During my free time before the Mortgage Bankers Association convention last week in Atlanta, I had the opportunity to visit the new World of Coca Cola, a museum that is a tribute to the company's mostly successful marketing campaigns.
That is quite the opposite of what might happen to the mortgage industry, where the only marketing tribute that might be constructed is one to the excesses of the subprime boom.
But from near day one, when Asa Candler purchased the rights to the formula from its inventor, the company has been a veritable marketing machine. This includes the unique shape of its bottle, designed so people could tell what brand of soda they were buying just by feel.
Then there are its commercials. The pop hit, I'd Like to Teach the World to Sing, was written originally as a commercial jingle for the company. Its popularity led to a full-length version being created.
Then there is Mean Joe Greene. That 30-second segment was copied by the company in other countries, using soccer stars, and later turned into a television movie.
Mortgage marketing should have the same feel good quality as those (and other) Coca Cola ads. After all, we are the industry that helps people purchase their first home and not every deal is a slam-dunk.
Instead of selling happiness, all too often the industry sells rate and product; although since the subprime crisis, there is less product to be sold around.
The Coca Cola ads tell a story. When selling mortgage loans, loan officers need to tell a story as well and have that feel good impact.
P.S.: In the past, I have written about Coca Cola's biggest marketing mistake, New Coke. Well, the company does have a display, albeit a small one and hidden in a gallery, of what went wrong with New Coke.
