Showing posts with label ads. Show all posts
Showing posts with label ads. Show all posts
25.2.11
9.5.08
Relax... It's Priceless
My friend Brad helped me gain appreciation for awesomely bad local advertisements when we were roommates in college. I just wanted to write a quick thought about a couple of classics, one new and one old.
If you've recently driven southbound on I-15 between 7800 and 12300 South, you've probably seen a billboard for Sandy City which states, "Relax, you're in the 34th safest city in America." That's right, 34th. I'm not a writer and I've never taken a specific marketing class, but I am pretty sure that somewhere in your marketing education you learn that 34th just does not sound good. Can you imagine a water cooler conversation like this...
"Hey Joe, how are your (insert sports team name) doing?"
"Fantastic! With the win last night, they moved up to 34th!"
There are a lot of cities in America, so 34th probably isn't that bad. I just can't imagine that somewhere along the line during all the planning process for the billboard that someone didn't suggest saying, "Relax, you're in one of the safest cities in America."
The second instance is found in a classic radio jingle. It is promoting a local copy machine middle-man company, Les Olson Company. For those of you who were able to catch this year's Super Bowl on T.V. in Utah, you were treated to the entire song including a music video with the jingle's star. It was as if the Les Olson people saw the Toby Keith wannabe singing his song for Big-O Tires, and said "now that's a commercial." It was truly something to behold, and it got me laughing way more than all of the multi-million dollar comedy duds of the day. The best part of the jingle is the part right before the chorus. She sings with all the feeling and emotion of an E.F.Y. soft-rock star, "Where good service isn't expensive, it's priceless."
I can see what they are getting at, but it's all wrong. To me the phrase suggests that Les Olson Company is a place where good service is a rare commodity. It isn't expensive (something that is available but costly.) It is priceless (something that is so rare, you can't associate a monitary value to it.) So it is a place where good service is incredibly rare.
I know they are all around, what are some other awesomely bad slogans?
If you've recently driven southbound on I-15 between 7800 and 12300 South, you've probably seen a billboard for Sandy City which states, "Relax, you're in the 34th safest city in America." That's right, 34th. I'm not a writer and I've never taken a specific marketing class, but I am pretty sure that somewhere in your marketing education you learn that 34th just does not sound good. Can you imagine a water cooler conversation like this...
"Hey Joe, how are your (insert sports team name) doing?"
"Fantastic! With the win last night, they moved up to 34th!"
There are a lot of cities in America, so 34th probably isn't that bad. I just can't imagine that somewhere along the line during all the planning process for the billboard that someone didn't suggest saying, "Relax, you're in one of the safest cities in America."
The second instance is found in a classic radio jingle. It is promoting a local copy machine middle-man company, Les Olson Company. For those of you who were able to catch this year's Super Bowl on T.V. in Utah, you were treated to the entire song including a music video with the jingle's star. It was as if the Les Olson people saw the Toby Keith wannabe singing his song for Big-O Tires, and said "now that's a commercial." It was truly something to behold, and it got me laughing way more than all of the multi-million dollar comedy duds of the day. The best part of the jingle is the part right before the chorus. She sings with all the feeling and emotion of an E.F.Y. soft-rock star, "Where good service isn't expensive, it's priceless."
I can see what they are getting at, but it's all wrong. To me the phrase suggests that Les Olson Company is a place where good service is a rare commodity. It isn't expensive (something that is available but costly.) It is priceless (something that is so rare, you can't associate a monitary value to it.) So it is a place where good service is incredibly rare.
I know they are all around, what are some other awesomely bad slogans?
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