The Aug. 13 edition of Advertising Age brought an interesting issue to the surface when it ran an article about the upcoming ABC sitcom, “Cavemen.”  The new show is based upon characters created for Geico Insurance’s advertising campaign.

“So simple, a caveman could do it.”

Not so simple, apparently, is securing sponsorship for the show.  Headlined “Insurers Shy Away from the Geico Guy,” the story notes that insurers from AFLAC to Progressive and Allstate won’t commit their dollars to “Cavemen,” and for good reason.  Why on earth would they help put a show on the air that is based on a competitor’s ad campaign?

Regardless of the fact that the cavemen don’t have anything to do with insurance and probably aren’t selling too many policies for Geico, they are the company’s “spokesmen.”  They are, for better or worse, what we now associate with Geico these days (frankly, I liked the little gecko they were using for a while).  And regardless of grim reaperish pre-season predictions for the show’s life expectancy, it still makes you wonder if advertisers might be working harder towards the day when their ad buys include more and more “product placement” during programming.  Not as commercials, but as part of the show.

Is that a good thing?  I don’t think so.  We are already bombarded by thousands of media messages every day, and if we can’t even get our favorite mindless entertainment without being subjected to subliminal or, for that matter, in-your-face reminders to call an insurance company, then what do we have left?  We can fast-forward our way past commercials now, but what if they are part and parcel of the show?

Clearly, this would be the end of the world as we know it if it were not for the fact that the decision not to watch this drivel is so simple that even a caveman could do it!

Grant Johnson

Johnson Direct LLC

800-710-2750

(Please note: this entry is written following the Milwaukee Brewers loss 19-4 to the Colorado Rockies and after losing 7 of their last 10 games)

An old friend has returned after an absence of 15 years! I’m actually listening to Brewers games on the radio while doing yard work, and watching several televised games.

Now, most people can accuse me of “jumping on the bandwagon,” and that’s alright because it’s accurate. After 15 years of losing baseball and terrible talent on the field, it looks as though the Crew has turned the corner.

Owner Mark Attanasio is proving that he’s not afraid to spend money, and he and GM Doug Melvin have built the team through our own farm system. The team got off to a great 24-10 start, and the people have really shown their support, as evidenced by the number of sold-out games at Miller Park.

Players like Prince Fielder, J.J. Hardy, Ryan Braun and Cory Hart are easy to root for. I don’t know if they can be compared to Robin Yount, Paul Molitor, Cecil Cooper and Gorman Thomas, but give them a couple of years. Who knows?

Several friends and family members are upset over their disappointing play over the past month. Hey, they are still leading their division and still five games over .500! It’s been a while since there’s been this much buzz about the Brewers. It’s Aug. 10, and we are still talking pennant race and playoffs. Sweet!

It’s August in Wisconsin, and for the past 15 years or so that would mean gearing up for the start of the Packers’ season. This weekend, you’ll find me grilling out, kicking back on the deck with a beer or two, while listening to Brewer baseball! The Packers can wait for now.

Rob Trecek

Johnson Direct LLC

800-710-2750

Comments expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official positions of Johnson Direct LLC.

My wife is constantly telling me I don’t understand her. She also gets upset that I’m not very verbal when it comes to my feelings. You know, the old “Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus” philosophy.

A friend of mine e-mailed me a joke that I think encapsulates the “Battle of the Sexes” quite eloquently:

A man was sitting on the edge of the bed, observing his wife looking at herself in the mirror. Since her birthday was not far off, he asked what she’d like to have for her birthday.

“I’d like to be six again,” she replied, still looking in the mirror.

On the morning of her birthday, he arose early, made her a nice, big bowl of Lucky Charms, and then took her to Six Flags theme park. What a day! He put her on every ride in the park — the Death Slide, the Wall of Fear, the Screaming Monster Roller Coaster and everything else there was.

Five hours later, they staggered out of the theme park. Her head was reeling and her stomach felt upside down.

He then took her to McDonald’s, where he ordered her a Happy Meal with extra fries and a chocolate shake.

Then it was off to a movie with popcorn, a soda pop, and her favorite candy, M&M’s. What a fabulous adventure. Finally, she wobbled home with her husband and collapsed into bed, exhausted. He leaned over his wife with a big smile and lovingly asked “Well, Dear, what was it like being six again???”

Her eyes slowly opened and her expression suddenly changed. “I meant my dress size, you idiot!”

The moral of the story: all men possess the “male moron gene,” and even when we’re listening, we’re gonna get it wrong!

Rob Trecek

Johnson Direct LLC

800-710-2750

Comments expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official positions of Johnson Direct LLC.

I recently witnessed two things and read an article that lead me to the conclusion that our kids are losing their childhood way too soon.

This past Saturday, my son tried out for one of the select baseball teams in our area, the New Berlin (Wis.) Magic. They start at U8, but Kevin was actually trying out for the U9 team (under age 9). My son isn’t the best athlete in the world, but he isn’t the worst by any means, either. I don’t remember picking up a bat until I was 10, let alone play on an organized team with uniforms. A lot has changed in 30 years! These 8 1/2 year olds came with spikes, baseball pants, jerseys and bags with not one, but two or three of their own bats! It was like watching a bunch of semi-pros playing the game. Believe me, they were quite good.

