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"Advertising is the greatest art form of the 20th century."
~Marshall McLuhan


Marketing to Rednecks & Goobers.
(How folks in "fly over" country respond to advertising.)

by Clay Campbell

In “fly over” country there is a very large segment of people, people like me, who live in small towns across America. Many in the media and people in big ad agencies believe that what we think is not important. Some believe we are too stupid to “get it”. Much advertising is written for the people in big cities and highly educated mindset I believe. The rednecks and Goobers call them the artsy fartsy crowd.

My wife is a very intelligent person even though she did not go to college. She is the General Manager over a very successful group of businesses, she figured out how to do QuickBooks by herself, she publishes two online newsletters, and does all the changes to our website, raised three children to adulthood and she’s a Saint because she puts up with me.

However on many occasions, while we are watching TV, a commercial comes on and after it’s over she says, “Now just what the heck is it they were advertising?” This is what I am saying. If they can’t reach my wife and I how can they reach the Rednecks and Goobers? Business owners who write their own copy and ad agency writers and tend to think that everyone thinks like them. That ain’t true. They tend to think that what they think is funny, everyone will think is funny. That ain’t true either.

At least half of the commercials that come on TV my sweet wife sits there and says, “That’s really stupid commercial” Then she always mutes the TV when it comes on again. Do you think she will make a purchase from businesses that she thinks is running “stupid commercials”? As rednecks and Goobers would say: “It ain’t likely”. Some of those ads seem to talk down to us rednecks and goobers and make us feel like we are beneath them.

Then, other commercials like Geiko, Allstate, State Farm, Target, and Verizon we leave the TV un-muted. We watch and listen to the whole thing. Great ads are believable, sometimes entertaining, not insulting, they are NOT hype, they are not full of cliché’s, and they are relating to us and talking to us in a way we can understand.


Perhaps now would be a good time to have a complimentary meeting with a Wizard of Ads Partner. Links to their websites and blogs are listed down the right side of The Wizard Times. Hundreds of their articles with free insightful advice can been seen at www.americansmallbusiness.com 2009 would be a great year to attend a class at the Wizard Academy 21st Century Business School in Austin Texas. What is the Wizard Academy?


See you next week.

Clay Campbell
Wizard of Ads

PS. Need help to attract more customers and grow your business?