The Element of Exceeding Expectations and its Hope for Breaking through Glass Ceilings, Doors and Perceptions

I don’t remember all the campaigns I created when I was an advertising copywriter.  I do remember the Fiesta condom campaign, however.  It was the most memorable campaign I ever created. It was also one of the most talked about campaigns in India at the time.

The development of this campaign was unusual. All the photography was completed first. Then we had to come up with the copy to go with it.

Some creations are like that.  Sometimes the chicken comes before the egg.  Sometimes the egg comes before the chicken.  Have you heard Al’s Stewart’s Year of the Cat album? All of the music for that album was written, orchestrated and recorded before Al Stewart wrote a single word of the lyrics.

But back to the Fiesta campaign I was talking to you about….

There were five ads.

Each of the ads had a picture of a young couple.  In each of the ads they were depicted doing a different fun or relaxing activity together. 

In one picture, the girl was in a swing and the guy was pushing the swing, in another they were both roller skating, in another they were dancing; in another they were in a restaurant, in another they were relaxing and reading together.  Each of the ads had a dominant color.  In one of the ads the dominant color was blue, in one it was green, in one, it was red, in one, it was yellow and in one, it was black.

5 ads with different colors - what could we do with that? Ranjan, one of our copywriters soon came up with an idea.  We could associate each of the different colors with a different day of the week:  Red with Monday, Blue with Tuesday, Green with Wednesday, Yellow with Thursday and
Black with Friday.

Bunty, the GM of MAA Communications, where we worked, liked the idea. But now the challenge was to write suitable copy to make the idea work. This proved harder than we thought. Whatever we came up with, our ideas were found to be lacking.  They were “too risqué”, “too tame”, “too boring” or “too wild” for Bunty’s liking, and we would have to go back to our desks and have another go at it.

So Ranjan, Meera and I went back to our typewriters (yes, I know I am dating myself) several times to try to come up with “the Goldilocks copy” Bunty was looking for.

And then one day, I got it.

I had an inspiration to write the copy for each ad in the form of a first person diary entry written by the guy depicted in our ads.

Excited, I wrote a different diary entry for each day of the week, and in each of these diary entries, I put myself in the shoes of this guy, and had the guy record what his mood was that day and what color it called for.

By making him appear elegant and polished in these diary entries, I was able to achieve the delicate balance of taste and excitement we were looking for.

Everyone thought it was sensational.

Frankly, I thought it was sensational the moment the idea came to me and I started writing the first lines of copy.

The account executive thought it was sensational when I showed it to him.

Bunty thought it was sensational when he saw it.

And the client absolutely loved it and gave us the thumbs up to go with it.

It was such an exhilarating experience.

I felt I was walking on water.

Now as much as we at the agency and at the client’s company liked the ads, there were plenty of people who absolutely hated the ads.

There was a huge uproar as soon as the ads were released.

The campaign was attacked and panned in many different newspapers and magazines.

Many advertising people themselves hated the ads.

Frank Simoes, a well-known copywriter, wrote a half-page article shredding the ads to bits, ad by ad, picture by picture, line by line.

But the cherry on the cake was his final comment: “The ads are obviously written by an adolescent who has no experience with women and has never been in love. It won’t be a day too soon when he grows up and finds out what it is all about.”

We got a big chuckle out of that at the agency.

Frank did not know how off the mark he was!  The copy had been written by me, a twenty something woman.  Further I had been in love several times already. In fact, the sub-conscious inspiration for the ads was a relationship I was just over with.

The press we got only made the Fiesta campaign more famous.

And for the rest of my advertising career, I only had to say I wrote the Fiesta campaign and doors would magically open.

So though it had been frustrating at the time to be sent back to our desks to work on the copy again and again, the extra time and effort had been well worth it.

If we had not been pushed to come up with something exceptional, eye-popping and special, there would have been no Fiesta campaign…and my advertising career would have been quite unremarkable.

What the Fiesta campaign taught me is we should welcome the opportunity to try and try again. A “wow” idea such as the Fiesta diary idea may be just around the next corner.

