a story about client feedbackā¦
Itās 1964 and a group of madmen are at the Cincinnati airport bar, licking their wounds after an ad review at Procter & Gamble went south.
āItās as if we walked in today with this beautiful little bluebird and showed it to them.
āHow do you like our bluebird?ā weād ask.
āāBoy, that is some great-looking bluebird,ā theyād respond. āWe have only one little thought, perhaps if the tail was a little longer it would work better.ā
āāOK,ā weād say, figuring that wasnāt much of a problem.
āāAnd maybe the wings could be a little shorter.ā
āāAnd the beak sharper and longerā¦and the feet biggerā¦and the head smaller and rounderā¦ā
āāOK,ā weād agree, figuring it canāt go on forever, but it does.
āFinally it does end and they say, āThat was really a productive meeting, I think weāve accomplished a great deal. Now letās see it fly.ā
āI take the bluebird in my hand, launch him into the air and it proceeds to drop to the floor like a stone, roll over once, and die.
āThe last comment from the client is, āHey, your birdās no good, it canāt fly.ā
(from Walter Bregmanās wonderful book āSpray the Bearā)