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Joe G.'s avatar

That was a great read, Rob! A nice reminder that experienced chefs don't mind dealing with some fat, if it means putting out a nice steak that 33% of people will deeply enjoy.

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Laura Tannenbaum's avatar

Ha, if it was only the world of one thirds, life would be simpler.

And purer. And there would be greater clarity.

But if people have options like coffee almond fudge or mint chocolate chip will they ever go for your Neopolitan trifecta or even one of those three?

Seems like the problem today is that there are those who add on, mix things up, making it all more complicated than it should be.

How many clients will go for just love, hate, or indifference?

Chances are they'll add to it.

Here's to the purity of these three.

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Rob Schwartz's avatar

I hear you on the audience. That said, in my experience with clients you can still use Milton Glaser's brilliant criteria: "Yes, No, Wow." You just have to set us the relationship that way.

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Ernie Schenck's avatar

I think the indifferent third is a lot bigger than you think. The reality of the spotlight effect

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Rob Schwartz's avatar

Yes. Especially true when it comes to advertising.

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Jef Loeb's avatar

While your lovely ice cream analogy provides comfort to the afflicted--can’t please everyone, no matter how hard we try--I’ve always been more fascinated by the “third-within-the-third” who’re the true difference-makers. Best explanation of this comes from a terrific data scientist in the political realm about independent-registered voters: “a third are unreachably to the left of the Democratic Party, a third are unreachably to the right of the Republican Party; it’s the middle third that are the voters who really “swing” elections,”. Just so. In fact, in advertising (or any creative endeavor), whether we call them trendsetters, mavens, or early adopters, it’s their swipe right that’s the originating source of the warmth and light that gets the work off the pad.

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Rob Schwartz's avatar

Yep. More precision here. I like it.

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Doug Ryan's avatar

Yep. My favorite UofM grad (besides you, of course) was Bruce McRitchie, president of Grey Orange County. He was a true gentleman. Bruce hired me, despite my Spartan background, to run the Mitsubishi business. After a week of dealer beatings, I returned, weary and dejected, to the home office. “Doug,” a sympathetic Bruce said. “Always remember - at any give time a third of the dealers hate us, a third love us, and a third don’t give a damn.”

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Rob Schwartz's avatar

Ha. Exactly.

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