Honestly, of us 3 MAA copywriters, you would not have bet on me to produce the winning Fiesta copy.

After all, the original idea to associate the colors with the days of the week was Ranjan’s. And the slogan we had picked for the brand - “And no two moments will ever be the same” was written by Meera.

But by being willing to try and try again, I created the piece of the campaign which had the “wow” factor.

It’s all about the “wow” factor, isn’t it?

The “wow” factor validates us and shuts up the naysayers and the people who think we are not good enough and can’t do it.

There will be many times in our lives when the world thinks we don't have what it takes to succeed.

I remember when I left HTA to start Purple Patch.

Nobody thought I was in my right mind.

Well-meaning friends tried to turn me off the idea.

“You are too new in this city and do not have enough contacts,” they said.

When I went to my Creative Director at HTA to inform him I was going ahead with the decision, he was skeptical as well. “Minoo, while you may succeed in getting work, you will have a tough time getting clients to pay up. Frankly, I don’t think you have the personality for it.  You are too soft.”

But I didn’t listen, and by the time Purple Patch was in its second year, I had proved everyone wrong.

Not only did I have enough work, I had enough work to hire four college students to help me in the afternoons, and I also took on a paid typist and driver as well to make my life easier.

As for getting my clients to pay up, I did not have even a single bad debt, and I had a strategy for dealing with dawdlers.  The strategy was called Debbie and you can read about her here.

I had belied and exceeded everyone’s expectations.

More importantly, I had belied and exceeded my own expectations as well.

What can you do to belie and exceed expectations?

What can you do that people think you can't do, because they think you are this or you are that, a woman, a foreigner, non-credentialed,too young, too old, too new?

Can you, like Rebecca Solnit, write about things which men usually don’t expect women to write about?

Can you, like Sheryl Sandberg, take on a role largely held by men?

Can you, like David Goldberg, the CEO of Survey Monkey and Sheryl Sandberg's husband, take on an equal share of housework and parenting, so your wife can take on a role largely held by men?

Can you give more, do more, be more?

Can you by changing, make people go “wow”?

I used to have an anger management problem.

I thought I would never get over it.

Neither did anyone else.

But I did.

Those who know me now may find it hard to believe I was a fire-cracker once.

But it’s true.

I changed. You can change too.

Don’t let yourself believe, “once a firecracker, always a firecracker.”
 

Or “once a loser, always a loser”

Or “once a slob, always a slob”

Or “once a fatso, always a fatso”

No. No. No.

You can change anything at any time.

When Jennifer Hudson lost all that weight, what did you say?

“Wow! ” That’s right.

We just have to use the resources available to us and sooner or late we can be the ones producing the “Wow! ”.

We should never think we are stuck.

We can become unstuck by taking the first step today in the direction of becoming unstuck.

I write a blog. I meditate.  I am a Commissions Consultant.  I go to Bible Study.  I never did any of that a few years ago.

I decided to become unstuck by taking the first step in each of these different areas.

I heard about Azalina Eusope recently.  She is a caterer who specializes in Mamak cuisine, which is the cuisine of Indian Malays.  Azalena does pop-up events.  I like the concept of pop-up.

We can do one-time things which are special and memorable as pop-ups.

That's one way of getting rid of the “stuck” feeling.

What can you do as a pop-up?

If someone has being asking you to do something and you have not got around to doing it, do it.  It will help you get rid of that “stuck” feeling.

If you need to get yourself in a resourceful state, read my post on resourcefulness for inspiration and tips.

We can get a tremendous amount of psychological satisfaction by doing even one thing different.

I am not big on organizing events.

But when my friend Radhika left Contract Advertising, the agency where we both worked, I decided to go all out to make her send-off special.  I can remember what I did even till today, because it was so unusual for me to put so much time and effort into that kind of thing. My post How to Say Goodbye Part 3 has the details.

