Messaging that Works...or Doesn't

In the marketing parlance, descriptions are referred to as “messaging.” Messaging is basically the craft of describing things. Recently, I’ve seen a few examples that merit discussion.

• Every year around the end of January, I like others, watch the Superbowl. I love a good football game. I’m also in it for the food, fun, and fellowship. However, it always galls me when commentators and the Superbowl advertising machine refer to it as the “World Championship” football game. Is it really a world championship when no one else gets invited to play for the title?

• I recently received a box from Bath and Body Works whose corrugated cardboard sides proudly declared it to include “The world’s best fragrances.” Wow, I thought; I wonder if Paris (the capital, not the blond) will be mad? Or, have middle eastern countries that have, for millennia, been celebrated for their sandalwood, myrrh and other fragrances heard that they’ve been supplanted by a company in Ohio?

• Last week, I checked in to a Frontier Airlines flight and learned that in order to carry on my trusty roller bag aboard, I had to pay $30 each way. Then, on the flight from Denver to Chicago (lasting well over two hours), the flight attendant explained that the tiny plastic cup of Diet Coke she offered would cost me $1.50. A Frontier rep later helpfully explained that the company had decided to “unbundle” fees so customers “only pay for what they want and need.” Ah yes, naturally. “Unbundling.” No one is likely to “want or need” something to eat or drink on a multi-hour plane trip or prefer to keep their vitals with them. That would be excessive. Crazy, even.

These three examples were useful to me because they reminded me of the true challenges of great messaging.

Just because you say it’s so; doesn’t make it so. It’s not a world championship if only one country gets to play. It’s just not—not even when that country is America and knows how to throw a great party. And Ohio, God bless you. You are probably known for many thing and beloved by many people; but it will be a while before you are “top of mind” as producing the “world’s best fragrances.”

People are not stupid. There are times I despair of humanity. It’s possible that my kids have heard me exclaim that “people are stupid” when their small bodies are strapped into their carseats in the back of my car and we’re stopped behind some idiot who can’t merge. But people are not really stupid, not all the time. People know generally know when someone is trying to mess with them. Even if they can’t articulate it, people hate to be played.

It’s easy for me to poke fun (or cast contempt even), but like anything, it’s easier to critique than to build. Great messaging is a challenge because it speaks the truth—maybe a hopeful truth—but a truth that people can sense. Great messaging captures the best of the brand and the heart of the customer and puts them in relationship.  And as we know good, relationships need more than pretty words to last.

​Kyndra Wilson, KW Brand Translation ​

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