Subway, who I believe has the most locations of any franchise restaurant. But the answer is A and W the the Root Beer Company. They have food as well, but they're famous for their root beer. A and W turns 105 this year, and the opportunity lended itself to a fun campaign from, Cornett and I have here. Joining me today from Cornett creative director is Jonathon Spalding, who worked on this campaign to celebrate the not even 100th birthday, 105th birthday from A and W with a special promotion for 100 year olds. Centenarians, they call them in the United States by giving away free root beers for life. So if you are 100 years old or more A and W give you free root beer and it's been very fun, there's there's some fun little videos and some static ads that have have been attached to this, which we'll talk about in just a minute.
Camden Bernatz (00:01:16) - But first, again, I want to introduce Jonathon, Creative Director at coordinate. Thank you for being here.
Jonathon Spalding (00:01:20) - Thank you Camden. Excited to be here. It's, we certainly have a lot of love for for this campaign. So it's it's good to see a lot of love from the industry as well, for sure.
Camden Bernatz (00:01:28) - Yeah. Obviously if you've if anybody's been following the show for a little bit, we don't want to just have work that features that, you know, did a good job per se. They got the job done. But we wanted to feature creative and clever clever work. And this one definitely fits the bill. I encourage you, as always, to go check out the visuals on this, because the podcast doesn't quite do it justice, but there is a series of videos and images where they've got these elderly people who are really reveling in the celebration of not only being 100 years plus, but enjoying a root beer. They've got some funny sunglasses on, and one of the guys has a hat that says Spicy Papa.
Camden Bernatz (00:02:05) - I don't know the story behind that. Maybe. Maybe Jonathon can fill us in on that drink and root beer. Rootbeer floats having having a celebration. And it's all set to really fun, like funky music. And it's, it's. I don't know how to describe it. It's fun and unique. And so as we get into this, I have a series of questions about this. But first I'll ask you, Jonathan, how did it start? How did this like what was the brief that that hit your desk or how did how did this initial campaign come to be or come to your to your desk?
Jonathon Spalding (00:02:34) - Yeah, you know, it. We didn't really have a brief for this. And we do a lot of sort of earned campaigns at Cornett. It's one of the things that, you know, we're kind of starting to get known for, and a lot of the ideas don't come from briefs. They just sort of come from knowing the brand and looking for a moment in culture and an opportunity for the brand to show up in a in a different way.
Jonathon Spalding (00:02:56) - So Anselmo Ramos says it really well that, you know, don't wait for a brief if you know the brand, you're briefed. And so that that's something that we live by to at Kornet. So yeah, it didn't come from a brief. It just sort of we were we needed an earned idea for A and W. And it came from actually our Hornets marketing director. His name's Jamin Deaver and he's, he's a former PR guy, so he's kind of our one of our secret weapons in this space. And, so he wrote the initial idea and, you know, immediately it was like, that's hilarious. Like, we have to we have to find a way to do that. So that's where it started.
Camden Bernatz (00:03:30) - So did it start with, was was was people already aware that it was the 105th anniversary of the company? And that's what kind of led to this? Or was it first like, let's do something with, you know, old people. Like what? What was the first thing, the spark that then led to the idea, I guess if you're familiar with that process.
Jonathon Spalding (00:03:47) - Yeah, it was we had several angles for earned that we were playing with. And the one that we kept coming back to was the oldest franchise restaurant in America. And we knew there was like a brand moment coming up. And we were trying to figure out, like, what's the most interesting, exciting, newsworthy way that we can, that we can do something with that anniversary. Awesome.
Camden Bernatz (00:04:05) - Cool. That makes sense. So there's not only just the creative like the the ads themselves, but you had to kind of work with A and W to be willing to offer this as a promotion. Then what was that like? Was there was it hard kind of convincing them to offer such a of a deal?
Jonathon Spalding (00:04:20) - It was surprisingly easy. And I think that's a credit. There's such a an amazing client there, such a great partner of ours. And, and, they get it. And so it was it was not actually that difficult. I remember we did get to attend a sort of one of their board meetings, where they brought this idea up.
