"Consumer research is valuable but can be overestimated. It can sometimes be like an Elvis imitator – pretty good but not the real thing."
- Dan Haygood
people
How do you sell one product by using another? When the second product is a great idea. Here are the people responsible for ours.
M Reid Overcash
President/CEOContact
"You don’t need to be a big agency or have a big budget to implement a big idea."
b. Roxboro, NC; felt the native population would be hard to beat, so stayed put. Learned the pillaging and plundering ways of the ECU pirate so well, he is now chairman of its Board of Visitors--and not just so he can keep an eye on his daughter.
After honing powers of persuasion at Bristol-Myers, got into advertising through the back door--as a client. Defected officially in 1985 and never looked back. Developed Click It or Ticket and Booze It and Lose It for the Governor's Highway Safety Commission and nurtured some successful sub-brands for Golden Corral and Quick10 Oil Change Centers. Success led to the birth of VBP, Vibrant Brand Personality, and its "manual," Brand-Aid, available by request through this site.
Thinks today's advertising has nothing on Joe Namath's pantyhose commercials, although Staples' "Easy Button" campaign is a current fave. Geico's cavemen spots should have remained in the cave.
While not playing golf or serving tennis balls--or giving his other daugher tennis pointers--serves on boards and remains heavily involved in community activities.
As you might expect from a philosophy major, Reid claims expertise in a number of "cerebral" areas:
- The true essence of a brand (as opposed to its eating habits or mating call)
- How to lead the troops (not that that makes him a good manager)
- Emulating an effective technique (particularly in sports--see golf course avatar above)
- Devising creative solutions to problems (bland solutions come easier, but are way less effective)
- Logical debate (can be aggressive at times--has been known to lobby successfully on behalf of both the chicken and the egg)
