One is never mentioned without the other; it’s always been “Bonnie & Clyde”, household names for nearly eight decades now.  Immortalized in book, movie, and song, their names have become the most repeated and recognizable of all the infamous bank robbers who freely roamed the Midwest in the early 1930s. 

 

Have you ever considered this:  Being known is a big part of being successful.

 

That’s what advertising and—even more importantly, branding—is all about. 

 

Now this criminal duo never planned to become famous, but Bonnie & Clyde had some things working for them that you’ll want to have working for you.  If you want to become successful and famous, that is. 

 

We’ll get to Bonnie in just a bit, but for now let’s consider Clyde and the lessons he can share with us—not just in crime, but in business. 

 

So how about Clyde.  Was he tough? 

 

Well, physically, he was a pushover.  Clyde Barrow was a scant 5′7″ and 126 pounds.  He was not well fed, and he didn’t workout.  No doubt there were a lot of 1930’s housewives who could have taken him, armed with nothing more than a rolling pin. 

 

But was he dangerous?  Absolutely.

 

So what’s the difference between being “tough” and being “dangerous”? 

 

Being tough comes down to what a person can do bare-handed.  No tools, no help, just the person.  The situation is irrelevant.  Whether it’s a bar fight or a business endeavor, being tough, being able to overcome an obstacle or another person, comes down to a few personal traits: 

 

1-Strength (literally or figuratively), 

 

2-Savvy, and

 

3-Persistence. 

 

A person who is tough can succeed by virtue of their own strengths, and nothing more.

 

But since Clyde wasn’t physically tough, he always needed something extra to get him to the level of “dangerous”.  He learned this early, when at 20 (he died at 23) he was sent to state prison in Oklahoma.  Roughed up repeatedly by an older inmate who was both bigger and more seasoned, Clyde remedied the situation one night by luring the man into a private area, then stabbing him to death.  He was never charged with the murder, which probably served as confirmation for Clyde that done right, improvisation and the right tools could bring exponential results with no downside.  

 

Free again, he teamed up with Bonnie Parker and they started robbing banks.  Once more, Clyde relied on devices to elevate his strength.  The only difference was that the nature of this job required bigger ones this time around. 

 

While the average cop of the day was sporting a revolver on his hip, Clyde outfitted his gang with the Browning Automatic Rifle.  These were leftover Army stock from World War I, and legal to buy at the time.  The BAR was a machine gun that fired a fierce 30-06 cartridge—a popular round nowadays for hunting large game—that was easily capable of shooting through both sides of any car on the road.  You could accurately say that what Clyde and his band had were fully automatic deer rifles.  The cops with wheel guns might as well have been using peas and straws.

 

Whether it’s a successful bank job or a successful business venture, being dangerous means mowing down the competition and getting the desired outcome. 

 

Clyde might not have considered his formula quite this plainly, but he definitely made use of it. 

 

So here they are…

 

Clyde Barrow’s 3 Keys for Success:

 

1-Possess a Device – Clyde chose a V8 Ford for its speed, and then the BAR, of course—you’ll want to have something just efficient that won’t kill anybody. 

 

The business lesson:  Your device may be a product, a service, a talent, skill, or an invention that, because it has viability—salability—will elevate your power to bring in money (the same purpose served by Clyde’s devices).  This simply means that to get another person to part with their money, you must have something people want or need; we have to present something of value and be able to communicate that to them.   

 

2-Be Able to Decide – The only thing that differentiated Clyde Barrow from anyone else were his decisions:  He made the decision to rob banks, and he decided he would shoot people when necessary.

 

The business lesson:  Being able to decide… separates dreamers from achievers.  Successful people tend to make quick decisions and are slow to change them, while the average person is slow to decide… and quick to change.  Simple enough, but it’s the one thing that most ‘ordinary’ people lack, the ability to simply act on their ideas or visions.

 

3-Have Good Branding – This last Key is the only one of the 3 that Clyde didn’t make conscious use of… but he unwittingly benefited from it nevertheless. 

 

This is HUGE:  Whether it’s a person, product, service or business, the sale starts with the name. 

 

Archibald Leach changed his name to Cary Grant.

 

Noah Kaminsky changed his name to Neil Diamond.

 

Anna Mae Bullock changed her name to Tina Turner. 

 

The business lesson:  No matter what you’re selling, the name’s got to be memorable, distinct, appealing, and relevant.

 

Granted, notoriety wasn’t their aim, but Bonnie & Clyde didn’t have to change a thing in this regard to get it; they were born with fitting and memorable names for their chosen career.  Marketable ones. 

 

Look, my grandparents on my mother’s side were roughly the same age as Bonnie & Clyde, and lived in the same part of the country as they did in the ’30s.  Consider this, what if Bonnie & Clyde had been born with the names of my grandparents:  Mildred and Frank. 

 

Would they still be known to this day? 

 

Hey, would they have even been known in their day? 

 

You know what, these are great names for grandparents (a status Bonnie & Clyde never achieved) but they’re not very marketable gangster names.  Even if they’d walked in the same shoes as Bonnie & Clyde, I don’t think you’d have ever heard of a crime duo named Mildred & Frank. 

 

Just like I don’t think Tina Turner would have had a 40 year music career with marquees that read, “Anna Mae Bullock Appearing Tonight”.  Same voice, same legs, but it just wouldn’t have been the same.

 

So back to Bonnie… what did she contribute?  Well, first of all, the name.  The two together had that certain ring.  Second, her involvement made possible this romantic notion of a couple in love, living for the moment in nomadic lifestyle, stealing from the rich… and then dying together in a hail of bullets. 

 

Without her name to go with his, “Clyde Barrow” likely would have gone the way of Frank Nash, Homer Van Meter, Harvey Bailey, and a trainload of other 1930s thugs you’ve never heard of. 

 

Now if you haven’t noticed, there’s something missing from Clyde’s 3 Keys to Success that we’ve come to consider to be irreplaceable in business. 

 

That’s right:  Marketing.  They had none. 

 

Or did they?  Well, that’s a whole ‘nother deal that we’ll cover later on.

 

Tags: branding, Marketing, success

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