In Marketing: Clarity is the New Clever!
What if when you purchased something in the store you knew upfront exactly what the environmental impact was, when it was going to break, what was going to get bugged up, and so on?
Chances are you have come up with a way to “background” check a lot of your products before you purchase them. You are the customer who reads forums, leaves product reviews, and tells your friends the minute you are dissatisfied with a product or service.
Actually, we all are that person. With social media and today's instant fast lane of communication, it is getting harder for companies to hide the flukes in their products. Clever advertising such as sleek big tobacco advertisements used to have us believe that smoking was good for our health. That is because they were the only voice in the conversation. Today there are pages and pages of voices of reviews and advertisements telling us about how great or how bad the products are, it is not like it used to be.
For companies on the move clarity is the new clever, businesses have found that being upfront and creating easy access to manufacturer information actually enhances their brand image and adds value to their product. “If we put it out there it turns a lot of confrontations into conversations. That is because clever does not work, we are skeptical consumers” says Yvon Chouinard. Patagonia goes as far as to list toxic dyes and materials in its products and its founder believes that the consumer appreciates the honesty and it gives integrity to the brand.
Under Armour has also seen similar results with bringing a greener product to the market place. They believe that a brand is defined by what they do. In 2014 Under Armour turned 2 million plastic water bottles into a 250% increase in their market cap, all without any additional marketing focusing on communicating the initiative. The point being that if the consumer knows the truth behind the product it will turn into sales. All products do not have pretty green ideas behind them, in fact there are a lot of products that hurt the environment and the people who use them. How are those companies supposed to use clarity in communications? I suggest being the first to admit the flaw, be honest and fix the flaw.Messaging that you control is much easier to distribute and manage than reacting to a firestorm. And, we all know that social media can turn a spark into a firestorm pretty quickly.
There are some great resources that reinforce the importance of this idea of clarity, I encourage you to be brave. Be honest with your customers.
A suggested video to take the next steps... "The Naked Brand" - A FilmBuff Presentation.
