There is a Fine Line to Walk
There is a fine line in marketing between “edgy” and “offensive”. ‘Edgy’ has your target market all a buzz with positive word of mouth. ‘Offensive’ has the same people talking about how stupid or what a bad move something your company did or said was.
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So, why do companies take this risk with their brand? Well, there is something inherent in ‘edge’ and ‘offensive’. That is it gets remembered. The first goal of any marketing message is ‘recall’. Can you occupy some of that, oh so valuable gray matter, between someone’s ears?
Marketers know that ‘recall’ is the first measure of success. There are many famous “studies” done on “jingles and slogans” that have lasted 10 and 20 years beyond the existence of the company or product.
I have always been a fan of the marketers willing to find language that so succinctly describes their value proposition into words that really get remembered. This is so hard and so valuable to companies for long-term growth and branding.
I commend guys like Chris Reed w Creed Improvements for his tag “We Take the Butt Crack Out of Home Improvement” or Jim Doering w/ Doering Consulting and his tag of “We Take the “SH out of IT”.”
These tags are edgy and unorthodox but cut through the market place like a knife through hot butter. They get remembered and they get hired.
