By JAYNE MARGETTS
Perhaps on the surface one
could be forgiven for swallowing the tang of self-made
opulence and infinite possibilities Pritchard possesses
and exudes, but, should the term "Rags to Riches" ever
be mentioned in his presence, he would be likely to
shrug it off in the most sincere of manners, offer a
hearty chuckle and a rustic, down-to-earth tale of how
one evening, in particular, he found himself in the
company of boxer Evander Holyfield and a host of
celebrities.
"What is normal to me is often
surreal to some people," Pritchard admits
wholeheartedly. " there has been one moment in my life
when I was really taken in by it. We worked with the
boxer Evander Holyfield and he invited me to the fight
World Heavyweight fight when he actually won the title,
and, I'm sitting there after he won the title with about
50 people including Jack Nicholson, Clint Eastwood and
Charlie Sheen.
"There was a whole room full of
megastars and I had a couple of drinks and I was feeling
a bit melancholy and so I rang my mother at about 3
am..." he pauses, "and I WAS 50-years-old and I was
ringing my mother in Queensland and I'm saying, 'I can't
believe it. I'm sitting here with all of these people
....' That was the only time in my life when it really
struck me that I was a long way from my birth place of
Richmond, Victoria."
This is not the kind of
admission you'd find amid the pages of Pritchard's
best-selling book, Complex Marketing Made Simple,
nor for that matter, in the arena-sized stages of
auditoriums he packs out when he gives his business,
marketing and motivational talks. Instead, it is the
fodder that he is likely to mull over quietly, behind
his "gated" retreat in the cosy nook of Topanga Canyon,
Malibu, or 40,000 feet up in an aeroplane, a glass of
red wine in one hand and a head full of objectivity
swimming around.
But it is a humbling factor
that gives insight into the tycoon's global achievements
and simple marketing philosophy.
Pritchard spent
several years as the Marketing Manager for international
business magnate, Kerry Packer, and represented, in a
marketing vein the industrial sector of Japan's Nissay
Insurance, General Motors, AT&T, General Mills,
Shell Petroleum, Hoover, Digital Computers and The Coca
Cola Company.
Within the international sporting
arena he has achieved phenomenal results with the
Inaugural Formula One in Australia; The Skins with
golfers Norman, Nicklaus, Ballesteros and Watson, the
World Series Cricket, Katarina Witt and 18 Olympians
Asian Tour and Holyfield. He also increased the
attendance for the Sydney Football team in Australia
from a low 7,000 to 40,000 in just six weeks.
He
has applied his marketing alchemy to campaigns involving
major television networks, The Los Angeles Philharmonic
Orchestra, The Environmental Media Awards (featuring
Mikhael Gorbachev, Disney chief Michael Eiser and CNN's
Ted Turner), has been featured on 60 Minutes and also
received a number of prestigious awards.
Terry
Fox of Goldwell International crowned him "The Minder Of
Marketing", the Sun Herald believes he is "The
Sultan Of Sell" and he has been compared to the
equivalent of Siimon Reynolds, the Gold Clio winning
advertising guru. Currently, Pritchard, is involved with
100 Years ... 100 Movies which brought director
Steven Spielberg in his Los Angeles office a couple of
months ago.
Bringing together a star studded,
global media conference at which the AFI movie studios
and celebrities will present the AFI Century Panel -
this century's 100 best American movies - is for
Pritchard one of the most ambitious marketing campaigns
ever put together. He is, naturally, enthusiastic then
about 100 Years ... 100 Movies.
"Next
year is the 100th anniversary of making movies in
America. So it's the first time the studios have
combined to celebrate anything. Normally they are mortal
enemies, but because it is such a phenomenal opportunity
to firstly celebrate its centenary as an industry, and
secondly to re-expose generations to products that have
been made but that they haven't actually seen
before.
"So it's the opportunity to take the best
of what's been made and expose it all over again to a
brand new audience. It also gives the studio the
opportunity to sell a hell of a lot of movies,
merchandise and memorabilia. Basically, we are selecting
the Top 100 people in the movie industry, and that
includes producers, directors, critics, actors, actress
- all of the prominent people, heads of studios who know
more about the movie industry than anything else. They
will then get together and select the 100 great movies
of all time. We will be doing a broadcast special in the
US, which will end up being broadcast worldwide and will
countdown the 100 movies selected."
Orson Welles'
1941 masterpiece of shadow, contrast and surreal genius,
Citizen Kane is a film that according to
Pritchard "gets mentioned more than anything else." But
he believes that "it is difficult to compare a movie
that was made 50 years ago with today's fare. Adverse
conditions compete with what they've got today, and yet,
now there's so much phenomenal creativity in movies with
computer graphics, the robotics and the fantastic
animated features like Jurassic Park and even
ET. They were a step forward in movie making, so
how you judge them I don't know," he concludes
quizzically.
