PHD Perspectives: Bonzo Meets Maslow: The Tale of the Sexy Bass Drum - Steve Piluso - MediaBizBloggers

In the mid to late 198039s attempting to fill the void in rock music resulting from the demise of Led Zeppelin a whole slew of Zep imitators popped up All of them attempted to duplicate the band39s success with what was perceived to be the winning formula Front Man on vocalsamp8230wavy long blond tresses tight jeans cleft chin and devilish good looks wailing with agony and ecstasy in the upper register we were onto you David Coverdale and the dark mysterious guitaristamp8230distant and disassociated from the audience dressed like a mystic belting out repetitive fast hard driving infectious riffs and in some cases even whipping out a violin bowamp8230there was no flattery in that imitation When this phenomenon was at its height I heard an interviewer ask former Zep front man and legend Robert Plant what he made of all this Was it flattering Did they crack the code Were any of these bands worth their saltquotThey39re missing the point man The thing that made Led Zeppelin Led Zeppelin was not all that stuffamp8230it was Bonzo39s drummer John Bonham bass drum It was the heart of the band and what gave us our soundquotI don39t think anyone except maybe a selfdeluded marching band member has ever considered the bass drum sexy But musically it is the cornerstone counting out time with the consistency necessary to corral what would otherwise be a cacophony of sounds from an array of instruments and vocalistsSo what did the guys in Led Zeppelin know that the others didn39t What the boys in Zep knew and unknowingly understood was how to apply Maslow39s Hierarchy of Needs to their art And we could all learn a thing or two from themMaslow identified and prioritized Man39s hierarchy of basic needs In pyramid form at the bottom lie the most essential needs food water air shelter Once acquiring these Man then needs things like physical and psychological safety Achieving these Friendship and acceptance Beyond that are quotEsteemquot based needs and at the top Self Actualizing Needs The point of this is you cannot ascend to the next layer of needs until you39ve established the necessary lower needWhat can we learn from them in the Agency worldWithout the bass drum counting out the beat for the music there is no order In the case of Bonzo I39d call this quotthunderous consistencyquot In fact it39s the fact that it was so consistentlyamp8230consistentamp8230that people didn39t notice it or give it the credit it was due A lot of media agencies aspire these days to dazzle current and prospective clients with the golden tressed alto and or guitar playing mystic But it39s all just noiseamp8230and useless to a client39s business without the bass drum Solid fundamentally sound execution in the media spaceAll of the attention and credit is being given to specialty services in media agencies that often account for at BEST less than 10 of the company39s revenue And this makes every media planner feel that they39re stuck with a low grade low value job managing the media plan and client investment Everyone wants to produce TV shows and no one wants to own the clientagency billing reconciliationBut if a media agency can39t execute flawlesslyamp8230with thunderous consistency and by virtue make execution a nonissueamp8230invisible to the client clients will not give those agencies permission to move up in the Maslowian hierarchy into modelling branded entertainment application development word of mouth social media services and others that seem to emerge more often than I make my own bed once a weekMy high school basketball coach consistently chastised me for trying to crossover dribble through my legs before driving the lane Especially when I struggled to break 70 from the freethrow line quotWorry about the fundamentalsamp8230then you can screw around with the other stuffquot Free throws win games Media plans make money Rock beats scissor It39s pretty simple The bass drum IS sexy It39s the source of most Agency revenueamp8230and there39s nothing sexier than a boatload of cash And those unsung heroes who aren39t dashed all over the trade press the Planners Strategists Negotiatorsamp8230the 25 year olds jumping on the leftover conference room lunch sandwiches are the key to it all There39s an army of Bonzos wailing away on that pedal creating beautiful eardrum smashing order out of chaos Only with THEIR help and through their success will clients allow media Agencies to move into the higher orders of marketing related services Focus on the fundamentalsamp8230then screw around with the other stuffSteve Piluso EVP Managing Director PHD East an Omnicom CompanyRead all Steve39s MediaBizBloggers commentaries at PHD Perspectives MediaBizBloggersCheck us out on Facebook at MediaBizBloggerscomFollow our Twitter updates MediaBizBlogger

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PHD Perspectives: Bonzo Meets Maslow: The Tale of the Sexy Bass Drum - Steve Piluso - MediaBizBloggers

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