Candidate Dole's slogan just doesn't do it

From: http://www.bizjournals.com/sacramento/stories/1996/10/28/smallb3.html?t=printable

Friday, October 25, 1996
Candidate Dole's slogan just doesn't do it

Sacramento Business Journal - by Bill "Guerrilla" Gallagher, Ph.D.

One of the most powerful marketing slogans these days is, of course, Nike's "Just do it." In the first presidential debate between Bill Clinton and Bob Dole, I heard Sen. Dole encourage drug users: "Just don't do it." This wasn't his first use of that phrase. Earlier he had said it was his anti-drug message to America's youth.

Hmmm.

As much as I admire the former Senate majority leader from Kansas, as a marketing specialist I think his suggestion is a bit lame. Here's why:

Nike has spent a lot of money and effort on developing and promoting its positive, albeit double entendre, message of endless possibilities with the purchase of a pair of sneakers. Its message, targeted at the youthful sports-minded, hip market, works because of its imaginative, titillating subconscious communication.

Guerrillas will remember that no one ever makes a conscious buying decision. All purchase decisions are made by the subconscious mind. Winning marketing requires that your favorable purchase-message get through the layers of the mind to the subconscious. The easiest way to do this is to have a non-offensive, positive message repeated enough times to get through.

This is how Michael Jackson, in his heyday, sold Pepsi by the millions of gallons when, in fact, he hated the stuff. He just danced and sang over and over again things about the Pepsi generation, whatever that was. It was fun, exciting, youthful, and it made a major dent in the sales of Coke, which at the same time was shouting as loud as the could, "Coke is it."

Is this "it" the same "it" as in "Just do it"?

The really cool thing about the word "it" is that it can mean anything and everything the hearer wishes. If "it" didn't exist as a word in English, I think we marketers would have invented it long ago. It's a great marketing word for all ad copy and slogans.

The 20-year-old slogan of the U.S. Army is wonderful for the same great reasons discussed above. It is positive, hopeful, nonspecific, imaginative and exciting (especially to late teens). "Be all that you can be in the Army."

Now Nike has good reason to hope Bob Dole loses. The new Republican fall guy has unveiled his slogan for his anti-drug campaign: "Just don't do it." Besides being an uninspired swipe of Nike's motto, its message is negative. This is a big no-no in the ad business. Worse, he's aiming this message at the same crowd who has wholeheartedly supported Nike's message with billions of shoe purchases, worldwide. And not just shoes; they are buying posters, T-shirts, sweat shirts and a host of other related paraphernalia with its logo and positive message emblazoned everywhere.

That makes for a tough fight for the GOP.

Bad idea, Sen. Dole. Just don't do it. Next time you need a slogan, call in a Guerrilla.

Bill Gallagher is head of Guerrilla Sales & Marketing in Diamond Springs and co-author of "Guerrilla Selling." For more information, call (800) 800-8086 or send e-mail to bguerrilla@aol.com. If you have a marketing question, send it to The Business Journal, 1401 21st St., Sacramento 95814.