Why do people collect trading cards? Collectors often hope

the pictures can inspire them to their field or find pleasure in

seeing remarkable people and their achievements. To inspire

you in your marketing, we've put together a roster of 16

remarkable smarty pants who changed business.

Smarty Pants #1

(1706-1790) Benjamin Franklin, founding father, printer,

author, inventor, all-around genius

Benjamin Franklin's resume looks

like it's made-up. Brilliant

inventor? Sure! Best-selling

author? You betcha! Ambassador

to France who got the French to

join the colonists' fight for

independence? Absolutely!

To that list, add that Franklin was also the

owner of General Magazine, which

printed one of the first American

magazine ads in 1742.

Franklin also invented the lightning rod,

bifocals, and other items that, if they

didn't exactly reinvent marketing and

advertising, certainly enabled our ability

to read and enjoy newspapers and

magazines.

Takeaway: Listen to your inner genius. If you've a plan or

idea that no one has heard before, you might be onto

something groundbreaking.

Smarty Pants #2

(1838 to 1922) John Wanamaker, department-store

founder, pioneer in marketing

The next time you pass a

department store, thank John

Wanamaker. In 1861, he and his

brother-in-law opened Oak Hall

and gave birth to the concept of

the first department store. In

1874, Wanamaker published the

first copyrighted store ad.

Wanamaker definitely knew how to

work with the seasons (even if he

had to make some up). He created

seasonal sales, such as February's

Opportunity Sales and July

Midsummer Sales. And guess who

started the January White Sale? Yep.

Wanamaker in 1878.

He also popularized the fixed-price

system and created the idea of the

"money-back guarantee." (Those

have caught on, haven't they?)

Takeaway: Unite your marketing efforts with the seasons…

and if need be, create some special events and occasions of

your own.

Smarty Pants #3

(1854 to 1925) Frank Munsey, American newspaper and

magazine publisher and author

Before "Pulp Fiction" the movie,

there was pulp fiction, the cheap

magazine. Munsey, the father of

pulp magazines, used the cheapest

pulpwood for his magazines.

Folks could buy these "pulp

magazines" for just 10 cents a pop.

(Those other fancy-shmancy magazines in the

1800s cost between 15 to 30 cents.)

Aside from first publishing Edgar Rice

Burroughs stories (feel free to let out a Tarzan

yell right about now), Munsey also was the

first person to attempt a run a magazine by

relying on advertising sales revenue rather than retail stand

sales.

Takeaway: Know your audience and their needs. Munsey

wasn't afraid to go cheap with the paper, knowing folks

would like the lower cost. Throughout the years, the Argosy

also underwent various name and publishing changes…

always to better reach an audience.

Smarty Pants #4

(1877 to 1934) Ivy Lee, the father of public relations

It's 1906. You're Pennsylvania Railroad

magnate George F. Baer, and your railroad

company has just experienced a major rail

accident. What do you do?

Baer put himself in the hands of Ivy Lee,

who would become one of the most well-known pioneers in

PR.

Lee convinced Baer to send a press release out

before anyone had even heard of the accident.

He also asked reporters and photographers to

come to the accident and report what

happened. (Lee even had Baer provide a train

for all the journalists.) This brilliant PR move

earned Ivy Lee the title "father of the modern press release."

Takeaway: Be one step ahead of your audience. Anticipate

reactions and have a plan in place for any crisis that may

arise.

Smarty Pants #5

(1891 to 1995) Edward Bernays, Austrian-American pioneer

in PR and propaganda

Who came up with the idea of getting

dentists (even just 9 out of 10) to

approve a product? And what about

"experts" on TV giving their

testimonials?

Credit Edward Bernays for popularizing

the use of "third-party authorities" to lend weight to press

releases. For example, to help a

company sell more bacon, Bernays

conducted a survey of physicians and

shared their recommendation that

people eat heavy breakfasts. He then

sent his report to 5,000 physicians and

got the quotes he needed to promote

bacon as the heavy breakfast that

physicians recommend.

