Making brands more distinctive

Fantastic! Exciting! Amazing! Brilliant! Astounding!.

Really?

Does that describe your vacuum cleaner, city break, ‘phone or cappuccino?

The things you buy might actually make you feel good – relaxed that you’ve made the right decision or a little smug that you’re in the know. But amazed? It’s unlikely, unless you have the attention span and intellectual capacity of a lemur.

I’m trying to think of the last brand I came across that really made me genuinely think any of the above superlatives could apply. Why? Because I read them all the time in marketing copy for ads, brochures and point of sale.  Don’t get me wrong. I’ve received great service, been really pleased with the quality of a product and sometimes been impressed that I’ve got more than I thought I would. I also go back to the brands that deliver these things consistently to me. But I’ve never actually experienced a life-changing moment. I wonder if anyone ever actually has after being tempted with such words.

The visual comparison is the use of call-outs, banners, underlining everything in red combined with pictures of gormless models gurning their gobsmacked amazement that they can buy 104 fish fingers for the price of 99.

The reality is that good brands don’t need to communicate in such a cheap and obvious way. Good brands deliver considered consistency. And it will of course be rather good consistency, they do things really well and reward you with the quality of their craft. They also do the same with their communications.

The more we kid ourselves, through the inappropriate use of superlatives in the vain hope that customers will trample their own children to death to get through the doors, the more we move further and further away from the real motivations of customers. They want simple, compelling promises delivered consistently in a way that they find salient.

I guess that being inventive and interesting without taking the easy route is more difficult, time consuming or even expensive, which is why so many brands let their agencies get away with it. However, the benefits of communicating with your customers with authenticity and credibility far outweigh the pain of taking a more considered approach to communications.

Anyway, have an utterly fantastic week.

Joe.