Sweat the details

I came across a television commercial last week that had me thinking about the little, half second things, that can ruin a commercial or overall campaign. The commercial in particular was about the United States Gulf Coast. Tourism people in Florida, Alabama and Mississippi spoke passionately about how their areas were great places to visit. Keep in mind, I have enjoyed Florida on many occasions and they had me seriously considering it during this ad. Something rung true to me and had me thinking. THEN... in the last second of the commercial the BP logo popped on the screen. Effectiveness GONE.. in a heartbeat. I had forgotten about that massive oil spill that experts say will have an impact for MANY years. the BP logo reminded me. It shows the power of branding in a big way, but unfortunately for them, their logo is linked to a major disaster.

Consider this when you link yourself to a company or a celebrity. What if that company or celebrity become involved in a PR nightmare as BP did. If you had previously linked yourself to them your company can be harmed, perhaps destroyed over something you have no control over.

Many companies dropped Tiger Woods and Micheal Vick after controversial episodes in their lives. But can the damage be fixed by just dumping them? After the Billions of dollars spent to link Nike and Buick to Tiger, I don't think that link can be broken that easily. A business relationship is much like a marriage, even after divorce, there is still a link.

So be very careful of your business relationships and how much you link your business to another business or person. Until next time, I am Larry "The Ad Man".