Good old claptrap
June 3rd, 2008 by misterarthurHow much longer can ‘marketers’ throw bushels of bs around before the ‘experts’ start calling them on it? One of The New York Times’ crack business writers has an article about the explosion in boutique hotels, and the fact that large ‘brands’ read - chains - are jumping on the bandwagon.
Hyatt introduced its Andaz brand in London last November, and has announced plans for other properties in New York, Los Angeles and Austin, Tex.
Thomas F. O’Toole, Hyatt’s chief marketing officer, described Andaz as Hyatt’s “most researched new brand ever.” He said it aims to offer “highly responsive, highly attentive service with the cutting-edge style and individuality that characterizes boutique hotels.”
Take a look at what Hyatt got for its investment in research.
1) A computer-generated blah name. Andaz. It’s a colon cleansing medicine! A Spanish auto parts supplier! A tin mining consortium! Glad you poured a ton of cash into a “branding” firm’s pockets for that corker of a moniker. (And probably spent a couple of years doing so, too). Did they consider and throw out Zanda? Danza? Adanz? Did they try a different vowel combination? Indiz? Ondoz? Endez? Unduz? (never mind that one). There’s focus group power for you. Can you think of something less passionate, less individual, less, well, boutique?
2) Utterly undifferentiated characterizations. “Highly Responsive” and “Highly Attentive” service. As opposed to just plain responsive and attentive? Or unresponsive and inattentive? Are they going to hop up the staff on Provigil and Red Bulls to deliver on those cracking differentiators?
3) “Cutting-edge” style. “Individuality” OOOOOOOh. Isn’t this what every boutique hotel is about? Actually, it is, as the sentence goes on to explain, these are exactly the things that define boutique hotels.
So why won’t the Times’ business writer call Mr. CMO on his pabulum? That’s right. Don’t want to lose that Hyatt advertising revenue.
What irks me the most is how broken marketing is. That a (no doubt) highly-paid C-level executive can reel off a paragraph of platitudes and expect “consumers” to buy into it. I don’t think he believes it himself. It’s just the same old claptrap.
Am I off base here? Is this really incisive marketing insight and I’m missing the point? Let me know.
Tags: broken marketing, Old thinking
June 4th, 2008 at 6:47 pm
Arthur - I think you are right on. Part of the problem lies in the fallacy of inertia. For whatever reason, marketers have accepted the idea that if something has been done for a long time, it must be right. So these canned responses from CMOs that would win on IBM “Buzz-Word Bingo” are seen as the norm, and the norm is seen as the right thing to do.
What that leads to is a series of unexciting, decent performing brands that evoke no emotion. It’s why when a brand comes along and really does something differently, people notice. Let’s just hope that movement starts growing…