The Naked Truth

Richard and I gave a talk in LA this week where we talked through the Punk Marketing Manifesto, peppered with lots of case studies and examples. Everyone seemed to have a good time. We laughed, we cried, we hugged. You get the picture. Anyway, the audience were mostly small business owners and people trying to promote their independent film (it was LA, after all) who have tiny budgets to spend, far smaller than many of the brands in our case studies. I think some of the people there thought we were going to teach them a low cost marketing technique as the answer to their prayers. Many of the examples we used where of big brands - BMW, Virgin and Burger King - and the temptation is to think the lessons don’t apply to the small guy. But we wanted the audience to understand it isn’t about the money. Even with the smallest budget, if you follow the principles outlined in the Manifesto you will be able to create marketing that breaks through and sells products. After all, one of the articles of the Manifesto is to outthink rather than outspend the competition.

Well yesterday I read in AdRants about a great example of a small, inexpensive marketing campaign that is exactly that. It is based on a strong-singleminded idea and is brilliantly executed. Created by Boathouse Group, an agency from Waltham MA, the “We’ll Show You Everything” campaign is for the Clay car dealerships in Norwood, MA. Dear to out own hear it features a car salesman stripping down to his undererwear as he explains that, unlike other car dealerships, Clay shows customers the naked truth about the costs associated with the car they might be buying. He explains the 7 tricks the other guys use to bamboozle you.

The four films in the series were artfully directed by Gregory Roman of Magic Box Films in South Easton, MA, and star an actor called Raymond Bokhour, who is very convincing as an overweight, likable and sincere car salesman. According to Gregory the four films were released on YouTube on April 1 and will soon be on cable TV. On the dealership website (dontgettaken.com) you can dress the character to cover up his unsavory body.

The campaign is a great example of low cost Punk Marketing and follows the principles of the Manifesto to a tee, especially number 6 (Expose Yourself) and number 7 (Make Enemies - in this case the enemy is the lies used in car selling). We applaud you Boathouse, Magic Box Films and Mr. Bokhour. But please don’t take off those shorts.

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