Then We Set His Hair On Fire [Hardcover]

This book really isn't about advertising (nor about arson for that matter); rather, in it Dusenberry shares much of what he experienced and learned throughout a 40-year career which culminated in his election to the Advertising Hall of Fame in 2002. As he explains, "This is a book about insights in business -- how we get them, how we recognize them, how we keep them coming....Ideas, valuable though they may be, are a dime-a-dozen in business....Insight is much rarer -- and therefore more precious...a good insight can fuel a thousand ideas....More than anything else, an insight states a truth that alters how we see the world." The allure of a powerful insight: Once you experience one, "you can't see the world in any other way." The most valuable insights are those which reveal and then guide and inform an appropriate course of action. Such insights initiate an chain reaction of ideas, some of which -- in turn -- generate other insights.

This process can occur in any human enterprise and invariably requires effective communication, cooperation, and collaboration involving several different people. However, everything begins with a need to be filled, a question to be answered, or a problem to be solved. Then extensive research must be conducted, with the results rigorously analyzed. Hopefully, what Dusenberry calls a "salient fact" will be revealed which should lead to a compelling insight. Then there must be a strategy which will "drive" the insight during implementation. In advertising, Dusenberry claims, "if you have a great insight and strategy, great ads practically write themselves." He would probably be the first to concede, however, that mass production of automobiles (e.g. Ford), creation of feature-length animation films (e.g. Disney), and splitting the atom (e.g. Manhattan Project) may involve the same process but are immensely more complicated than devising and then executing successful advertising campaigns for FedEx, Frito-Lay, GE, Gillette, HBO, Pepsi, Pizza Hut, and VISA.

What I especially appreciate about this book is Dusenberry's personal, indeed conversational style as he allows his reader to accompany him "down memory lane" to re-visit many of the most significant "insights and accidents" during his career. For each, he carefully establishes a context: the situation, the objective, the challenge(s), the competition, the nature and extent of collaboration at BBDO, the relationship with the given client, the compelling insight, and its primary strategy; then its production, execution, and the eventual (if not always immediate) impact of the given campaign. I also appreciate Dusenberry's wit and, when appropriate, his self-deprecation. He may be in his industry's Hall of Fame but he is mercifully free of a Rushmorean self-image.

Frankly, I have become allergic to book titles which are cute, catchy, clever, eye-catching, sticky, gooey, etc. The relevance of this book's title is best revealed within Dusenberry's narrative. However, I do reassure those who read this brief commentary that the title is eminently appropriate. More importantly, the situation to which it refers illustrates that when accidents occur during the production of television commercials featuring celebrities such as Michael Jackson, most of them respond to problems in a professional manner.

This is a thoroughly entertaining and well as an unusually informative personal memoir about advertising and BBDO, of course, but also about certain basic business principles which are relevant to all other industries and to all other organizations. In Chapter 13, "Building a Foolproof Insight Creation Machine," Dusenberry offers eighteen "guidelines" (not rules) to guide and inform anyone who is then inspired by his concluding remarks: "A strong insight can fuel a thousand reasons to act and make something happen. That, more than anything, should be your reason to fight and persevere for your own insight moment. When you are armed with a powerful insight, the ideas never stop flowing." Dusenberry's memoir provides an abundance of such insights. Hopefully, at least one or two of them will help his readers and their associates to cause their own "insight moments" to occur.

First, to eliminate any confusion, this is the same, word-for-word book as One Great Insight Is Worth a Thousand Good Ideas: An Advertising Hall-of-Famer Reveals the Most Powerful Secret in Business. So buy one or the other, whichever is cheaper. Now THAT's an insight you can take to the bank.

Having worked with Phil for 7 years as a client, it is refreshing to revisit his charm and wisdom. Of which he had plenty. I found the book to be mostly accurate. Two mistakes pop out: 1. The Jay Leno/Doritos theme line was Crunch (not munch, that's a Frito's term) All You Want, We'll Make More. That was penned by Tracey-Locke's top creative guy and he should have been mentioned for that insightful creativity. 2. A MAJOR creative force at BBDO, Harvey Hoffenberg, isn't mentioned once. Harvey was responsible for MANY of Pepsi's incredible TV spots in the 80s. He and Phil had a falling out and considering the sizeable ego involved, that's apparently the price of friendship lost. But it's unfair and inaccurate, as if US History had been written without mentioning Ben Franklin. There were other people suffering the same fate but Harvey's omission REALLY stands out.

And for those of you who are interested in how advertising worked (note past tense: the heydays of great advertising are GONE in the US; just turn on your set to see the ample evidence) I believe Phil gives too little credit to the myriad of people who are involved (for better, and, sometimes, worse) in that complex dance. Think of it as the ultimate "telephone game" where one person tells the next a short message with the hope of getting it to the end intact. Great advertising people enhance that message at every step. And by "people" I mean the brand managers and their superiors; the advertising managers; the agency creatives, account people and producers; and then the production companies -- their producer(s) (including casting, set design, location scouts, props, wardrobe, etc) and the director; and the people in post: editor(s), effect, music, sound effects, etc. They all need to get aligned like so many planets.

And if that alignment comes unglued, it gets ugly. There was one spot that BBDO produced for Pepsi called "Crack" that never saw the light of day. The idea was that the earth was incredibly parched and created a giant fissure that "ran" all over the place looking for refreshment and ultimately ran to a Pepsi machine where, when it was totally consumed by the crack, created a big refreshing AHHH heard around the world. When CEO Roger Enrico saw it he said "no." It just didn't work. Pepsi paid the $1MM+ tab for it and we moved on to the next round. That was Enrico's genius. He knew the high-wire act of creating the world's best ads couldn't bat 1.000 and BBDO was never in the slightest dinged for that one. The old Sicilian saying -- A fish stinks from the head -- is true. In this case, Enrico's brilliance is what cascaded down over the company and the agency, to the benefit of both.

So if Phil is guilty of anything in this book it is the oversimplification of that delicate, complex "dance." And overuse of the words "I", "me", "my" and the like. There IS a lot of wisdom in this book -- notably that most companies/brands/products don't really understand how they are viewed by their customers. His wine shop metaphors are dead on. The consumer holds all the keys, you just have to reach out and touch them to see where the beef is if you absolutely, positively want to send the very best.

And I've read A LOT. This one, however, goes behind the scenes on how a product lets the consumer know it's here by a "memorable" campaign, not the the 24/7 onslaught of pop-ups or product placement or posters-in-public-bathrooms that we have been experiencing of late. It's enough to make a person wistful for the good ol' days of advertising. I'm NOT in the business, but I can still remember each and every ad Dusenberry mentioned. (And I can still recite: Two all-beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, onions, on a sesame seed bun! :-) ) At the same time, I can't remember a single ad that aired last night during "Desperate Housewives." Newcomers may blow off the meanderings of a mere high-school graduate who "did good" in advertising, but from this consumer's viewpoint, Dusenberry GOT it, and that's an insight I'll cherish.

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