My Headline That Lasted Decades, Killed Cullinet, and the Six-point Type that Landed Oracle a $2-million Site License from Hughes Aircraft

 

My headline that lasted decades, and the six-point type that landed Oracle a $2-million site licence form Hughes Aircraft. I had just seen the movie THE LAST STARFIGHTER and told Larry Ellison I had our next headline: THE LAST DBMS. He loved it and our first ad featured names of database competitors crossed out on the side of a fighter jet. One day, I was going up the stairs for my weekly meeting with Larry and Danny Turano was just leaving and said, "Hey, that footnote landed us a $2-million site license from Hughes Aircraft. They said any company that gutsy gets their business!" The footnote: "Our use of Cullinet, Information Builders, etc. trademarks is the least of their problems. TRBA." BTW, I always signed my ads TRBA for The Rick Bennett Agency. This ad put the last knife into Cullinet. We did get a snarky letter from Cullinet's John Goldman complaining about our footnote. But hey, that was "the least of their problems." Larry just laughed when he showed me the letter. Sincerely, Rick Bennett Ad Hit Man

My Ad That Destroyed Ashton-Tate

 Oracle had a big problem. Ashton-Tate was about to come out with dBASE for Digital's VAX computer. VAX was Oracle's bread and butter. I asked Larry Ellison how many sales we had for the PC version of Oracle. He answered not many. So the answer was to deliver a pile of manuals and Oracle on the PC for $199. We lost money on each sale, but headed off disaster on the VAX.

Ashton-Tate's CEO, Ed Esber, told his people that he "wouldn't get into the gutter by answering Oracle's attack." That killed morale. I imagine many employees called him a gutless wimp as they passed him in the halls. This put a check in Ashton-Tate's swing and killed their VAX initiative. In another post, I'll tell you how I came up with the enduring headline THE LAST DBMS. Sincerely, Rick Bennett Ad Hit Man

My Ad That Destroyed Ask Computer

 

In 1989, Oracle wanted to get into the manufacturing business. I probably had the most fun ever writiing this ad copy. "We Kick ASK" or "We're kicking ASK and taking names." I was interviewing a former ASK employee who was with ASK CEO Sandy Kurtzig when she first saw this. He said she got so mad she cried.

So how did it cause ASK's demise? First, it caused ASK to pre-announce new product capability they couldn't yet deliver. Since they were a public company, it destroyed their quarter-to-quarter profitability.

Second, it a misguided attempt at revenge, ASK acquired Ingres, a competitor to Oracle. Misguided because while Ingres had features unavailable in Oracle, Kurtzig didn't realize that people bought Oracle because it was perfectly compatible with IBM's SQL/DS and DB2. Which meant Oracle customers could dump Oracle and go back to IBM.

One thing led to another. ASK/Ingres was eventually acqired by Computer Associates. In an interview with VANITY FAIR magazine, Larry Ellison commented on the acquisition: "I guess every ecosystem needs a scavenger."

Sincerely yours,
Rick Bennett
Ad Hit Man

Advertising "Hit Man" Recommends a "Hit Man" Movie on Amazon

 

Being an advertising "hit man"—my ads destroyed at least 9 Fortune 500-size companies that I can name—I stumbled on a free Amazon Prime movie last night that I highly recommend. Featuring Bill Nighy, Emily Blunt, and Rupert Grint, this is a real knee slapper.

If you'll remember, Nighy played the naked guitar player in Love Actually. Emily Blunt played in Edge of Tomorrow with Tom Cruise. and Ruipert Grint played Ron Weasley in the Harry Potter flicks. I think this movie is a sleeper that nobody has ever heard of. You want a laugh? You'll get a bunch of them in Wild Target.

@tomcruise, @billnighy, @emilyblunt, @rupertgrint

Why I will never again buy something advertised on Fox News