Jonathon Spalding (00:04:39) - And the first question was like, hey, is there any sensitivity? How do you all feel about this idea? It's it's a there's some inherent tension in it, which we loved. But and I really had no idea how that was going to be received by that group. But they loved it. They laughed about it. They I think one person was like, you know, if you live that long and you don't have a sense of humor, you know, what are you doing? So, they got it. And then then the question was, yeah, but you know, what's the risk associated with the promotion? You know, if we make this a permanent policy, how much how much money are we going to lose over the years? So the the number of centenarians currently in the United States is at 108,000. it's a it's a growing population. People are living longer, but they felt like, you know, it's not a huge risk. And it's it's a population that is sort of forgotten.
Jonathon Spalding (00:05:25) - It's the forgotten population, especially in advertising. Everybody's going after the young consumers. And so it just felt it felt good to be able to do something for a consumer that has been there since the beginning, you know, there and day one's, it tells something good to do, something good for them. so they they just felt like it was a win all around. Well, yeah.
Camden Bernatz (00:05:45) - It's it's a promotion for the older generation that still resonates with the younger generation. Like, it's fun, it's clever, it's humorous. So it's it's it checks a lot of boxes I think, which makes it so, so effective. And like you said, the tension there is not, you know, not to be morbid, but they're they're not going to be around much longer. What's the humor in like offering this life lifetime, you know, rest of your life? Free root beer when the rest of your life probably isn't that much longer is humorous, like you said. It's not like it's a surprise to 100 year old or older.
Camden Bernatz (00:06:16) - Like they know that they're they're getting there. And so to be able to embrace that and give them something fun like this is yeah, I think it's it's a good balance of it's the right kind of humor. Like it's it's enough to like, oh, that's kind of it's funny. And then you think about it more and it's funnier, but it's. Yeah, I don't know if I'm describing that will, but good job on that.
Jonathon Spalding (00:06:35) - Yeah. We we love stuff like that. We love something that's just a little bit polarizing. You know, that's because it guarantees people have something to say about it. And so it's like you post a social video and people are going to comment, you know, no matter what what they're going to either comment that they love it or they're going to comment that, oh, that's a little morbid. Or like, yeah, so, so great. So they get one root beer like good job. You know. So it's it's fun seeing both both responses honestly.
Jonathon Spalding (00:07:00) - And that's what we got. But overwhelmingly people loved it. People were were excited about it. And they just thought it was such a cool thing that we were able to do something with some centenarians, some 100 year old people like, yeah, that's funny.
Camden Bernatz (00:07:11) - And it's also show that you talked about knowing the brand that if you know the brand, then you're briefed and obviously wants to promote all their different products. They have food and things like that. But the root beer has always been the iconic product and their famous root beer blend and whatnot. So to have this be I mean, it would still be funny if it was like, you know, a free burger or free meal, whatever. But to say, you know, root beer that really just hits it home, that that's what's been around from the beginning. That's what these 100 year olds have been drinking for the whole time. And so I just feel like it's another good. It wouldn't have been quite the same if it was offering something besides root beer.
Jonathon Spalding (00:07:44) - Yeah, totally. I mean, and specifically the root beer float, it's it's such a nostalgic product already. And people really do love, I mean, those even those centenarians that we got, they couldn't stop drinking it. It was it was even for them. Like they they have memories of root beer floats and and and so it, it just it just rang true. And you know, we set down when we first set down the root beer floats in front of them. I didn't even get a chance to say, don't drink it. It's a prop. Before they were sucking it down, you know. So nice.
Camden Bernatz (00:08:16) - Yeah, well, it's like it's another example of a timeless product in the sense that it hasn't. It's not like it's much different than what it was. It's not like some, you know, the menu has changed over time and new products come out and new ingredients. But like root beer, root beer floats like, yeah, that's been around for a long time. And it's it's if it ain't broke, don't fix it.
Camden Bernatz (00:08:32) - And so it's celebrating that as well.
Jonathon Spalding (00:08:34) - Yeah that's right I mean and it's such a nostalgic AllAmerican brand. You know, root beer floats, coney dogs, classic burgers, cheese curds. Like the whole the whole vibe is, is nostalgic. So we try to play into that, you know, and reinvent it in a fun way.
Camden Bernatz (00:08:49) - So awesome. Some of the copy here on some of these ads, like just for those who are listening, like root beer floats, never get old. Obviously referring to the fact that you get old. But root beer floats never get old. live to 100, get free floats for life. And then, yeah, obviously the details about the promotion. So I want to talk a little bit about like the production itself. So these people are, are they're clearly elderly and that's, that's who you're going for. But they're very fun. They're very, they fit the part I think. And so I, I'm reading from the, the AD Age article about this.
