HERE’S A “NICE” STORY FOR YOU

Want to know just how powerful this four letter word is?

Think back to any business win, accolade or accomplishment you’ve had in the last, let’s say, five years. Then create a timeline and work backwards, tracing the lineage of that good fortune. I will bet you that virtually every one of those “lucky wins” had little or nothing to do with luck. But it probably had everything to do with some good deed you did, some kind words you said in passing, very likely to someone you never thought you’d see again, someone who seemingly would have no impact on your life.

In fact, one of our greatest advertising successes we had can be traced back to one nice gesture.

About six years ago, when our agency was of a size smaller than Paris Hilton’s waistline, I received a call from a little–known insurance company in Columbus, Georgia. The name of that company was Aflac.

At the time Aflac was, and still is, an extremely successful Fortune 200 company, but their name awareness was quite low. So low that Robin and I didn’t have a clue as to who they were. We simply assumed they needed us to create a poster or print ad for them. But we called them back, because, well, that’s our agency policy. Everyone gets a return call or email or letter, even if they are a high school student doing a term paper on advertising and they need a reference quote.

Well, when Robin learned that they indeed were an extremely successful company with a hefty ad budget, we were both thrilled and flabbergasted. And the rest is history.

We pitched the account and one of our brilliant creative teams, Tom Amico and Eric David, came up with the Aflac duck campaign, and we won the business. Aflac went on to become one of the most recognized names in the country. In fact, now Aflac is so well known that when ducks see other ducks they immediately think of supplemental insurance.

So you’re thinking, okay you called Aflac back, well was that really so nice? I mean, lots of companies call prospective clients back, large or small. You’re right, but the good deed started many years before that.

You see, once we had the business, I asked our client how they found us. I mean, we were a little bitty New York ad agency at the time, and they hailed from way down south. The client told me that she got our name from a man named Gerry Lukeman, who had a research firm that tested the Aflac commercials. Gerry had given them our name. This perplexed me to no end, because I had never met Gerry.

So I called Gerry Lukeman and he told me he got my name from a good friend up in Connecticut who recommended me. This gentleman, as it turns out, was the former owner of a business I had worked on in the 1980s. But I had never worked with him, so why did he recommend me?

Then it hit me like a hockey puck on the side of my head...Fifteen years ago, I had taken this man out to lunch!

Why? Because I knew he was retired and cared deeply about the business I worked on. After all, this company was his baby. Long after he retired, he still felt quite passionately about the advertising and branding we were creating. I felt I owed him the courtesy of a lunch, because he deserved my attention and respect. And I suppose he appreciated me taking the time to hear his critique of my work. It was a simple gesture. I’m not Mother Teresa here; I just thought that an hour out of my life was not too much to give to someone who deserved the attention.

Little did I realize that this meal would be followed ten years later with a dessert sweeter than I could ever have imagined. A phone call that would change the destiny of our company and help us become one of the fastest growing advertising agencies in America. 

So the next time someone asks you out to lunch, think twice before you decide to have a ham on rye at your desk.