Who needs a business card?

Advertising is kind of like farming. Once you get into it, it's in your blood. You notice things that other 'normal' people probably don't notice - not because you want to, necessarily, but because you just can't flippin' help it.

So this weekend, I was thinking. I do that sometimes. In advertising, our ultimate goal, our perfect world, our coup de grace, our 'I rule the world' scenario, is to have customers tattoo our client's name on their forehead. And, in a sense, businesses who sell to rural Americans have figured out how to do this.

My dad recently went into a mechanic shop in town. He was looking for the proprietor, but found another young man sitting at the front desk. This is how the conversation went.

Dad: Hi there. Is Aaron around?
Front Desk Dude: Nope.
Dad: Oh. Do you expect him back sometime today?
FDD: Yeah.
Dad: Do you know when he'll be in?
FDD: No.
Dad: Um, okay. (laughing) You sure aren't very talkative, are ya?
FDD: (laughs) Nope.
Dad: Well, can you tell me the phone number here so I can try and call Aaron later today?

And the guy at the front desk, not knowing the phone number for his workplace off the top of his head, starts rifling around the desktop. Not finding any shop stationery or anything with the phone number on it, he reaches down, opens a desk drawer ... and pulls out a trucker-style baseball cap. Which, of course, has all the shop's info on it. Address, phone number, the works.

And my dad wears that cap all the time now. As close as an advertiser could ever dream of to having my dad tattoo something on his forehead.