How powerful was this campaign? Even today, people

consider bacon and eggs as being part of an all-American

heavy breakfast.

Takeaway: Use data and details to lend credibility to your

claims.

Smarty Pants #6

(1886 to 1983) Henry Jamison "Jam" Handy, Olympic

breast-stroke winner, water polo player, leader in

commercial audio and visual communications

He created thousands of industrial and

educational films for the biggest

companies of his day. (During World

War II, his company, Jam Handy

Productions, produced 7,000 films!)

Jam Handy films were really advertising shorts presented as

educational or documentary films. Handy's Direct Mass

Selling Series ran in both movie and newsreel theaters.

"Down the Gasoline Trail" (1935) explains what happens to a

drop of gas from the tank to the engine cylinder... and in the

end, you find out the gas tank belonged to a Chevy.

With his storytelling technique and soft sell, Jam Handy was

definitely the pioneer of all modern-day commercials.

Takeaway: Use short movies to entertain and educate your

customers rather than to boast about your product or

service.

Smarty Pants #7

(1946) Mrs. Carveth Wells, explorer and TV host

Imagine your well-heeled neighbor

carrying a box of DVDs of her travels

into your living room, putting them in

the player, and droning on about each

one. TV viewers in 1946 didn't have to

imagine it all. They had Mrs. Carveth

Wells.

Wells had a show that had this

simple premise: Wells plays her 16

mm home movies of her worldwide

travels and talks about them. Yep.

That's the "Geographically Speaking"

show.

Why are we speaking about it today?

Because "Geographically Speaking"

was the first show to have a regular sponsor. Bristol-Myers

would have kept sponsoring her… had Wells not run out of

movies.

Takeaway: Don't be afraid to explore shiny new concepts (in

this case, the new idea was TV programming), but make sure

to plan well… or you'll run out of content.

Smarty Pants #8

(1894 to 1982) Bernice Fitz-Gibbon, US advertising

executive

Known as the Fabulous Fitz, she pioneered

the idea of events into the world of

department stores and advertising by

creating fashion shows, lectures, and

demos.

She also opened an award-winning agency

in 1954, which helped women become

copywriters.

Her famous quote is:

"A good ad should be like a

good sermon: It must not

only comfort the afflicted, it

also must afflict the

comfortable."

Takeaway: Remember to help others. As a successful writer,

Fitz-Gibbons made sure to help other women become

copywriters.

Smarty Pants #9

(1911 to 1999) David Ogilvy, British ad executive, father of

modern advertising

Forget Dumbledore and his

spells. David Ogilvy, called

"the most sought-after

wizard in today's advertising

industry" by Time Magazine,

knew the power inherent in

words and images.

He believed in engaging, stylish

descriptions of products would best

reach consumer and in knowing

your consumers.

He said, "Advertising people who

ignore research are as dangerous as

generals who ignore decodes of

enemy signals."

Ogilvy also wrote the uber-popular

Confessions of an Advertising Man,

one of the most famous books about advertising.

Takeaway: Know your audience well. Think about what they

think about. Talk to them as they talk. Reach out to them

how they want to be reached out to.

Smarty Pants #10

(1891 to 1971) Leo Burnett, advertising executive and a

creative legend

What do these folks have in

common? The Jolly Green Giant,

Charlie Tuna, Morris the Cat,

Tony the Tiger, the Pillsbury

Doughboy, and the Marlboro

Man.

Leo Burnett and his agency created them.

Though most ads at the time favored text, his approach was

to go for the simple memorable icon.

One of Burnett's famous sayings is: "Make it simple. Make it

memorable. Make it inviting to look at. Make it fun to

read.”

Takeaway: Use simple, memorable images to capture your

audience's imagination and interest.

Smarty Pants #11

(1917 to 2001) Katharine Graham, US newspaper executive;

publisher of The Washington Post; Pulitzer Prize-winning

author; first woman to head a Fortune 500 company

Personal tragedy brought Katherine

Graham to the helm of The

Washington Post in 1963, but she

guided it through its best years.