Camden Bernatz (00:09:22) - We've got, they're both World War Two veterans and one iteration, which is 104 year old Hazel Calloway and 100 year old Glendale Bennett. And then also, there's some content with the 95 year old grand influencer Helen Van Winkle, who is Batty Winkle on social media, who's got millions of social media followers. What was it like? What was casting like? Finding and choosing these these people to be in this? What was that process like?
Jonathon Spalding (00:09:48) - It worked out pretty perfectly. I don't think we could have planned it any better. And so Baddy Winkle is someone we've been wanting to work with for a long time. She's actually she lives like 20 minutes away from our agency in Lexington, Kentucky. So we've been, you know, we've been trying to find the perfect project to work with her on. And and she's she's not as active as she used to be. She doesn't hasn't done a, you know, a brand collab in a while, doesn't post on social a ton anymore, but she still does some things.
Jonathon Spalding (00:10:16) - She's still, she's still kicking. So, we thought this was the perfect chance to work with her, and and we thought it was kind of funny that she wasn't actually 100. And we're able to play into that bit a little bit. Like she's not eligible yet. and so she in the video, she says, I'm just jelly. I can't get one. And then she says, But I'm totally going to do it. Yeah. She grows up.
Camden Bernatz (00:10:37) - Yeah. Which is funny for 95 year old to say. Right.
Jonathon Spalding (00:10:40) - And then, the other two, it just it just worked out so well because, Hazel is she's connected to the agency through one of our account people. It's her great grandmother-in-law. So that we kind of had it inside Lane for her. And then. And she's 104 and then Glendale was, we we got lucky with him. He's also a local guy who just celebrated 100th birthday. And so they there was a local news article about him earlier this year. So we got got connected with his family and we knew he was a World War Two vet.
Jonathon Spalding (00:11:12) - And which makes so much sense for A and W because we actually started during a in 1919 during a homecoming parade for World War One veterans. So they've always had a connection to vets. But then we found out, you know, a couple of days before the shoot, that Hazel was also a warbird, too, that so it was like, you know, it just couldn't have been more perfect.
Camden Bernatz (00:11:33) - Well, there's something in the water in Kentucky or in the root beer. I guess people are living that long. So there's a little plug for for heading out that way, I guess. Awesome. And another thing, as far as like the the style, the art direction that the script, there's these older people and part of the humor is are kind of acting like not typical older people like, like saying things like, I'm jelly. They're one of the things again, this is me talking about it doesn't do it justice. You got to go watch the video. But Glendale says this root beer float is gas, meaning cool in the in the parlance of today's youth.
Camden Bernatz (00:12:04) - And then, Helen says, well, I think I've got something for that, and reaches into her purse like she's looking for a, you know, a gas or beanie or something like that, and just these funny using of modern slang, and wearing, you know, silly sunglasses and these balloons. Where was the how did that come to be decided? We're going to have them act kind of like these GenZ young people, even though they're centenarians. Yeah.
Jonathon Spalding (00:12:26) - I mean, shout out to our, our senior copywriter, Coleman Larkin. He's, I think, one of the best copywriters in the country. And he wrote those, you know, amazing scripts, hilarious scripts. Our director, Meg Heaton is fantastic, who worked on this. And then our photographer Elizabeth Withers, was a great partner for this. And all along we we knew we wanted to make sure that we presented these people in in a way that makes them seem very lively and youthful and full of energy. and so and we also, you know, there's obviously a kind of a funny tension when you have really, really old, older people acting the way you don't expect them to act.
Jonathon Spalding (00:13:06) - that's, that's part of what makes what has made Baddy Winkle such a big person online, you know, 3 million followers and just people. People love to see her and see that you don't have to, you know, even when you're 95, you don't have to act that way. And you can sort of keep that youthful energy throughout your life. So it was fun to get them dressed up. They, they, you know, Hazel at first was a little apprehensive. She was like, I don't know, I don't wear that color. But she, she, she got warmed up. And I mean, she was a star. I think she may be missed her calling as an actress. She was great.
Camden Bernatz (00:13:39) - That's funny that you mentioned the I, my my grandma has passed away now. But she was. Yeah, no matter what, she had to have her makeup just right. Or like, she was very much about that appearance. And so I imagine she would have been similar, like, wait, that's not my color.
