smile America but do it britishly (over a bbq)

Ok.

This could either be considered nitpicky (otherwise called … “irrelevant dancing on the head of a pin”) or craftsmanship.

So.

Marketing can be effective any number of ways. So this isn’t about effectiveness. But it is about attention to detail. And in that detail I get to discuss craftsmanship.

The other day I saw a wonderful Burger King ‘smile America its BBQ time’ television commercial that I am not really sure sold anything in particular <which is okay because I know who burger king is and I don’t need to be bludgeoned with another promotion> but it was …well … American <it opens with a screen sized American flag for gods sake>.

It surprised me a little coming from burger king but that was okay because it made me feel good.

And made me think about Burger King in a slightly different way (a good way).

Ah.

But me being me.

The ad had a really nice Dire Straits song playing as a bunch of beautifully shot patriotic & bbq visuals and supers showed up onscreen.

Here is my issue.

Dire Straits is a British band. Silly? Yeah. Possibly. But this is my post and this is about craftsmanship.

Here is the commercial:

Smile America BK: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qoB_zm_UDb8

Anyway.

In thinking about my issue with this advertisement I put this in the same category as when we were talking new business in our company and someone asked me about the new Belks department store marketing <being a south regional department store they finally decided to leverage their southern roots>.

I said the new positioning (southern focused) was smart.

I said the execution was okay (seemed slightly off from positioning and kind of unspectacular visually).

I said the music was a spectacular mistake. It was a great song from KT Tunstal … who is from Scotland. Now. She may be from south scotland but I am fairly sure Belk’s wasn’t talking about that south.

<note: Oh. Someone must have heard me … because now the music is ‘She Sets Me Free’ by Tim Halperin … from Omaha … at least in america …>

Regardless.

Nitpicky?  Sure.

Make a difference to 99.9% of consumers? Nope. It won’t.

Make a difference within the organization? Maybe. Consistency with regard to a positioning is important. And you need to be ruthless in pursuit of it.

Craftsmanship? Yeah. It makes a difference. Great marketing is about the details.

And it just isn’t that difficult to insure you use an American band piece of music if you are going to take an American tone in your marketing communications.

Just as if you are going to suggest to people <with a new ‘brand campaign’ no less> that you are embracing your ‘southernness’ than, please, for gods sake, use an artist from America if not even from somewhere in the south.

In the end this kind of stuff doesn’t matter much to people.

But.

I have to tell you. if you don’t take it seriously than people who matter to you won’t take it seriously.

You can still create fun, entertaining, musically driven marketing and still ‘stay on mission.’

I am sure someone will agree this is nitpicky.

I may suggest that in this fragmented communications world you have to be nitpicky. Small things like this can have big repercussions down the road.