pet connection

This Friday, March 2, I’m doing a GMA segment on “Pet Emergencies.” Watch about 8:30 a.m. and we’ll feature how to know if you have an emergency, will demo pet CPR, and will showcase various household products (hydrogen peroxide, Pepto Bismol, Benadryl, KY, canned pumpkin, Gatorade, etc.) that your veterinarian may ask you to use in an emergency.

This segment has special significance:

1. It marks the start of my 10th year as the resident veterinarian on GMA.
2. We’ll showcase my new PBS DVD as the host of “The Pet Doctor with Marty Becker.”
3. I’ll be wearing my same outfit: blue denim shirt, red tie, khaki pants.

People have asked why I wear the same thing every time? Others, like my friend Bill Mason in Boise, Idaho, abhor this outfit and keep telling me to wear a suit and tie.  But I’m going to keep wearing the same monkey suit because a) it’s what I’m comfortable in, b) it’s typical of what I wear as a practicing vet (only with a light blue smock and name tag added), and c) it’s what my long-time producer and friend, Patty Neger, told me to wear from day one in 1996.

When we were talking about what I should wear on my first network TV appearance, Patty asked me what I wore at home. Then she went on to say that blue looked good on me and also looked good on TV, especially with a red tie as contrast.  Finally, she pointed out that many people she’d discovered and/or produced (Jack Hanna, the late Steve Irwin, Emeril, Dr. Mehmet Oz) all had signature outfits: Hanna in long khakis, Irwin in short khakis, Emeril in white chef outfit, and Dr. Oz in blue scrubs). Doesn’t matter if you see Doctor Oz in the pages of Esquire or on Oprah, he always wears the same outfit.

Put another way, the outfit is part of a brand, and brands always have a distinctive trade dress. Whether it’s a product (Altoids in embossed tins), performance (American Idol graphics, colors and opening song) or a person (Irwin with khakis and trademark phrases like “Crikey!”) familiarity brings confidence, which encourages repeat viewers and builds trust over time.  Like a favorite pair of slippers, people like the turn on and watch somebody that looks and feels familiar, comfortable.

But watch for a surprise this Friday. I’ll still be wearing the same pants, shirt and tie (actually I have about a dozen of each) but you’ll see me wearing something that’s noticeably different.

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