Some people are born with the
qualities of an interim marketing VP. You may consider Cas Walker as an example
of it. When I was a kid growing up in Knoxville,
TN, there was a gruff, grizzled millionaire
grocer named Cas Walker. A former coal miner and pulp mill worker he opened his
first Cas Walker's Cash Store at age 22 with $850 he'd saved doing hard labor.
Brief Background Of The Expert Interim Marketing VP
Born in 1902 into a scrappy
dirt farming family, Caswell Orton Walker was one of 12 children. Calling
himself "the youngest, the meanest and the prettiest" of the boys, Walker was the original
"brand me". Nobody knew how to draw a crowd like this man, which is
the basic necessity of all marketing ideas in order to be successful. Half P.T.
Barnum, this hillbilly marketer was a master at engaging and converting
audiences, which he accomplished by breaking just about every single rule of
southern propriety that existed at the time.
Walker was always his own 'interim marketing VP'. He
understood the power of television before even JFK and he knew public relations
better than anyone on Madison Avenue. Branding himself "the old coon
hunter" he made himself a television star. He made himself mayor of Knoxville. He launched the career of 12-year-old Dolly Parton. He hired and fired the teenage Everly Brothers. He staged a publicity stunt that landed him on the cover of Life Magazine. He buried a man alive in the parking lot of one of his stores. He created a salve that would cure skin cancer. He created store brands at a time when they were unheard of. He was one of the first cause marketers, in fact the most able interim marketing VP.
Some Flashbacks Of The Famous Interim Marketing VP That
Brought Him Under The Limelight
One day in the early 70s some
"gypsies" invaded one of his stores and wreaked havoc. Check out Walker's response in this
advertorial:
Is it any wonder Walker's customers loved
him?
Early in his career Walker positioned himself
and his stores as friends of the working man's family. He took every
opportunity he could to poke fun at the country club set in Knoxville so he could entertain his shoppers. He was highly outspoken about his political views, which favored working people. He inserted himself into the local political scene and fought for the working class.
The Promotional Tricks Applied By The Expert Interim
Marketing VP
To promote his chain of
stores Cas established a local variety TV show called The Farm And Home Show.
It was on this show that a 12-year-old Dolly Parton, from way back up in the
hills, made her
television debut. Walker also gave the Everly
Brothers, students at
Knoxville's West High School,
a place on his show and once famously
booted them off mid-performance for too much 'heavy metal'.
When Cas was a member of the
Knoxville City Council, he was photographed punching a fellow council member
during a city council meeting. The photo landed on the cover of Life Magazine
and garnered Knoxville
some bad publicity. But you can bet Walker's
customers were howling with laughter all the way to the grocery store. Late in
life Walker
admitted the whole thing was staged for publicity.
The Last Life Of The Revered Interim Marketing VP
A generous community benefactor,
Walker was also a curious study in southern racism for his time. Walker provided assistance for many in Knoxville that needed it but thought nothing
of advertising watermelons on billboards and TV showing young black kids eating
watermelon while proclaiming "mmmm, mmmm, thumpin' good" long after
the civil rights movement was under way. To Knoxville's
credit, Walker
took a lot of heat for these ads and eventually did away with them.
Legend, urban folk hero,
original MAD MAN...Cas Walker died in 1998 at the age of 96. Even in death Walker remains a revered
pitchman and is alive and well on the internet, which he would have loved. Ad
agencies (in San Diego and all over the world)
would do well to study Walker's
tactics and consider deploying them...perhaps a tad less crudely.
Walker's genius was that his positioning was authentic, no
matter whose feathers it ruffled. He was a tireless promoter who absolutely,
positively knew his products and customers. He embraced new technology and
benefited from same. He tried all manner of different tactics and stuck with
the ones that worked.
For today's marketing
agencies, even in San Diego or Los
Angeles, Walker's
"to hell with the box" positioning and tactics still carry valuable
lessons in how to engage an audience...and convert them. Except for the watermelons of
course. As Ces Walker was his own interim marketing VP, but people today
interested in making a career as an interim marketing VP certainly makes it a
point to go through the marketing strategies of Ces Walker.
