Just Sitting Around Eating Bonbons

OH YOU KNOW, JUST SITTING AROUND EATING BONBONS...

A co-worker and I were talking today about how busy our office has been lately when she commented, "Well, we're definitely not sitting around at our desks eating bonbons!"

Being in the marketing business, one of my first thoughts was that the makers of bonbons either have a PR disaster or a gold mine on their hands.  This wasn't just a random remark, it has reached the level of a cultural cliche if not an accepted idiom.

As a consumer, when I hear "bonbons", the words "lazy" and "irresponsible" come to mind.  As a marketer, the words "relaxed" and "indulgent" come to mind.

Our culture already uses the phrase "sitting around eating bonbons" as a widely recognized, if not common phrase with a specific implied and accepted meaning.  So how could a bonbon maker go about changing that perception?

Hollywood likes to think that it doesn't matter what people are saying about you as long as they're still talking about you.  This may not be entirely true but it makes a point that is relevant to marketers: if there's a negative idea floating around about your product or service, don't avoid it.  Confront it, own it, and re-frame it in your favor.

For example, consider the company that held the number two spot in their market and started advertising, "We're number two...we try harder!" or the hotel that said, "Our rooms aren't fancy...but neither are our prices!"

Bonbon makers might take a page from that playbook.  They already have the name recognition, They even have a common phrase used in day-to-day conversations around the country (perhaps the world?).  They just need to change the connotation.

Consider these options:

1) A web search quickly revealed 10 separate movies, TV shows and actor or actress interviews where some variation of the phrase "sitting around eating bonbons" has been used.  And that was just in the first couple of pages of results.  I imagine a deeper look would reveal a lot more.

So...envision a TV commercial with all of these quotes from famous shows and movies, all spliced together, one after another in a clever fashion.  One actor or actress after another, hammering home the cultural recognition of the Bon Bon product.  First one, then another, and another...five, ten, fifteen...how many are out there?  I'm not sure but I'm sure it would make a great montage.  "I'm just sitting around eating bonbons...", "She just sits around all day eating bonbons!", "My mom sits around eating bonbons...", "I want to sit around all day eating bonbons", "bonbons", "Eating Bonbons", "BONBONS!"  Insert a short pause and one last clip: "Oh you know, I'm just sitting around eating bonbons."

Then cut to a shot of a woman sitting in her favorite chair, or maybe even in a hammock, and slowly...luxuriously...with a look of absolute bliss and relaxation on her face...biting into a bonbon.

Cue voice-over: "What are you doing today?"

End commercial.

Not bad, right?  There's more than one positive point at work here.  Consider...

There's celebrity.  Whether we like it or not, celebrity sells, so quotes from recognizable actors and actresses in shows and movies gives this commercial one advantage right off the bat.

There's popularity. Not only does it involve one celebrity but many of them.  Not only that, but it shows that bonbons are so well-recognized that seemingly every writer our there is putting bonbons into their scripts.

And of course there's the twist.

Sure, at first you might think about laziness, but as the quotes continue, you start thinking about the brand recognition, the celebrity, the popularity, and eventually the actual bonbon.  You might wonder, if it's so well-known, why is that?  And that's when you start to realize the reason: because a bonbon just tastes THAT GOOD.  So good, in fact, that everyone from Steve Carrell to Jennifer Lopez is talking about it.

And, of course, the ending is there to seal the deal.  Now that your head is swimming with thoughts of the popularity, recognition and general goodness of a bonbon, we pause for a second, slip in one last reminder phrase saying "I'm sitting around eating bonbons", then cut to the scene of a woman eating a bonbon and enjoying every moment.  It's silent except for the sound of her enjoyment.  Maybe a short "mmmmm" or something.  Some finger licking.  Then the crinkle as she starts to open another wrapper.  It shows how enjoyable eating a bonbon really is!  Don't you want that?  Don't you wish you felt as happy and content as that lady looks?  Don't you wish you had her chocolates?  This is all implied in the context of the shot itself.

And then we put up the slogan: "What are you doing today?"

"Well," the viewer will think, "I was sitting here watching TV, but now I wish I was sitting here eating bonbons!!"

Right??

You don't even have to take away the negative phrase, just re-imagine it and make it a positive.

2) Here's another angle.  Let's appeal to the driven and successful workers of the world.  The people who are proud NOT to fit the description of the proverbial bonbon eater.    They, like me, might have a hard-wired association with the negative aspect that prevents them from thinking good thoughts about a bonbon unless we appeal to the things they are proud of.  Namely, their success, or how hard they work.

Envision a television spot with successive quick-shots of a mother working hard at home, doing all the things that stay-at-home moms do.  She's getting the kids up, getting them cleaned, dressing them, making breakfast, cleaning dishes, mopping up a mess, driving the older ones to school, playing with the younger ones at home, ironing, throwing laundry in the wash, saving a child from certain death as he leaps from a bookshelf, and on and on...

Finally, she sits on the couch with a load of clean laundry when she spots a package of bonbons on the end table.  She pauses just long enough to open the package and slowly put one in her mouth.  With the magic of television the whole world around her literally slows down.  Her face looks at peace...enchanted...blissful.  A gentle "Mmmmm" comes from her lips.  She opens her eyes, the world speeds up again.  A kid is crying.  She picks the child up and starts to fold clothes, and then the phone rings.  She pops another bonbon in her mouth, picks up, while still folding with one hand and consoling the child with the other.  "Hello?" she says, "Oh, hi there! (pause) Ohhh, you know...(she looks at the package on the end table)...just sitting around eating bonbons!"

