Trust me, You Morons

Why insult the ones that feed you?

I am surprised how many advertisers air TV commercials that portray their customers, the very individuals they're trying to seduce, as bumbling idiots. Consider the clueless Pizza Hut customer who, when his home-delivered pizza bill comes to less than he expects, claims over the phone, loudly enough so that the deliveryman can hear (and roll his eyes), “Those guys made a mistake again and gave me three pizzas for the price of…” So, not only did he fail to understand the price promotion, but also he did it before. Thus, not only is he is a dolt, but he's a dolt who's incapable of learning. Yet, as a put-down of one's customer, this one is mild compared to others.

One of the worst offenders is Capital One which, to emphasize that it gives airlines miles that are not subject to blackouts, shows a family going on vacation using the miles of a competitive card. We see them outfitted for a ski vacation, atop a mountain, but in the summer. Not a snowflake in sight! Yet, the family, kids first followed by the mom and cardholder dad, bravely and dumbly attempt to ski downhill. That same family also goes on an exotic vacation among a tribe of cannibals. The father notices nothing about his family's ordeal and just remains idiotically happy about his free miles.

Then, there's Vonage, the VOIP telephone company. In one of their masterpieces, a blonde is sunbathing on a beach. Some ominous shark fins appear in the water and she decides that she should have a swim. As she runs towards the water, she is hit in the head by a box containing information about Vonage. (Incidentally, all Vonage commercials I am aware of use the same “mnemonic device” of a box, thrown from an unmarked red van, topped by loudspeakers, which hits their customer target smack in the head.) After this assault, the blonde marvels about Vonage for a short time, then resumes her clueless sprint to the shark-infested water.

The commercials may be funny. They may be attention- getting. Some even may communicate their selling message and could well generate sales in the short term. Yet from a brand standpoint, they are counter-productive. Here is why:

A brand is a series of expectations that exist in the consumer's mind. Usually, those expectations exist because you create them by having the brand behave in a similar way over a period of time. It works in a way not unlike human contacts. If a person behaves in a predictable manner over time, he can be expected to continue to behave that way in the future. In that sense, a brand creates expectations that form a covenant with the consumer. Yet the Brand is more than the sum of its expectations. One often hears that “a brand creates trust.” To me that word sounds manipulative and, God forbid, reminiscent of Naomi Klein. I prefer the idea that a Brand generates comfort by allowing us to anticipate its behavior. One “understands” what the brand is about, particularly if one knows what it will do next.

In that context where a brand marketer wants to create and nurture the customer's impression that his brand can be understood and trusted, does it make any sense to show even a slight contempt for that same customer?

I think not. If you want to command respect, begin by showing that those whose respect you seek are worthy of your own. If you are funny, make sure that your humor doesn't come at the expense of the one that feeds you.

This is not a diatribe against funny commercials or against funny commercials that portray a brand's current or would-be customer. Take the Mac vs. PC commercials for instance. There is a surprising amount of respect between the two protagonists. The Mac commercials do not put down the PC user as a person but show commiseration about the flaws in the software he uses. It is a complex relationship for sure. But complexity, while an obstacle to the communication of a selling message, is always enriching to brands.

Or take the Career Builder commercials as another example. The old commercials portrayed a sane employee in a real office in which all the staff were monkeys. Those ads were brilliant. They communicated a selling message clearly (“If you are stuck in an office full of monkeys, Career Builder can help you find something better.”) and they contained many traits that could contribute to the brand's values:

Unfortunately, in the current follow-up campaign, Career Builder created commercials that show several office workers in a real jungle symbolizing an office setting. Several employees are subjected to humiliating and painful treatment… No signs of the respect owed to the individuals that are the company's reason-for-being. No signs of the brand empathic values so well portrayed in the original commercials.

As for brand trust… Why should we trust anyone who so mishandles his brand?

©2007 Jacques Chevron
By Jacques Chevron
Partner - JP Group
Darien, IL
(630) 985-1785