She was in charge of the Post during the

publication of the Pentagon Papers in

1971 and the Watergate scandal, which

led to President Richard Nixon's

resignation. She was threatened for her

role in revealing the Watergate scandal,

but she didn't back down.

In 2000, Graham was named one of the

International Press Institute's 50 World Press Freedom

Heroes.

Takeaway: Be authentic. Graham received numerous threats

during the Watergate Scandal, but she kept delivering honest

info. Likewise, your audience expects you to be honest in your

business.

Smarty Pants #12

(1943 to present) Rosabeth Moss Kanter, US

businesswoman

How huge is the leap from studying

communes to studying corporate

America? Not very.

After writing about life in communes,

Kanter made the switch to studying the structure and

management of corporations.

Her book Men and Women of the

Corporation (1977) documents "a

bureaucratic corporate model that is

about to be replaced." She has also

written about what promotes

corporate growth and what suppresses

it (The Change Master: Innovation and

Entrepreneurship in the American

Corporation, 1984) and changing management strategies for

future success (When Giants Learn to Dance, 1989)

Her work has helped businesspeople better understand

themselves and the corporations in which they work.

Takeaway: Be curious about the world around you. Kanter

did more than just look at business; she analyzed it.

Smarty Pants #13

(born in 1955) Tim Berners-Lee, CERN physicist

You can thank Berners-Lee for the fact

that you're enjoying this slide show

online. And for being able to email

friends. And for, well… let's just thank

him for inventing the World Wide Web.

In 1990, he pitched the idea for

an information management

system. By Christmas the next

year, he implemented the first

successful communication

between an HTTP client and

server via the Internet.

As far as the popularity of the Web, that speaks for itself!

Takeaway: Dream big. Real big. And if your idea develops

wings and starts flying, follow it and see where it goes.

Smarty Pants #14

(1964 to present) Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon.com

In 1995, Bezos launched Amazon,

an online bookstore. What was the

first book it sold? Something

entertaining? A summer read? No,

it's Douglas Hofstadter's Fluid

Concepts and Creative Analogies:

Computer Models of the

Fundamental Mechanisms of

Thought. (Well, it's a fun read for the guys of "The Big Bang

Theory" show.)

Today, Amazon sells just about

everything, which keeping with

its goal "to be Earth's most

customer-centric company

where people can find and

discover anything they want to

buy online."

Takeaway: Give your projects time to succeed. Amazon.com

launched in 1995, but success came slowly (well, slowly in the

minds of investors who wanted insta-success). Trust in your

project, and be patient.

Smarty Pants #15

(Hurly, 1997 to present; Chen, 1978 to present; Karim, 1979

to present) Chad Hurly, Steve Chen, and Jawed Karim,

founders of YouTube

YouTube might have started out with Jawed Karim uploading

"Me at the Zoo," but it revolutionized the way we share and

create videos.

YouTube has come a long way from

being the favorite place to upload

videos of animal shenanigans. It now

is home to countless educational

videos, webinars, instructional videos,

and, OK, clips of animal shenanigans.

In 2012, a total of 72 hours of video are uploaded to

YouTube every minute.

Takeaway: Don't overcomplicate your product launch. The

first video on YouTube is 19 seconds long. Jawed Karim gives

on reason for liking elephants. That's it.

Smarty Pants #16

(1955 to 2011) Steve Jobs, US businessman and technology

visionary

Known for being the father of Apple

Computer (and all its life-altering

products, such as the Macintosh,

iPod and iPad), Steve Jobs was also

a legendary speaker and pitchman.

He was so persuasive that the term

"reality distortion field" was dubbed

to explain how he could get anyone

to believe almost anything he told them.

Jobs was also known for his belief of setting trends and

creating want in consumers rather than creating products to

serve consumers' need.

Takeaway: Make up your own

rules. Jobs didn't ask people what

they wanted; he told them what

they wanted. Sometimes, you

have to thumb your nose at the

rules like Steve Jobs did.

Want to become a marketing

smarty pants, too?

Check out the wealth of

marketing information at

www.marketingprofs.com.