I am seldom startled by the stupidity of people who are charged with marketing a product, service or idea. In fact for about two decades now I've been repeating this line: "We keep idiot-proofing our work, they keep making better idiots."
A little more than a month ago at the Democratic convention someone uttered a line that I thought could win Barack Obama the election. It pointed out the difference between he and Romney. It was catchy. And it raised the spectre of a return to the Bush-caused depression we are currently mired in.
That line was: "Don't double-down on trickle-down."
Since that line was uttered thousands of gallons of ink and billions of pixels have been expended covering our Presidential race.
The Obama campaign seems to be going out of its way to be un-memorable in its speeches and ads.
I grew up in an advertising era in which the thinking of Rosser Reeves still held sway. He believed in a unique selling proposition. A memorable line. And repetition.
Most of the taglines we remember today come from this era.
I think because they worked.