Jonathon Spalding (00:13:51) - Oh, that's funny you say that because she we were we were telling her beforehand like, oh, we're going to have, you know, hair and makeup. And she's like, oh no, I don't leave the house without without my hair and makeup done. So exactly. Yeah, I think she did show up with hair and makeup. So we just, you know, we just touched it up a little bit. Didn't need much. It looks great. So that's.
Camden Bernatz (00:14:07) - Funny. Okay, so I want to make a guess about something. You tell me if I'm wrong. Again, we love our centenarians. We love the people who've been around for a long time. The greatest generation, right? But typically older people have a little bit hard sometimes with remembering things and delivering lines. There's that. There's some famous clips in the past, the funny bloopers of old people messing up their lines. So I noticed there's a lot of small chunks in some of the dialogue, like little one little line, another line, and not delivered in long form.
Camden Bernatz (00:14:37) - Did they struggle with the with the lines at all, or am I just assuming too much here?
Jonathon Spalding (00:14:42) - No, you're right about that. It was, I was lucky enough to be able to direct to the shoot to. And it was a really fun challenge. there's a lot of patients. there's a lot of, you know, speaking very loudly, which is. Okay, they were, you know, kind of hard of hearing. I even showed up with a whiteboard. I thought, hey, well, just, you know, give them some cards. And they couldn't see it. You know, so yeah, it was a lot of just repeating lines back to me. They did a fantastic I mean, considering they did a fantastic, fantastic job and and yeah, we did need a lot of cuts. That was always the plan. We wanted to sort of a social first, some social first content. So we kind of leaned into the the fast cuts of social and lots of different angles and camera moves and just make it like real fast-paced.
Jonathon Spalding (00:15:26) - So that was always the plan. But we also sort of knew that we would need that to put the video together. We did. We didn't really know how well-spoken any of them were or, or if they could deliver on. So we just kind of had to roll with it again. We got really lucky that, the six second spot you mentioned earlier, this is gas. We had a bunch of sixes that were all hilarious, and it was like, I don't know if we're going to be able to get any of these. And I kind of had them in my back pocket. And right at the end I was like, hey guys, I got a couple more lines I want you to try. And they did it a couple times, and then that third time they just nailed it and we wrapped and it was, it was kind of a magical moment because I think it turned out so well. And that's my favorite part of this whole campaign is that spot.
Camden Bernatz (00:16:08) - So it's a good one.
Jonathon Spalding (00:16:10) - Yeah.
Camden Bernatz (00:16:10) - What did they think about like the promotion itself. Like did they had any opinions positive or negative whatever about like giving free root beer out for centenarians.
Jonathon Spalding (00:16:19) - Oh, they loved it. I've got a little behind-the-scenes clip of me explaining that to them. And I was and I was like, you know, we're giving away free floats for life for for you guys, anyone over 100. And they were like, oh, really? Like that's amazing. They they didn't even know why they were they were there. They were just like, you know, and once in a commercial and they were like, I love A and W. Sounds good.
Camden Bernatz (00:16:41) - That's awesome. Okay, so then I think it's awesome. By the way, Keith, that's not already I've said awesome too many times already in this episode, but I'm going to I'm going to be the cynic person for now. Is this actually something like three years down the road and this is no longer being talked about? Like, can a hundred-year-old going to walk into A and W? They're going to get free root beer.
Camden Bernatz (00:16:57) - Like, do they have plans that is this like mandatory. Every franchisee like implements it. Like is that it's a real deal right. It is.
Jonathon Spalding (00:17:06) - Yeah. It's very real. And it's you know, it depends on the franchisee whether they want to, card, the person that's, that's kind of the way they framed it is like, you don't use your best judgment, you know? No, nobody's going to get turned away, you know, unless you're like, yeah, you know, a two kids on each other's shoulders and a trench coat or something, you know, trying to fake it. But,
Camden Bernatz (00:17:29) - That's a follow up ad right there. Yeah. No. Right. The next iteration. Yeah. Yeah. Cool. So again, this is, this is just thinking from the industry perspective as far as like I'm thinking about the benefit of this creative and this campaign versus the actual outcome for the for the brand you're doing it for. I feel like whether or not people actually act on this and you're getting people that are coming and getting free root beer, this obviously it puts some brand personality out into the world.
