Sunday, August 9, 2009

Losing the brand by a nose.

One Monday morning, my wife ripped an ad out of a magazine and handed it to me as I was on the way out of the house. It was an ad for the Vera Wang line of Wedgwood china. Being that our agency had just won the Wedgwood/Waterford account, she wanted to make sure I had seen their latest ad. I didn't really have time to look at it, so I folded it up and slipped it into my briefcase for later.

Later was only a few minutes. As I was on the train to work, I unfolded the ad and, for moment, thought about the style of the china. It reminded me of Giorgio Armani. Vera Wang's sensibility is not all that dissimilar to Mr. Armani's. It's a simple design, it's graceful flowing lines were in fact very Armani-ish. 

And then, coincidentally, a man walked down the aisle wearing what I presumed was a Giorgio Armani suit. He sat down one row up and across the aisle from me. He was indeed put together, this guy. He was thin, his hair was neat; he had nice shoes. If Mr. Armani needed a middle-aged model for one of his ads, this guy would fit the bill.

That is, until he started to pick his nose. And this wasn't an attempt to preserve one's dignity by, say, inconspicuously picking with one hand while the opposite hand is cupped over the proboscis. It was completely lacking in nose-picking etiquette. No, Mr. Snazzysuit went digging––first in one nostril and then up the other. If he could have mined his entire finger up there, he would have done so––there was gold up in them thar hills.

As I looked away, I was thinking, "Ugh!"

A moment later, I was thinking, "Ugh!"

My third thought was reassuring. I've never considered myself an Armani kind of guy and darn if that moment didn't spark some pride in me. I concluded that I was much too evolved to ever wear Armani.

I looked back and still (still!) he was picking his nose. "Ugh!"

I began to make assumptions, brand associations based on what I was witnessing. I bet his hair was fake––I bet he wore a rug. I bet he worked as a public relations advisor for Joan Rivers. I bet he had a condo in Palm Beach. I bet his kid had a pet rock. I bet he listens to Celine Dion and drives a Lexus with gold chrome. The guy was gross.

The experience drove home how advertising continues long after the print ad. The world is one big media stage, every single point of contact with a product contributing to our sense of the brand. Obviously, not every consumer makes a good testimonial. And when you think about the web and how things become viral, it simply compounds the fact that we simply do not have have entire control over our brands.