In marketing, trying to be funny can backfire.
So can trying to be cute.
These guidelines were no more apparent than in the photo you see above. It was sent to me by my friend and colleague, Mike Searles.
Mike wrote the following:
"This retail sign was promoting a stall selling hot soup to shoppers at the food court of a busy suburban market on a cold Saturday morning in Melbourne, Australia.
We sat nearby for 20 minutes sipping hot coffee and observed the numbers of people buying hot soup from the trader.
The hot coffee stall had people lined up...
The hot jam donuts stall had people lined up...
All the food and hot beverage stalls had customers.
In the 20 minutes I counted ZERO customers buying hot soup.
I wonder why???"
I'll tell you why -- it's because:
"Cute" Kills!
First of all, thank you to Mike for sharing the picture and story with me.
Secondly, this has to be one of the worst examples of signage I've ever seen. It may even be the worst EVER.
All Seinfeld fans out there will understand what this sign is about. It's a (very) poor attempt to reference the "No Soup For You" catch phrase from the show. (If you have no clue what I'm talking about, you can watch Seinfeld reruns and look for the "Soup Nazi" episode.)
The problem is, the sign probably gave the impression that the shop had no soup or that they ran out... or... they're simply refusing to sell to those in the market. (Not sure what the Uncle Sam image is all about -- but it definitely doesn't help.)
Regardless of the owner's intention, he failed on so many different levels. I urge you to make note of the following and fight yourself if you're ever tempted to follow suit:
Steer Clear of the "Cute" Headline, Sign or Tagline!
That type of attention-grabber might -- MIGHT -- cause some people to chuckle, but it's quite ineffective in a marketing capacity. Sometimes, it's even counter-productive.
Unfortunately, I see this all too often: An advertiser spends hundreds or thousands of dollars on advertising and then ruins it by being cute. It happens most often in the headline.
For the GAZILLIONTH time -- a headline should be used to grab the reader's attention with a compelling benefit. Appeal to the reader's self-interest not to his funny bone.
EXAMPLE: A landscaping company runs an ad with the following headline:
"We'll Never Keep You on 'Hedge'"
So cute, isn't it? Not so much. The obvious "Hedge" and "Edge" word play might sounds "cute" but it flops in terms of marketing benefit. It does nothing to entice you, attract you or lure you to hire the company.
It's an ineffective play on words.
Here's another EXAMPLE -- a hair salon:
"Our Salon Is Shear Delight"
Once again, the play on words -- "shear" vs. "sheer" -- how does this make someone want to drop everything and run to the salon? It doesn't.
A final EXAMPLE -- a tech company that offers backup on the cloud:
"Every 'Cloud' Has a Silver Lining"
Just because this virtual tech company can allude to the "cloud" in their headline, doesn't make it a good headline. It may have a touch of cleverness to it, but that's not what makes sales.
Remember, stick to self-interest and primary benefit when trying to capture someone's attention.
Cute isn't so cute when it makes you $0 in sales.