When my friend Ajay decided to write a post on Bangalore for my blog, he decided to go the extra mile and write a 3-part post, one on Bangalore’s past; one on Bangalore of today, and one on what the future Bangalore might look like.

The series turned out to be truly memorable, and now Ajay has turned it into a book which will delight Bangalore residents and visitors alike. You can purchase it here. If you’ve ever lived in Bangalore, it will bring back warm memories. If you are planning to visit Bangalore, it will be a charming easy to read reference guide.

Quick, tell me which are the most memorable parties you have been to?  They are likely to be ones in which someone went the extra mile to make the party special. Such as the birthday party someone dear to me threw for his wife.  It had 30 different hors d'oeuvres, most of which he made himself,10 different cocktails, the church choir sang his wife's favorite Christian songs, a magician friend did a magic show, and more. Yes, going the extra mile always makes for memorable moments.

Memo to party organizers:  Go the extra mile.  Make it a lungi-beedi party.  Have a theme.  These are what memories are made of.

Going the extra mile to add the “wow” factor to anything may be one of the best ways to add to the quality of our life.

Many of us don’t do it because we are afraid of falling flat on our faces and we don’t want to be associated with a flop.

What if you were a cardiac surgeon suddenly called to help save a patient whose heart had accidentally been punctured during a routine surgical procedure?

It’s what they call an iatrogenic event.

Would you run in the other direction, knowing that the patient was likely to die whatever you did and your name would be tarnished by being associated with her death?

Or would you run towards the OR as fast as you can, to do what you can?

If you are a cardiac surgeon, you run towards the OR to do what you can.

Dr. John A Elefteriades, MD tells us in his fascinating book Extraordinary Hearts of one such emergency heart surgery caused by a resident surgeon accidentally puncturing a patient’s heart with a surgical instrument during a routine lung biopsy.

Dr. Elefteriades immediately ran to the OR to help save the patient even though the chances of her survival were slim.

The story has a great ending.

The patient, expected to die from the injury, made a complete recovery, thanks to all the efforts of the cardiac surgeons who attended her, including Dr. Elefteriades.

If surgeons can do that when death is such a strong probability, why do we run away from opportunities to shine when they do not involve life and death?

Making people go “wow” may be a simple as being exceedingly kind or humble.

I meet people who make me go “wow” all the time by how kind or humble they are.

I am reminded of Rodger whom I met during my White Hat assignment.

When I joined White Hat Security, the only available cube was the cube in which the finance printer was located.

The CFO thought it was not very cool to put me in this cube so he suggested I could sit in “the office.”  He pointed to an office next to his own and I could see a large desk and some people working there. “They are the auditors”, he said, “They will be gone by Monday when you start work” Rodger, the consulting adviser to the CFO, who had worked there for 8 years, and my manager both nodded, and my manager told me my laptop would be ready to go and in the office when I came in on Monday. So when I arrived Monday, I went straight to the office and locating my laptop atop a filing cabinet behind the large desk,  I assumed I was meant to sit at that desk and made myself comfortable there.

Rodger came in an hour later.  He looked at me and said, “Oh,” and then he said, “oh, okay,” and seated himself at the other desk in the room, which was a picnic table sort of desk without any drawers or anything, and which didn’t even have an external monitor and keyboard.

A week went by and I was to meet with Lisa, the Director of Sales Ops.  Lisa said, “Where do you want to meet, Minoo?  Should I just come to Rodger’s office?” which was when it struck me. I had been sitting at Rodger’s desk.  The big desk was his.

I immediately went back to the office and I said, “My goodness, Rodger, I have been sitting at your desk all along without realizing it. You should have said something. We need to switch desks right away.”

But Rodger was such an amazingly cool guy, he wouldn’t hear of it.  He said, “No, Minoo, it’s okay. You are here for more days of the week than me, anyway.  You just go ahead and sit there.”

Every week, I would feel bad when I thought of it and bring it up again in case he wanted to change his mind. I would say, “Hey Rodger, I am still uncomfortable about the fact this is your desk.  I really think you should sit here and I should sit there.”

