IMHO, “The Greatest ‘Ad-Man’ That Ever Lived Was My Dad”
I have always heard that everything happens for a reason. As I sat in the early morning July sun this morning sipping my first coffee of the day and began running random ideas through my head to write about today, I felt the gentle hand of a familiar spirit that has been with me every day since he departed this world on Tuesday, May 7, 2013…my dad.
As I waited for the streaming tears running down my face to subside long enough to gather my thoughts it became quite clear. Wilbur Gene Lockhart would be my topic for this day. And it also became crystal clear how even from beyond the grave he was, is, and always has been mentoring me just as he tugged at me this morning and reminded me ‘who had gotten me thus far!’
This is The Most Important Article I Have Ever Written in My Freelance Career!
Ground Zero is Jasper, Alabama, a medium-sized (now but not so much when dad got his start) town west and a bit north of Birmingham. One of those little(ish) towns where everybody knows everybody, church is always on Sunday mornings, and everybody’s grandmother (especially mine and I will get to her in a future piece!) fries the best southern fried chicken, green tomatoes, and anything else that can be improved by hot grease and a grandmothers love!
My dad came up hard. One of nine children was left fatherless when their dad was killed in a mining accident. I think dad was about 9 when that happened but this is not about that.
My dad was the breadwinner of a poor household and that mindset followed him throughout his life. Work hard, never miss a day, and be the absolute best at whatever you do.
There was a small mom-and-pop type grocery store in Jasper called ‘Son’s’ owned and operated by the only other man I have ever considered smarter than my dad. Son Humphries.
My dad approached Mr. Humphries one day about a job. “I don’t need anybody right now kid,” he told my dad who was newly married and had a son (me) on the way. What dad did is the stuff movies are made about.
I’ll Make Him an Offer He Can’t Refuse!
Before Mario Puzzo wrote and Francis Coppola ever coached Marlon Brando to say that line in the God Father, my dad made Mr. Humphries an offer he could not and did not refuse. Dad simply told the owner of that store that he would work two weeks for FREE, and after those two weeks if he didn’t work harder and faster than his entire crew put together, he would walk away and Humphries would owe him nothing. If he succeeded, he would have a job.
Needless to say, dad got the job. Not only did he get the job, but Mr. Humphries saw something in my dad and took him under his wing and my sophomore year of high school, dad bought one of the stores from Mr. Humphries and began building one of the most successful independent grocery stores to ever NOT BE A CHAIN!
And also needless to say I went to work for him but at some point, I took a much different path that I still regret to this day. But this is not about that!
The Greatest Ad-Man! PERIOD!
The Son’s grocery stores did what every grocery store does. Every Wednesday in the local newspaper, The Daily Mountain Eagle, there was a well-designed, well-planned, and well-formatted weekly sales paper in the middle of that publication.
I can remember being maybe 5 or 6 when dad would write down a few featured items of the next week on a piece of paper at granny’s supper table after a Sunday night supper. And the hallmark of that would always be when we (me, mom, and dad) would drive to the local radio station WARF in Jasper, Alabama AM 1240! And dad would go inside and hand those featured items he had just written down to the local DJ to begin the weekly ad process!
No computers. No telephone. Physically writing down, from memory mind you, what items were to be featured and at what price they were to be advertised at for the ad that would break on Wednesday morning!
The process did not stop there!
On Monday, dad would meet with other store managers and department heads to ‘pen-out’ the rest of the ad. We would call this a collaborative effort today. With dad, it was his weekly, “Come to Jesus Meeting!” and when the dust settled we would go to our particular stores (he managed the main store in Jasper, but his store and three others were scattered across the county) where we would order the ad products to arrive on Tuesday afternoon so the new weekly ad would be all displayed and looking good for Wednesday morning when the ad broke!
Wait There's Much More!
After that Monday meeting, there would be the ‘Proofing’ of the ad about to break on Wednesday(I failed to mention all ads were made one week in advance so when we went to the local newspaper to make sure the new ad was priced right and everything was ready to be printed we would drop off the copy for next weeks ad that we would be ‘proofing’ the following Monday afternoon. It really was a simple process that I am just butchering the hell out of trying to explain how powerful it really was!)
After that Monday sales meeting the most magical thing I have ever witnessed would happen, every Tuesday!
Have you ever paid any attention to those 3-foot by 4-foot white poster-type signs that grocery stores put in their front windows to highlight what was being featured for the week? You know the ones that say FRESH USDA CHOICE RIBEYE STEAKS $4.99 per lb! or similar items? Dad loved making those BY HAND!
No computer. No Adobe Print Shop. Just him, a precise piece of white butcher paper that came on 3-foot wide rolls. He would meticulously measure out 6, 4-foot pieces and use a set of ink markers that were anywhere from one inch to three inches wide and came in assorted colors! That man was an artist!
He had a piece of plywood that he would prop up, usually with four cases of paper towels or tissue because they were the right height and that would put his plywood at the needed height where he could do his thing. I still think about those signs and the joy you could see in his eyes when he made them. He was proud of what he created.
No computers. No printers. But he unknowingly had created a brand, a voice, and one hell of a following and had to be considered an influencer many, many years before the first computer was ever turned on!
Then and Now
My dad taught me that there is no substitute for hard work. PERIOD! I often think now about how these Millennials would approach him and mention things like marketing, branding, and voice, and how in the most tactful and graceful way he would politely tell them to go sell their bill of goods to someone who needed it because his thing was always, “IF IT AINT BROKE, DON’T FIX IT!”
Now, I would usually at this point in my writing draw some parallels and then offer you a digital marketing solution that works…..NOT TODAY. Not this article.
I simply wanted to pay tribute to the GREATEST AD-MAN I EVER KNEW!
I love you dad, keep mentoring because now, I’m listening more than ever!
9 m
