56.
THE POWER OF A TV COMMERCIAL
There
are TV Commercials and TVC’s. A vast
majority of them entirely forgettable.
And then there are some which are indelibly etched in your mind and
bring a smile to your face every time you happen to recall the words, the
expressions and images from deep down your memory lane.
And
then there is this EF Hutton Commercial from almost 40 years ago which shaped
and moulded my persona and character which in turn replicates itself in the
Company which I run today with great pride and joy.
In
the years 1974-1978, as a graduate student in Nashville, I used to go home in
the evenings and watch the day’s news on WLAC TV, an affiliate of CBS with the
affable Chris Clark as the News Anchor and Oprah Winfrey his sidekick. Yes the very same Oprah.
For
me Chris Clark is memorable for his layman Americanisms such as “Vehicle moving
at a great rate of speed” and “Newkilear” and many more such patently American
usages, more particularly in the vocabulary of the South.
I
do not remember Oprah from that time for any great accomplishments : remarkable
in light of her later rise from a near non entity to a superstar. Now back to the TVC’s that refuse to fade
away :
1) Karl Malden with his bulbous buffoon nose and his trademark hat holding up an
American Express Travellers cheque and admonishing “Don’t Leave Home without them”
2) Brother Dominic for Xerox- the novice scribe in a dark candle lit monastery presents a
tome, his labour of love to the senior monk who after due scrutiny is so
pleased with the work that he promptly orders 500 copies of the script to be
made. Unfazed, Br. Dominic goes to the Xerox print shop, ( Xerox had just then launched the 9200 machine) saves himself decades of manual copying and
presents on the same day the 500 sets, neatly bound to his superior. At first a look of utter disbelief on his
face, the Abbot then looks up heavenwards and exclaims in hushed tones “ It’s
a Miracle !”
And
now the seminal commercial which guides me and continues to be the torchbearer
for me to this day.
3) EF
Hutton the Broking House ran a series of TV commercials in varied settings all
of which had a single common thread. In
the midst of a motley crowd, in a noisy environment two friends are talking
stocks, shares and the stock market and one of them says “well my broker is EF
Hutton and EF Hutton says …..” and in
that instant, all at once, there is pin drop silence, all heads turn, ears
pricked to catch what EF Hutton had to say.
And after few moments of pregnant pause, the tag line – ‘When
EF Hutton talks, people listen”
and
several more. Google and enjoy.
Dr.
Ananth S Kodavasal September 10, 2015
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