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| Sir John Hegarty |
There are several snippets in the discussion which will interest self-published authors (my underlining); the ideas talked about are also dealt with in my new book, Your Purrfect Way to Publish & Promote Your Amazon & Kindle Books.
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| Susan Krashinsky |
Hegarty on Length:
Hegarty created ads for The Guardian which were very long, bucking the "conventional" wisdom that the Web needs short articles, to keep people reading or viewing. This is Hegarty in the interview:
There is absolutely no empirical evidence at all that shorter is better. What there is empirical evidence of, is that boring is bad. Young people today … turn things off quickly when they’re bad. But we all did. The idea that we sat around in the 1960s saying, “It’s really boring but I’ll keep watching it” – we didn’t.
We stopped watching, or started chatting. Our brains switchedoff. We can now physically switch off.
Hegarty on Technology:
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| A contemplative Hegarty |
He welcomes it, but cautions:
I think we’re coming out of this idea that it’s all about the technology... What’s changed, is my ability to spread the idea further. But the idea hasn’t changed. That’s what’s important.
Hegarty on Data and Branding:
His point is brief but powerful:
Data are important, because it’s knowledge. But the idea that it has the solution within it, is wrong. Everybody’s reading the same data. If it has the solution within it, everyone will come to the same conclusion. We call that “wind-tunnel marketing.” If everybody’s looking at the same stuff, interpreting it in the same way, coming to the same conclusion, you’ll all be the same. And the point of a brand is to be different.
Hegarty on Persuasion and Promotion:
Firm views from the Master:
They’re both important. You can’t have one without the other. But what we’ve seen happen over the last 10 years is, digital basically is promotion... It doesn’t persuade, it promotes. Which is important, but you can’t have one without the other. I think people have given up, to a certain extent, on persuasion..
His definition of persuasion?
Persuasion is taking a nonbeliever and turning them into a believer. Christ stood on the rock and he talked to the masses. He did not talk to 18- to 25-year-olds with a disposable income of 25 shekels and a preponderance to change. He persuaded – because of what he believed in. What does a brand believe in? You have to communicate that to a large audience.
The Hegarty Brand:
The photos in this post show clearly Hegarty's keen insight into his very own brand, and his creativity in setting the scene that arrests you.
Early on in the life of Bartle Bogle Hegarty they pitched for the Levi jeans account in their new, barely decorated office:
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| From Tuingate's Adland |
The pitch was successful, and so was
Hegarty's short ad that resurrected the Levi brand:
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| From Tungate's Adlands |
