Do you remember the movie “Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory?” I’m not talking about the newest one, the remake with Johnny Depp. No, I mean the real one that was made in the early 70’s with Gene Wilder playing Wonka.
That movie was a classic and remains one of my all time favorites. I think it may have to do with the fact that it plays to some very core human emotions of fantasy, hope, and dreams. As a kid, owning a chocolate factory is THE definition of the “American Dream!”
Anyway, a couple of years ago I was at home one Sunday afternoon and watching T.V. with my 3 year-old son. I happened to see on the TV Guide that HBO was replaying “Willy Wonka” that evening. So, after dinner, I sat with my boy and we watched that magical movie again.
But this time, one of the scenes made a tremendous impression on me. It really put an exclamation point on everything we have worked so hard to create here at Intelesure. I realized with a startling suddenness what our true purpose is.
The scene I’m talking about is when Wonka was leading the children through the factory on his tour and they were passing through a hallway that had the lickable wallpaper. Do you remember that part?
He stopped the group and told them that he had invented a wallpaper that had different fruits on it and that each fruit tasted like whatever it was…He said, “Strawberries taste like strawberries…blueberries taste like blueberries…snozzberries taste like snozzberries…”
To which one of the little girls retorted, “Snozzberries? There’s no such thing as snozzberries!” Mr. Wonka reached down, squeezed her face into a pucker and calmly said…
“We are the Music Makers, and we are the Dreamers of dreams…”
That was it. Nothing else, no explanation of any kind. Now, I have seen that movie at least 15 times and I never really paid much attention to what that meant and just wrote it off as more of Wonka’s weirdness. But this time it took on a whole new meaning!
See, that’s really who WE are here at Intelesure! It’s what we do with our clients’ marketing plans. We are helping them to create music…to create dreams! That’s really what marketing is all about and what our true mission is here.
Anyone who is involved in marketing has to understand that their real job is not to simply sell something. You have to make music…to make dreams come true! So, the next time you are putting together a marketing campaign, remember this ode from Willy Wonka to become a music maker and a dreamer of dreams.
Anyway, I am excited to create a resource for you to access and will include a variety of articles on the topic of Direct Marketing…so, stay tuned!
(If you want more information on where this statement comes from, see the “Ode by Arthur O'Shaughnessy (1874)” on Wikipedia.)
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