REALLY Simple Marketing Solutions

This is a series on marketing solutions. Often the simplest solution is the best. Here’s one you might find interesting.

Problem: How can McDonnell Douglas show how quiet it’s new helicopter is?

Creative Solution: Have it land and take off without awakening a sleeping man and his dog.

The scene: Historic Old Tucson (scenes of many Western movies).

We cast an old guy to dress up like a old prospector.  He’ll be rocked back on a chair taking a nap on the front porch of the cabin.  At his feet will be his trusty watchdog, ‘Snappy’, who doesn’t miss a thing.

The helicopter will land in the background and then take off again and we’ll see if they can do it without waking up wither the prospector or the doggie.

Now why are we jumping through all these hoops to show how quiet this helicopter is?

Well, because McDonnell Douglas spent a godzillion dollars developing the No Tail Rotor helicopter.  The NOTAR.  Removing the tail rotor eliminates the danger to people walking around behind the helicopter.  Conventional helicopters have rapidly spinning blades at the end of the tail boom, which spin so fast they virtually disappear.  Hence, lots of people walk into them and get the vegomatic treatment.

So the NOTAR is the big thing we are pushing cause people are people not vegetables.

Another big plus is that people complain about police helicopters making so much noise when they are overhead.  The NOTAR system virtually eliminates that problem since the main noise from a helicopter is the tail rotor, not the big blades above the cabin.

So, here comes the shoot day.  The weather’s good. The prospector looks sleepy. The dog is ready to go, although to me he looks a little “tight”, like a swiss watch that won’t wind any more.

The dog wrangler says that the dog’s not about to freak out, he’s just shivering in the early morning cold.

So, we radio in the helicopter.  Here he comes. Roll camera.  The helicopter lands. The helicopter starts to lift off. The dog jumps.

Take Two.  We radio in the helicopter.  Here he comes.

Roll camera.

The helicopter lands. The helicopter starts to lift off. The dog jumps.

Take Three.  We radio in the helicopter.  Here he comes.

“Roll camera! Steady everybody.”

The helicopter lands. Somebody sneezes.  The dog jumps.

Take Four.  We radio in the helicopter.  Here he comes.

“Roll camera! Steady everybody.”

The helicopter lands. Nothing moves.  A lizard a half mile a way. Skitters down a rock.  The dog jumps.

Take Five.  Dog jumps.

Take Six. Dog yawns.

Take Seven. Dog wags his tail at his owner who’s madly trying to make the dog keep her head down.

We have a “conference” with everyone EXCEPT the dog owner.

“Have we got a clean landing?”

“Yes”.

“So let’s get a clean take off.”

“It won’t work.  The helicopter won’t land in the same place.  So we have to restage the landing and takeoff until we get a good one.”

We motion over the dog owner.

“What can you give the dog to calm her down?”

“No,” she responds.

“Do you have a staple gun?”

No one laughs.

“She’ll get it this time,” she promises.

Okay.

“Take godzillion and five.”

We radio in the helicopter.  Here he comes.

“Roll camera! Steady everybody.”

The helicopter lands. The dog doesn’t move.

The helicopter takes off.  We watch the dog.

The dog doesn’t move.

We notice small pools of Crazy Glue around the dog’s legs and ears.  The fur is strangely matted with clear laquer*.

We’ve got the shot!

“CUT !!!!”

The dog tries to smile but her lips won’t move.  The wrangler comes up and we turn our backs not wanting to see what she did to immobilize the dog.

We wake up the prospector, pay him fifty bucks and send him on his way.

Anyway, it is a very quiet helicopter.  Check out the finished spot.

Please be advised that no animals were harmed in the production of this commercial.

Click on the link to see our final cut of the spot:

Written by: Fletch Murray of The Association