There are also plans for Festivals
and for a Disney Interactive Robotic Mall Tour that will
cover all American malls, and Pritchard hopes, will be
something that he can bring back to his native Australia
in the same capacity.
Ask Pritchard what his
personal philosophy is when it comes to creating a
marketing campaign and he replies: "The most important
things from our perspective are that the customer is the
only thing that counts and we believe that people never
buy the product. They only buy the emotional benefit
that comes from the product. When I look around at all
of the ads on TV, radio, print and billboards they are
always about the features of the product, and people
don't buy the product, or it's features. They only buy
the benefits to them.
"You buy cosmetics because
you want to feel better. You want to look better. It's
the emotional thing that you get, and it's the same with
a car. I drive a Mercedes not because I need transport
but because it makes me feel good, it's good for my ego
and my status. It's good for a whole bunch of things.
But it's not because I need a car and everybody's
decisions are made on their emotional
benefits."
Pritchard continues by explaining that
"too many marketing people and too many advertising
agencies get away from that simple basic premise, and if
you look at the motivating reason why people buy
something, you can identify that and break it down into
one simple sentence and that's the easiest and fastest
way to communicate something, and it's an emotional
way.
"Today, I think it's about empathy. Y'know
we are into being straight and moral and just working
with people on what they want, and empathising with
their position. I think the days of playing it fast and
loose are over!"
One of the most fascinating
aspects of this self-made man, nomadic titan and CEO of
Marketforce One, Inc though reveals itself through many
surprising and ironic admissions. His grasp on the art
of conversation is astonishing and it is easy to
understand why people allude to him being a "beaut guy".
He concedes that he is much more comfortable in the
glare of 10,000 expectant faces waiting for his verbal
wisdom and Midas touch to grace them, than he is walking
into a room with two complete strangers and striking up
a conversation.
"I love public speaking because I
like the interaction with the people. I get very nervous
and sometimes I sit there and think, 'I'm so scared' and
there's butterflies belting around my stomach and you go
through this self-doubt. Y'know, 'what if I forget what
I'm going to say'. But once I'm out there and start
interacting with people then I'm fine. It's true, I'm
more comfortable in front of 10,000 people than in front
of two.
"If somebody said to me, 'I'd like you to
go into a room and meet two people you've never met
before' ... then I'd get much more apprehensive than if
someone said, 'there's 10,000 people out there - go and
talk to them for 20 minutes'. That's fine with me. I can
do that easily. What can I tell you? I'm weird
..."
Today, there is still a trace and hangover
of Pritchard from his days as an entertainer who back
from the late '50s to 1970 performed drama, recordings
and live concerts on more than 400 television
appearances. By 1972 he had produced and presented major
concert productions through Australia while contributing
as a columnist to the Murdoch media, Daily Mirror, TV
Week and TV-Radio Express.
He was also General
Manager of Australian Functions Pty Ltd Company,
specialising in the concept, organisation and execution
of major events. Three years later he became the
Marketing Manager for Encore Magazine, the bible of the
Australian entertainment industry, and for Sydney Diary,
a 60-page, full colour, up market lifestyle magazine.
1977-78 saw him as the Managing Director of Bob
Pritchard and Associates, and then he became the
Marketing Manager of PBL. It was during that time he
made his thrust into the arena of global marketing.
Pritchard agrees that today he is a long way
from the kid who lived in the suburb of Richmond,
Australia. A kid who had dreams to conquer the world and
decades later would find himself in the company of
sportsmen such as Holyfield and the glitz of Hollywood.
But, there have been lessons that he has learnt along
the way that have served as a reminder of who he is and
where he came from.
"Sometimes I think about my
reality. I guess my reality changes and my mother still
remembers me when we were very poor and living in that
two bedroom flat in Richmond. She still remembers that
and she's still poor, and, you know, she says I've
changed a lot and not necessarily for the worst. I think
I tend to find myself caring more about mankind and the
world in general, and probably have less closer
relationships simply because I don't have the time.
"Earlier in my life I probably had a lot more
closer friends that I used to see a lot and mix with,"
he remembers. "I cared less about the world in general,
and the things that were facing the world. Nowadays I
find myself more conscious of the problems and, having
travelled to the India, Pakistan, Africa, Brazil and the
Middle East and seen the dreadful poverty and
hopelessness and the human devastation that takes place
I'm much more conscious and more upset by that now that
I ever was," he sighs.
"At the same time I've got
less people that are very close to me because I'm never
in one place long enough, because I'm on a plane going
somewhere else, but, I do know an awful lot of stewards
and stewardess," he says with a grin. "I fly United back
and forward to Europe, Asia and Australia about 35 times
a year, and it's amazing how many times I see the same
people. I know more of those people than I know real
people."
It is true that with success comes
sacrifice and this is something that Pritchard
understands well. But this Australian charismatic export
and favourite son is happy with his lot, even if his
horizons are tinted with a surreal haze.
For Bob
Pritchard that is what dreams are made of
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