And she smiles as if to say "if only they knew what I was really doing" with a hint of "these bonbons are awesome!"

We could even use the same tagline again.  Throw it up on the screen for a moment: "What are you doing today?"

3) Imagine the same sort of commercial except we replace the mother with a business woman doing her thing.  She's just wrapping up a meeting in a big board room with some wealthy business owners in suits when she has to take a call, and as the men in suits across the room chatter and sign a contract, she smiles and picks up a bonbon as she responds to an apparent question from her caller, "Oh...you know...just sitting around eating bonbons".  Cue tagline.

4) The same idea could also work with any number of job profiles.  Maybe it's a stay-at-home father or a man in the business situation, a lawyer winning a case in court, or a student studying hard and writing a thesis.  Perhaps a construction contractor working on a skyscraper?  The list goes on.  Everybody is busy and successful, and when someone calls on the phone, everybody is grinning smartly as they answer that they're "just sitting around eating bonbons" followed by the tagline, "What are you doing today?"


I don't know about you, but I think I just sold myself on wanting some bonbons.

A series of advertisements like this would convey that bonbons are well-known, they're a part of pop-culture, celebrities talk about them, successful people love them, they're apparently delicious, and most of all that it would be great to "sit around eating bonbons" right now.

In fact, now that I've published my bonbon marketing idea to the world, I think I'm going to sit around eating bonbons while I wait for the bonbon people to call.

Let's Touch Base. Or was that Basis?

If there's one part of life where our instincts can't be trusted, it's language. Whether we're garbling our grammar or fumbling our phrases, there are at least a million ways in which an error in our English can snake the steam out of what we're saying or selling.

In this digital age, one wishing to make a great impression must not only be vigilant when verbalizing but tactful when typing.

In the interest of increasing your effectiveness, here's some info on an interesting idiom you might be misusing...

"LET'S TOUCH BASE"

First of all, I should make it clear that in my experience, this common idom is almost always used in the correct context. The problem is that it seems to be misunderstood and misspelled almost as frequently as it is used.

MEANING

This is the easy part. Most folks will quickly agree that "Let's touch base" means roughly, "Let's get together to review or gauge our current status".

EXAMPLE: A salesperson might say to a prospect, "Let's touch base tomorrow regarding your decision." In other words: "Let's get together tomorrow to review or gauge the status of your decision."

SPELLING:

In the span of the past week alone, I've seen this phrase written alternately as:

• "Let's touch base"
• "Let's touch bases"
• "Let's touch basis"

...and even, for reasons I may be better off not knowing...

• "Let's touch basses"

Basses do not like to be touched unless you kiss them first.

So, in order to agree on a correct spelling we need to know the origin of the phrase.

The problem is that with such a variety of misspellings, there are an equal number of misunderstandings about why this phrase means what it means.

Well, there's good news and there's bad news...

ORIGIN

The bad news is, no one can say for certain exactly where this phrase came from.

The good news is, there are at least three or four reasonable theories, two of which involve baseball...

THEORY #1

In baseball, the players must touch each base in order to score a run at homeplate. Therefore, to "touch base" is to quickly "check in" at that base before you can proceed. So, "Let's Touch Base" under this theory would refer to a quick check in before proceeding toward a goal.

THEORY #2

In baseball, "after a foul ball, the runner must return to (and touch) the base, to begin the rhythm of the game over again. It's a return to the status quo...a momentary rebalancing and reconsideration. Same tactics? A new play?" (Quote source). This explanation enriches the meaning of "Let's Touch Base" by incorporating everything from Theory #1 and further expanding the meaning of the idiom to include "resetting the rhythm" and reconsidering how to proceed.

THEORY #3

The primary NON-baseball theory is that it may have derived from military use. Rogue units in countless video games notwithstanding, I am told by reliable sources that real-life military units on actual missions must periodically check in with their base to let them know how things are going. Given the similarity of this meaning to today's common usage ("let's communicate with our team to discuss the mission status"), it's easy to see how the military may have coined the phrase, "Let's Touch Base". It's also worth noting that in baseball, players more often refer to "THE base" or "A base", whereas the military may more often use the word "base" without a qualifier, as in "let's get back to base", or "Sgt. Jones is living on base". This seems to lend credence to the theory that our idiom may have a military origin.

THEORY #4

Some experts believe that the phrase may refer to playing a bass guitar. This idea has two parts: First, is the fact that the bass guitar brings much needed richness and harmonic foundation to the music of the ever-popular 3-man rock band arrangement; Second, is the fact that bass players with their "I'm just too cool for other instruments" appeal and their brooding, "I could snap an any moment" sensibilities are arguably some of the coolest musicians alive. A far cry from the minstrels of history, bass players tend to look like they're only playing music right now because they got bored wrestling Kodiak bears and mind-tricking ninjas. Hence, with this deadly combination of rhythmic note progression and ultimate coolness, "Let's touch bass" could actually mean something like "Let's work on the foundational harmonics of this project in a brain-frying-ly awesome way that makes people scream and pass out".

Picture Fuzz "touching bass" about some wicked TPS reports.

VERDICT

OK, so I admit I completely invented that last one to satiate my inner beast, but each of the other theories makes a very good case for the origin of the phrase. I personally lean toward #2 or #3 but unfortunately we may never know which one is correct.

However, we CAN say with relative certainty that the phrase has its origins in either baseball or the military, which tells us one important thing...

THE CORRECT SPELLING IS:

"Let's touch base."

And now you know, so please proceed to email your clients confidently about the next big meeting.

...or touch base with your boss on the basis of touching bass to a song about touching basses.

Just don't blame me if your boss thinks you have a weird fish problem.