But Rodger continued to say the same thing,“It’s cool, Minoo.  It really is.”

I was amazed.

It is one of the few examples I have seen of someone being willing to give up their spot to someone else.  Anyone else (me included) would have got edgy and made the person move the very first time they walked into their office or cube and saw someone sitting there.

But Rodger showed me we can make a choice to be humble at any time.

Yes, we can “wow” people by being noble and humble and kind and caring and tolerant and forgiving.

We can also “wow” people by taking the lead to do something no one else wants to do.

Some years ago, I agreed to develop and deliver a workshop on Earning Money, Spending Money and Saving Money at a public elementary school in my neighborhood.

No one was fighting me to give the workshop.  Not many people are interested in volunteering their time for a task which you have to take on alone and which will not bring fame or money or give you a leg up, plus take valuable time out of your life.

The only thing one could get out of doing that workshop was the satisfaction of having helped meet a need and saying yes to doing something few would have said yes to doing.

I not only said yes, but I went all out to give it my best and make it a “wow” experience.

I wrote and rewrote the workshop.

I did trial runs with the school mum who had approached me to do the workshop. I took every suggestion she made to heart. I cut and simplified my material. I replaced most of the talking head sections with interactive questions and fun exercises. 

And I did trial runs on Tanita and her friend Ariel, once when my sister Rosie and her husband Mohammed were present. 

As a result, when I gave the workshop, I was as ready as I could ever be.

After the workshop, the passion of the workshop remained, and I gave a private workshop at my friend Sharon's house for her kids and for the kids and adults who were present that day. 

Till today, doing that workshop is one of the best things I ever did in my life; because I surprised myself by saying yes, and then I surprised myself by dedicating as much time and energy as I did.

My siblings and I had a difficult childhood.  People who saw us going through that childhood did not expect much of us.  They thought our past would take us down. Today they are “wowed” by what we have achieved.

We don’t have to be victims of our past.

We don’t have to be victims of ideas, even of the idea of a glass ceiling itself.

Melanie Hope says “No glass ceiling was ever shattered by a whiner.”

Sheryl Sandberg of Facebook says:  “Men are promoted based on potential, women get a leg up based on past accomplishments.”

This might be a reality, but we don’t have to become a victim.

We can decide “I am not going to let anything hold me back. I am going to exceed expectations and make people go “wow” and “wow” and “wow” until they can't ignore the evidence.”

I will end with these powerful words by Amy Mowafi, aimed at doing away with the concept of glass ceilings altogether:

“...if I have a daughter I will tell her she can do anything, and I will mean it, because I have no other intention of informing her otherwise. As my mother did with me, and my mother's mother before her, I shall simply hide the truth from her. I will tell her that despite what others may whisper, there is no difference between her and any boy. I will tell her to work her hardest and try her best. And that if one day she looks around and finds that, despite her very best efforts, lesser men have superseded her, then she probably could have done better. These words may not be true, nor will they be fair, but I would hope that they ensure she never becomes a victim of her own femininity. I hope she will be empowered to pick herself up, study harder, work longer, and exceed her own expectations. I don't want my daughter to break any glass ceilings. I'd rather she never even contemplated their existence. Because glass ceilings, closed doors, and boys clubs are notions, they're ideas, and they're not tangible. You can't see, touch, or feel them. They can only exercise power over us if we choose to believe in them. So why lay down your own gauntlet? The cliche rings true, if you reach for the moon, you might just land on the stars. Throw a glass ceiling into the works, and it can only get in the way. And I suspect that deep down, every woman who ever truly excelled thought exactly this way. I doubt they ever gave much thought to the fact that they are women. I think they just really wanted to rock out. And they did; louder, harder, and better than anyone else around them. And at some point down the line, enough people took note.”

As always, thanks for reading and have a great day and week. Hope this post makes you rock out…..M…..a Pearl-Seeker like you.  Thanks to all of you for your votes and pins on my last post The Element of Resourcefulness and Its Hope for Living a More Constructive Life.  Much appreciated.