Camden Bernatz (00:17:56) - It it got a A and W in front of people. It was fun. It was celebrating a generation that's often basically you can have no one does it. I think it's a good thing. Do you anticipate or just a A and W anticipate that this is actually going to be used a lot? Like is there any do you have any kind of indications on that, or is it like, well, it might not really be used that much because 108 year olds aren't. Sorry, 108,000 centenarians aren't necessarily sucking down a ton of rootbeer, but it's just a fun for the moment campaign. What do you think about that?
Jonathon Spalding (00:18:23) - Right. It's you know, it's both. I think we first and foremost it's it's awareness. It's a it's a brand moment. It's our media and and that's our media for for A and W is is one of the ways that sort of we're able to try to compete with some of the other bigger advertisers in the space who are spending, you know, five times as much on, on paid media. So it's imperfect or media is calculated, you know, measuring it as imperfect, but it's just a it's a fun kind of scrappy way for us to stay in the, in the minds of consumers.
Jonathon Spalding (00:18:58) - So that's first and foremost, that's that's the goal of it. but we have had, you know, early indication at first, couple of days after the the campaign launched, I think we had out of like 75 stores that report. because not it's not every store that can report quickly, but that 75 stores reported and it was like 17 redemptions, which is actually more than we thought. And, I want to read a letter for you that we got from a man by the name of, Doctor Howard Tucker, and he is from Cleveland. So the note reads, I hope this note finds you. Well, I'm sending this note on behalf of my grandfather, Doctor Howard Tucker, who will be turning 102 in 2 weeks. Last weekend, my grandfather, father and I drove 40 minutes from Cleveland to our nearest restaurant to take advantage of the free root beer float promotion for customers over 100. We all had amazing experiences and thoroughly enjoyed our floats, especially my grandfather, who recalls making his own root beer as a teen during the Great Depression.
Jonathon Spalding (00:19:58) - Although he does wish for an A and W to eventually open up closer to him, we look forward to future outings for floats in the near future. Thank you again for arranging this fun and delicious promotion. Sincerely, Austin and Doctor Howard Tucker And they included a photo just like the cutest old man just slurping on a on a root beer float. It's amazing. Well, there you go.
Camden Bernatz (00:20:18) - That's it right there. That's. Yeah. Job well done. That's how you do it. Yeah. And there's something like clearly. Yeah, it's an ad. It's it's got a brand attached to it. But this is the kind of stuff we've been talking a lot in my agency internally about the idea that people are often trying to avoid ads, but they seek out entertainment. And so if you can make entertainment in your branded entertainment, yes, it's it's entertainment, but it's also serves the purpose of an ad. People will seek that stuff. This is the kind of thing people want to see. They share, they talk about.
Camden Bernatz (00:20:47) - And indirectly it's an ad because it has the brand attached to it. But it's not just like, hey, buy one, get one deal, or come on down for this thing, or you need to buy. It's it's not the kind of people avoid. so it's earned media, like you just said. And so that little anecdotal response to it, people don't give that response a typical ads. They give that to things that are meaningful and resonate with people in a way that goes beyond commerce. And so, yeah, that letter is, I think, probably the best example of how it can be if you do it right. I guess you would say that's awesome.
Jonathon Spalding (00:21:19) - Yeah, it's it's some of the most fun you can have in this business I think is in that space when you're you're not just making an ad, you're making something that people want to talk about that makes the news. And, you know, you wake up and something you made is on Jimmy Fallon, you know, the next morning and, front page of USA today, those little things are just these little dopamine hits that you really can't replace in any other way.
Jonathon Spalding (00:21:42) - And it just makes you want to come back and do it again and do it bigger and do a better. So and luckily, you know, we're we're always chasing those ideas and, and we're kind of gotten to a place where a lot of clients are asking for those ideas as well. People are coming to us for those big earn stunts and campaigns that get people talking. So I love it. It's super fun. And yeah.
Camden Bernatz (00:22:03) - Well, and thank heavens you have a client that understands the value of that, because sometimes in a in a cost per click click through rate world, Everything has to be tied to a conversion. People think. And it's not that we should avoid those. Like depending on what you're doing, you need to be able to track like sales directly. This is one that in my mind is more of a it is a it is putting it's brand awareness and positioning of the brand. It's putting out a personality that people can remember. So then when they drive by in A and W or something else, they oh yeah, I have a have a positive sentiment toward that.
