As an attorney, one of my most oft-committed sins against the art of persuasion is forgetting that brevity is key. Get in, deliver your message, and get out.
In contrast, concise delivery of a message is something that good branding and advertising generally excel at. I say “generally,” because as I was sitting at/in/on/around/near Mall of America Field at Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome watching the Minnesota Vikings de-pants the New York Giants to get the #2 Seed in the NFC playoffs, I began to think of other sponsorship mouthfuls that make me question whether any message really gets transferred to the recipient. Given my football frame of mind, the only thing I could think of was the horrendous rebranding of the Chicago Bears as Bears football presented by Bank One.
But, that also get me thinking about some sponsorship “eyefuls” which often leave me confused. For example, there’s this:
(If you prefer live action…)
This…
And this:
While I can’t claim to be an expert on advertising expenditures, it seems to me that budgets may be better spent trying to distinguish yourself, rather becoming another voice in a sea of noise.