Marketing Messages: Is Everything Awesome?
(or innovative, or unique, or leading-edge?)
I recently attended a lunch meeting where the speaker asked for a volunteer from the audience. She then asked the man’s name, high-fived him and said, “Bob, You’re AWESOME!” Well, ol’ Bob looked a bit taken aback by this, as he should. Being told you’re awesome is wonderful - but only if there’s a reason for it. The speaker had never met him before so how did she know what he had done, could do? (For all we knew, Bob had just come from beating his dog and robbing his mother’s retirement account.)
If you call everything awesome, then nothing is. And so it goes with any marketing speak. Telling people you’re innovative, etc. etc. etc. blunts the edge. Paint yourself purple and in a week or so, they’ll get used to that too. You have to be innovative, awesome, unique, terrific, leading-edge.
Y’all have an awesome Monday, y’hear? 
Tags: marketing communications, marketing, marketing troubleshooting,
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March 5th, 2007 at 3:13 pm
Mary - It could have been worse. If he’d been in Boston, Bob would’ve been “wicked awesome.”
March 5th, 2007 at 6:07 pm
I’m with you, Mary. It’s good to err on the positive side of things, but it can’t get disconnected with reality and still mean anything.
March 6th, 2007 at 8:44 am
Maureen. Ah-yuh. (I lived in NH for a year or so.) And, it was wicked cold up there too…
Charles, that pesky disconnect with reality bedevils many a marketing person. How to promote a mediocre product? (Or even a non-existent one - what I call “brochure ware.”) It quickly become a challenge to personal integrity (Do I do what the boss wants or do I go find another job?)
March 6th, 2007 at 8:58 am
This reminds me of a conversation I had with my biggest competitor (we both make quilted covers for mortuary cots - a VERY specialized product - www.cotcovers.com).
He objected to me using the phrase “most innovative manufacturer” in my marketing because he didn’t think I had any way to prove it.
He went on to say “Maybe I’ll start saying the same thing. Anyone can say they’re the best!”
I told him that he was right. But not everyone could prove it.
And I can. Not because I’ve got unsubstantiated hubris, but because the underlying theory of my business is “innovation.”
It’s why we improve our product monthly. It’s why we send customer surveys. It’s why we call our clients and request feedback. It’s why we always send more than was ordered (sometimes a matching pillowcase, sometimes a small flashlight, etc.).
Either way, if you make a claim, you have to back it up. Consumers usually get more frustrated with a company that promises greatness and only delivers goodness than with an unassuming company that does a nice job.
March 6th, 2007 at 9:00 am
Forgot to add:
It’s hard to stay “good” or “great” as a company. Most great companies fail here and a few teeter on the brink. Anyone remember Apple just a few short years ago?
July 2nd, 2007 at 2:01 pm
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