I think I read the following in "Ogilvy on Advertising," and I always remembered it and often think of it. It goes something like this:

"When your client moans and sighs
Make his logo twice the size.
If he should still prove refractory
Show a picture of his factory.
But only in the gravest cases,
Show a picture of their faces."

I think about this as Dell has launched its new small business campaign that employs the oh-so-innovative use of--get this--real customers!

I'll admit, working on Dell, like working on almost anything else, is a challenge. But surely there has to be something more interesting than a portrait of a customer with a quasi-crafted line that no person would actually say.

Maybe the phrase "permission to believe" is as out-moded as the gender-specificity in the poem above. But seriously, why should I believe that Dell computers are worth considering because someone I don't know and who has no credibility with me endorses them? "Oh," I can hear an agency or client shill mouthing, "but look how interesting this person is. They make theatrical drapery."

Listen, there's an Asian-owned Jewish deli in my neighborhood that posts polaroids of its customers on its back wall. There's the obligatory ones of Mike Bloomberg, Regis Philbin, local sports stars and then there are shots of ordinary people like my wife. My point is simple if you have a million customers, some are bound to be interesting. I don't know anyone who says "Mike Bloomberg has his picture on the wall, their lox must be good."

I wish Dell luck with their new ad campaign. Maybe some people somewhere will find it motivating. As for me, it would work harder if they offered free lox samples for visiting their website.