The 60 Minutes Talk

My father is a huge football fan. It doesn't matter if it is college football or professional football, he watches all things football. There are times during football season when I will call him and he says, “You know the game is on. Right?”

First, I rarely know the game. I usually just assume he means the University of Nebraska game, because we are from Nebraska and he is definitely a Cornhusker fan. The game could be the Los Angeles Rams or the Chargers as my dad would think I know this since I live here. Ha! I know nothing about football.

Secondly, I do know that “the game is on” means call him back.

My mother has one television show she watches regularly and has for my entire life: 60 Minutes. I call my mother on Sundays and sometimes I get my timing wrong and I’ve called her when she's watching 60 Minutes. My mother is much more subtle than my father. I usually start my conversations with her with “What are you doing?” If she says, “Watching 60 Minutes”, that means call her back.

If you don't know the program, 60 Minutes is a television news show that is known for investigative reporting and journalistic interviews. It has been on the air since 1968.

The show is so widely watched and has been on air for so long that it holds sway that reaches beyond its television audience—mostly because folks talk about the show’s topics after they air. In its more than 2,500 episodes over the years, reporting on the show has been so influential that it has impacted sales in several industries.

On occasion, the show’s hard-hitting programming about car defects have led to declining sales. It has been said that the episode about unintended acceleration in Audi vehicles tanked the car manufacturer’s US sales for more than 15 years. Jeep saw a decline in sales after an episode about rollovers in its trucks.

The show has aired controversial topics that have influenced laws, leading to new federal regulations. Because of its audience size and reach, the show has been the subject of numerous lawsuits from businesses that have challenged its investigative reporting.

One of my former CEO's used to ask leaders in the company: “Would you want to talk about that on 60 Minutes?” Essentially, he was telling us that we had to expect that everything done in the dark would come to light.

This was in the early days of the Internet. It is truer today than ever before.

The Wall Street Journal published a story on Wednesday about retail marketers using deceptive pricing practices. Some of these retailers (through their lawyers) are attempting to justify why misleading prices are acceptable. No matter the legal court outcome, the court of consumer opinion matters. Consumers are reading these stories too.

In a world where marketing messages are constant, the importance of building trust through honest advertising and communication cannot be overstated. Honesty serves as a cornerstone to a healthy relationship between businesses and customers. Without it, you will lose credibility and your brand value will deteriorate.

Let’s face it. Consumers are more likely to engage with brands they trust.

It takes […] years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it. If you think about that, you'll do things differently. ~ Warren Buffett

When advertisements accurately represent products or services, consumers can confidently make purchase decisions. They will have more confidence that their expectations will be met. And, they will come back to purchase again.

At every customer touchpoint, it’s important to ask: “Would I want to talk about this on 60 Minutes?”

#marketingstrategy #advertising #brandbuilding

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Katherine Hunter-Blyden?is a CMO Partner at TechCXO. She is a senior marketing executive with P&L management experience. As a full-stack marketer, Katherine's experience includes brand strategy, advertising, digital marketing, sales promotion, product management, pricing and market research. Katherine helps businesses meet their goals with data-driven, quantifiable results.