Talcott: Lying on the nail finally hurt enough to make us all act

The downturn has been a trigger for media and marketing companies to make structural changes that were long overdue, according to the chairman of the Australian Association of National Advertisers.  

Speaking at an event organised by Ogilvy, Joe Talcott, who is also group marketing director for News Ltd, told the audience that the industry had been doing so well before that the imperative for change was not there.

He told a story of a traveller in the US, who comes across a farmer, with a dog on the porch. The animal was quietly moaning to itself because it was lying on a nail. When the visitor asked the farmer why the dog didn’t move, the farmer replied: “I guess it just doesn’t hurt enough.”

Talcott told the audience: “We are now seeing innovations and changes we should have made over the last 15 years. But it just didn’t hurt enough. We were doing well and we didn’t feel the need to change.”