Camden Bernatz (00:22:34) - That's my assumption though. Were there any, specific objectives or KPIs that you and your team were held to from A and W? Or was this one just again trying to get just kind of mass reach of attention? Yeah. Was there any objectives you were trying to be held to?
Jonathon Spalding (00:22:48) - Yeah. I mean, well, you need you need both. You need the paid media, the clicks, the conversions, the you need all of that. But when we are able to layer on the, you know, big awareness or media type of type of stunt or type of campaign, yeah, we are measuring it. It's it's the measurement is really impressions. And from that we can sort of take a good guess at advertising value, estimated advertising value. So yeah, those are, those are our, our major KPIs. But we also one thing we've learned to do is to bake in a KPI that even if it doesn't go majorly viral, it still is a value to the brand. So for instance, with this one, the call to action to any consumer who isn't 100 years old was to sign up for Ruby's Mug Club, which is just like a okay, good.
Jonathon Spalding (00:23:40) - Yeah, it's, sort of a loyalty program. Not really, but, you can sign up for it, and they give you deals and things like that, and you get a free float on your birthday. So that was the that was the call to action for any other consumer. So there's value baked into it. And we've you know, people love free stuff. So that actually that has been pretty successful for us. We've been able to keep pouring into that those subscribers to Mug Club. And so even so, it's just a way to hedge your bets a little bit and, and bake in value for the brand, even if the media doesn't take off because it is a calculated risk. You know you don't. You're not paying for people to see your thing. You're hoping that, you know, journalists write about it and it's not super predictable. You never know what's going on in the media cycle. And journalism is a harder than it's ever been. And people are overworked. There's not enough of them.
Jonathon Spalding (00:24:29) - There's a lot of pressure on it. So yeah, you never you never really know how big it's going to go. So we try to we try to swing a lot. And the more you swing, I think the more you get some hits. And but even if we miss it's, there's there's value in it for the brand.
Camden Bernatz (00:24:42) - Well, this sounds like, you know, marketing one on one talk. But basically it goes back to the idea of the marketing funnel, which is, yes, you're ultimately trying to get a conversion. But if you start with conversion first messaging, you're going to miss a lot. It's a very small net to be fishing with, so to speak. But if you have something entertaining or unique or this or media stuff that has a big net, know not everyone who sees this and likes it's going to sign up for that mug club or whatever, but you have a whole bunch of people in attention wise, and then some of them will go to the next step.
Camden Bernatz (00:25:11) - Some of them will do this, some of and so it's again, I'm preaching to the choir here to you. But like that just it's it's something that we kind of know. But then we often forget if we're so focused on the conversion, the, the sale, the sign up. And if you're messaging just leads with that too much before you've kind of qualified the leads or you've given them a reason to pay attention to you, you're wasting some some attention and money. So this is a great example of yeah, cast a wide net, get the attention. It's okay. If not everything leads directly to a sale. Some of it will and some of it might later. And so yeah, well done on that on that front.
Jonathon Spalding (00:25:41) - Yeah. No doubt. And you know there's not a new on every corner like there is some restaurants. So just getting that name, that brand name in front of people again, it could be enough to make people think, oh, that I haven't had a W in a while.
Jonathon Spalding (00:25:54) - Let me go drive out of my way to go get it. Perfect.
Camden Bernatz (00:25:58) - Thinking back on the whole process from the the idea being developed to the production and how it's gone out. Since you've released the promotion, is there any kind of lessons or takeaways or anything that you feel like either you personally have learned or that the industry, anybody listening who's involved in in the branding and advertising space, could kind of learn from this piece of creative work.
Jonathon Spalding (00:26:18) - Yeah, well, what I love so much about ideas like this is a lot of times it can feel like a heist. You know, it feels like you're getting away with something. And, you know, at the start, it may not always you may not always know how you're going to do it. You may not always know if it's going to work at all. There's a lot of dead ends you can hit. But what I've learned is when you go to the client with the idea and you go to the client with updates, don't ask for a yes.
Jonathon Spalding (00:26:47) - Just ask for a keep going. And what ends up happening, inevitably, is you start to put the pieces together and things start to fall in place, and you found your partners that you need, and you start to the idea of like really starts to shape up and the blurry edges start to sharpen and the idea just inevitably gets bigger. And then so you can come back and say, instead of saying, we could do this, we could do this, we could do this, you come back and you say, this is what we're going to do, this is how it's going to work, and this is how it's going to benefit your brand. And at that point, you know, the yes is easy and they've been along for the ride.
