I read something about Claudette Colbert the other day, and I saw an ad for Verizon this morning that made me think about a Theorem of mine--the Brand Depreciation Theory--that was the subject of a previous post, but I think bears repeating.
First, Claudette Colbert--a gamin or vixen extraordinaire--and star of such seminal screwball comedies as It Happened One Night and (my favorite) Palm Beach Story. Claudette, as she insisted I call her, had a bad side and she bid her directors not to show her from the right. You see, she believed one bad part of her would subtract from her totality.
Second, there is a Verizon ad in the Times today that is so aggressively dreadful it deserves comment. Verizon spends a lot of dough attempting to propagate its brand. They also spend a lot on retail ads. Well the brand ads say "we're nice and cool" while the retail ads say "we're crass and overbearing and class-less." They cancel each other out. At least in my view.
This forces me to remind you of George's Brand Depreciation Theory. If one part of your advertising says "white, white, white" and another says "black, black, black" they end up nixing themselves and becoming a dull, gray mass. Butt ugly.
2 comments:
Unfortunately our politicians easily fall into the Brand Depreciation Theory, too.
A journalist was sent out to interview a famous artist.
the artist worked in a category called colorist.
the journalist consequently asked the artist what his favorite color was. To which the artist replied: Blue. Being a journalist who wanted to get to the bottom of things he followed up with: Why blue? "Well, red then" came the reply.
Post a Comment