My son, who has trouble catching a fly ball without it hitting him in the face, didn’t have a chance to make the team. I was proud that he had the guts to try out and go through the process. Two things came to mind after the tryout. Whatever happened to the neighborhood park pick-up games where you got together at a local playground, chose sides, and played until it got dark? Second, what kind of dad am I to have a son who can’t catch a fly ball clean at 8 1/2?

On Sunday, we went to a family reunion. We stopped in a park near Madison, Wis. The park had two playgrounds. The “old fashioned” playground consisted of slides, tire swings, sand boxes, see-saws and jungle gyms. There was this “modern” playground right next to it. It was a cluster of plastic buildings designed to look like a town. One was a “bank,” and when you stepped inside, an automated voice said “Another day, another dollar” and “The streets aren’t paved with gold!” Another building is a “hair salon.” Inside is a poster showing beauty products, identifiable by brand name. When you walk in the building, it makes the sound of what I think is supposed to be a hair dryer. Outside is a fake ATM machine. The new, modern playground treats the kids like little consumers and leaves little to the imagination! I noticed most of the kids seemed to be playing in the old fashioned playground.

Last, I read an interesting story in USA Today last week. It highlighted Jan Silva, the five year old “future of tennis.” That’s right, a five year old! Last August his family sold their house and two cars in California and moved to France so Jan would live, eat, breathe, and sleep tennis at the Mouratoglou Tennis Academy near Paris. Patrick Mouratoglou, Jan’s instructor, said this in the article: “I’m just saying he’s different. Jan has unbelievable talent and his parents are focused. Jan’s parents have a goal. I have a goal. The kid has the same goal. We work in the same direction; it’s just a matter of time.”

When I was five years old, I was worried about keeping my pants clean and when my next nap would be!

I may be a marketer, but I’ll be keeping track of this kid as a parent. I wonder if he will end up like Tiger Woods or Todd Marinovich? Only time will tell.

Rob Trecek

Johnson Direct LLC

800-710-2750

Comments expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official opinions of Johnson Direct LLC.

Last night Barry Bonds hit his 756th home run, breaking your career record. You could have ignored this event completely with a shrug and a simple “No comment.” You could have easily joined in the national chorus chanting “Steroids!” But no, there you were during the celebration at San Francisco’s AT&T Park, on screen, making the most gracious congratulatory comments.

“Throughout the past century, the home run has held a special place in baseball, and I have been privileged to hold this record for 33 of those years. I move over now and offer my best wishes to Barry and his family on this historic achievement.”

I wasn’t surprised. You’ve always been a gentleman, dating back to your early days here in Milwaukee, one of the classiest acts ever.

I remember when you were close to breaking Babe Ruth’s record of 714 home runs in 1974, and the grief you and your family took from the lunatic fringe of society. You received death threats, for crying out loud! Still you went out and played the game with grace, humility and dignity, and fairly, the way it was designed. You were, and are, an inspiration.

Youngsters looking for role models in professional athletes had a rare opportunity to see one of the best last evening. All they had to do was look at the center field video board … after the hit … and listen to you.

Congratulations, Hank!

Randy Jaroch

Johnson Direct LLC

800-710-2750

The comments expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official opinions of Johnson Direct LLC.

Nobody succeeds all the time. Everybody fails some of the time.

Good marketers succeed more than they fail … but when they fail, they still are winners. Why? Because good marketers leave their ego at the door and look at failure as an opportunity to learn.

What can you learn from failure? You can learn what you did or didn’t do properly to land an account. You can learn why a campaign failed to generate the response you anticipated. You can learn about your own strengths and weaknesses. You can learn if you assigned the right person to the account, or if you actually set that person up for failure by playing away from their strengths.

But too many marketers fail in another way. They are unable to accept failure as a fact of life and, instead, try to rationalize away mistakes, misunderstandings, and ill-conceived ideas. It’s call denial, and it’s the only thing that stands between you and improving yourself and your company after a failure of any sort. Play the denial game long enough, and your rationalizations begin to sound true to you.

If you think you’ve never failed, don’t pat yourself on the back, because it likely means you’ve never had the courage to step outside of your comfort zone. You’ve played it safe, and you’ve never grown. The important thing is to step back and evaluate what you did … and if you truly made a mistake, don’t repeat it later on.

Roy Williams, a very smart man who publishes TheMondayMorningMemo online, says “The mind is full of clever ideas. But few of them will actually work.”

The next time you’re startled to learn that someone else got the account that you thought was in your pocket, don’t waste time condemning the potential client for not seeing that your company was the best choice. Spend that valuable time examining why you didn’t get the account.

Or if your advertising or PR campaign sags instead of surges, find out why. You’ll be all the better for it.

The less you embrace denial, the more you’ll achieve success!

Grant Johnson

Johnson Direct LLC

800-710-2750