GPWA Times Magazine - Issue 7 - January 2009

| GPWA Times 43 “A lot of people can have wacky ideas, but beingable toput them into practice is the real chal- lenge…You want people to laugh and say, ‘Where in the hell did they come up with that idea?’” attention, especially after Paddy Power decided to replace the billboard with one that read, “There’s a place for fun and games. Apparently this isn’t it.” Mr. Power let out a hearty chuckle when reminded of the Last Supper uproar. “That’s a classic case of what our market- ing ideas can do,” he said. “Hey, a lot of people can have wacky ideas, but be- ing able to put them into practice is the real chal- lenge. You have to have balls to do something crazy like [the Last Supper bill- board]. You always want people to laugh and say, ‘Where in the hell did they come up with that idea?’” Mr. Power – who says he has no formal degree in advertising or marketing, just “common sense and a sense of humor” – claims that there is no magic formula to coming up with the ideas. Except for the fact that he’s willing to entertain any thought from any source at any time. “It’s all about trying not to do things just because that’s they way they’ve always been done in the past,” says Mr. Power. “We’ll listen to ideas from anyone, from the guy who sweeps the floor to the top ex- ecutives in the company. It’s fun because you never know where the next great idea is going to come from.” Mr. Power said he is approached on a reg- ular basis by people who have something to say about their method of marketing. Most of the time, he says, strangers will tell him howmuch they like the approach, but there are times when “someone with no sense of humor” has his or her say. “I remember one time we got a billboard at a soccer game and we had it placed in the stadium upside down, just to be differ- ent,” Mr. Power recalls. “A few weeks later I had a lad come up to me and say that he was at the game and he thought it was a re- ally stupid idea to put the ad upside down. I said, ‘OK, but let me ask you something. Who else advertised at that game?’ And he said, ‘I don’t remember.’ To which I replied, ‘Ex- actly my point, my friend.’ Ours was the only ad he remembered. Isn’t that the whole point?” ‘Nasty’ times While Mr. Power says he has few regrets about any of the company’s cam- paigns, there have been times when Paddy Pow- er’s reputation has got out in front of it and caused some damage. After Barack Obama was elected president of the U.S. in November, Paddy Power posted a bevy of odds about things that would or could happen during the president-elect’s first term; things like will he become a father again (10-to-1), will he resign (28-to-1) or be impeached (33-to-1).