Camden Bernatz (00:27:21) - So that is good stuff. And I think if you're listening to the podcast and you just heard that, go back and listen to that again, I think because the more that I let that sink in, I think there's definitely some wisdom in there because we, we so often in a, in a agency or freelance or basically any kind of creative fulfillment role with our, with our client so often are getting in that rut of like we tossed with it over the fence and they take it or they don't.
Camden Bernatz (00:27:49) - And then we okay, not that one go, but just because something's not ready or approved now, it doesn't mean that the core of the idea is bad, or that it can't be improved, or that they won't be ready later. And so yeah, I like the idea of don't just look for yes or no, but it's for keep going and that that's not a no. That's a keep improving upon this. And so and what you just said about don't just say hey here's some options of things we can do, but show that competence and that expertise and that enthusiasm. Here's what we'd like to do and here's why. And anyways, yeah, I'm just repeating in less good language than what you just said. the sentiment you had. But yeah, I'm just thinking about that. There's, there's definitely wisdom in that.
Jonathon Spalding (00:28:25) - Yeah. I think it's I think a little bit of relentlessness, can be really valuable, as a creative and as something I've learned from our ECD with Tyler, he. When he's got an idea, he will not let it go.
Jonathon Spalding (00:28:40) - And to the point where sometimes you're like whit, shut up, you know, or like you're going to make the client mad. But I think there's such that's such a special thing that I've sort of been able to adopt a little bit as like, push it like make it happen, like find a way to make it happen. And sometimes it's like the client has to say no, like, we're not doing that. Let it go. And then and then you maybe you let it go. Maybe you sell it to another client. You know, he he's also pretty good at that. It's like, all right, well they won't buy it. I'm going to go pitch it to some client, we don't we don't have like he believes in the idea. And so if you believe in the idea find a way to make it happen. Don't don't take no for an answer.
Camden Bernatz (00:29:15) - One of your smarter as a client. You should appreciate that. Like obviously if they're just giving you if they're being really difficult to work with, like you don't want to have a problem relationship, but if someone's pushing something they're passionate about whether or not you end up going forward and approving it and using it, you don't want to damper that passion and that enthusiasm, that creativity.
Camden Bernatz (00:29:32) - And so if you need to rein people in as a client, that's a good place to be. And as opposed to trying to spark them to go above and beyond and pull something out of them and they're not giving you. And so, yeah, that's that's great to have that relationship where, hey, we're going to push this, we're going to we're going to give all kinds of stuff. You can rein us in if you need to. Let us know what we need where you are and aren't going to, you know, approve things, but we're going to shoot for the moon. And so yeah, yeah, no doubt that, well, I'm going to be motivated for the next 69 years to get to my free root beer. if I can, if I live that long and if and if, it's still going on. But this has been this has been very fun campaign to reflect on. And I appreciate your time today. Again. This has been Jonathon Spalding, creative director at Cornett.
Camden Bernatz (00:30:13) - Jonathon, for those who want to get in touch or follow what you're up to, what's the best way for them to do that?
Jonathon Spalding (00:30:18) - LinkedIn. I'm I'm on LinkedIn. You know, I keep up with it's a great way to keep up with the industry. So. Yeah. Look me up. Hit me up. If if you're if you're a brand out there, if you're a client out there and you want ideas like this and you want to get people talking and you want to make more than just ads. Cornett. Where we're coming. So, so hit us up.
Camden Bernatz (00:30:37) - Awesome. Sounds good. I'll definitely keep in tune with you and what you guys are up to. And look for more exciting stuff like this coming out, and I'll let anybody. I'm trying to think, who do I know that's over 100. I got to go find somebody and let them know about the deal. They haven't heard about that yet, but that's right.
Jonathon Spalding (00:30:51) - That's right. You might have to grab them there, but but yeah, let them know.
Jonathon Spalding (00:30:54) - Get their float. They work for it. Yep.
Camden Bernatz (00:30:56) - Exactly, exactly. All right. Well, thanks for listening to the, those who have joined in today. Go get a root beer, if you haven't yet. It's it's the middle of summer. It's hot. Whether you get it for free or not. It's worth it. And, yeah. Stay tuned for more creative marketing branding, advertising moves like this one on the Brands and Campaigns podcast. Thanks. See you.
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