What Message Are You Really Sending?

A group of older men are gathered in a barber shop. A younger man looking freshly scrubbed, wearing a dark suit walks in and hands the owner an envelope saying “Usually I just mail this but I thought I’d bring it in person.” The owner opens the envelopes and joyfully replies, “After all these years I finally own this place.”

Huh? The ad is supposed to brand Charter as the bank that offers personal service. It makes me cringe each time I see it. The guy is so old he can barely cut hair! It took him 30 years to buy his building! Oh yeah, as a business owner that’s exactly what I want in a bank. (Not!)

The banker in the ad smiles like he’s just given a 5 year old a squiggly puppy. The message I took away was that the American Banking System is not designed to help us build wealth but to be debtors. And we wonder why our economy stinks? But that’s a topic for another post.

I am sure the creative minds behind the Charter ad would be dismayed about my take on their ad. While I would agree that you cannot tailor your message to please a general audience, it is worth taking time to ensure that you’re saying what you meant to say to your desired audience.

What’s your take? What methods do you use to make sure that your message is clearly articulated?

Now, if only I could get the makers of Celebrex to cut that annoying music from their very loooonnng ad….

Karen