83: The Ads of Summer

Radio is such an efficient way to follow sports.  You can actually accomplish something constructive while being a fan.

In high school, I spent many nights listening to John Miller and Joe Angel call Orioles games on WBAL, while I worked on my shoebox portfolio of car drawings.  I’ve had a bit of a flashback during the past several weeks, listening to the NBA playoffs on ESPN.com while cranking out auction ads and brochures.

Jumping back into radio listening has made me aware of a common temptation to advertisers: wrapping advertising in cliches.  Whether it’s “Hit a home run with your clients,” or “Score big every time you purchase,” or whatever sports cliche is used, somewhere an advertiser got off track.  How?  By getting off message, by forcing their advertising text around something other than their core value proposition.

With few exceptions, if your advertising message is different during a sports season than outside of it, your message is diluted.  People don’t buy cliches; they buy what you’re selling.  And when they’re in need of your product or service—no matter the sports schedule—they’ll be swayed more by your value proposition than your fancy syntax work.  And if they don’t want or need your wares, they’re not going to buy from you because your copy writer knows sports terminology.

This time of year, you also need to be careful about wrapping your advertising message in the American flag.  It’s tricky, but there’s a line between celebrating our unique heritage and taking advantage of it.  I’m not talking about whether you fly an U.S. flag at your office or have a float in the Fourth of July parade—or whatever way you support and celebrate our culture, freedom, and history.  I’m talking about pushing the text or graphics of your advertising—or even your sales proposition—to fit into a patriotic motif.

I’m not alone in feeling icky when American troops, like my brother in the Air Force, are used against their will.  Here are some tweets from Memorial Day:

@Joelmchale
“Yes businesses of America, our brave men & women of the armed forces who have fallen in battle want to be remembered with a 3 Day Only Sale”

@marisa_cole
“Why do retail stores honor our fallen soldiers by putting items on sale? It should be about the people that have fought for our freedom….”

@McDana_
“Memorial day is NOT for retail sales & new car deals. It’s to REMEMBER our fallen military personnel who gave their lives for our country”

As a policy, I think sales are a bit disingenuous.  [Aren’t they really telling the consumer, “We get the significantly-better end of this deal the rest of the year”?]  And auction marketers don’t really have mark-down sales.  But any of us can use something bigger than ourselves to sell our wares.

If you’re like me, you see a difference between the Miller “Give a Veteran a Piece of the High Life!” promotion and the Anheuser Busch “Here’s to the Heroes!” campaign.  And so does much of your audience.

Does that mean we avoid having auctions on holidays?  No.  Many auctioneers have created annual events, where people enjoy spending their vacation days bidding on interesting items.  Does that mean we shy from showing our gratitude to those who risked or lost their lives for our freedoms?  Definitely not.  We just need to ask ourselves if we’re using our advertising to advance their cause or their bravery to advance our branding.

You’ve got a summer of sports to sponsor—whether on Little League jerseys or on your nearest stadium’s JumboTron.  Independence Day and Veteran’s Day are still left on the 2011 calendar, and soldiers are wearing camouflage or dress blues every minute from now until the ball drops.  Show your support of these American institutions, pastimes, and heroes as you feel led.  Just make sure your message is not diluted and your respect is not in question.
[tip]

If you’re like me, the primary challenge of your prayer life and spiritual journey is correctly answering the question, “Am I asking God to help me build my kingdom or offering to help further his?”  One answer to this question is idolatry; the other is true worship.

While that’s a constant struggle on the personal level, in America it seems equally difficult on the macro level.  The evangelical church has tried to claim God’s blessing on specific political agendas.  We’ve structured church meetings after Roberts Rules of Order and patterned our assembly decision making after the U.S. Constitution instead of the New Testament.  We’ve tried to control the morality of our culture—not through the church and the life-changing power of the gospel but through government—while claiming God’s will and praying for his blessing along the way.

We’ve wrapped our plans with his name.

Just like consumers turned off by cliches and numbed to flag clip art, the secular world is looking at Christianity for something authentic and valuable amidst the jargon and agenda.  I’m pretty sure they are interested less in our denominations and political alignments than in finding the life for which they’ve hoped, a life we should be living.

The question for those of us who follow Christ is tough: “Are my words and actions pointing people to Jesus or to my agenda(s)?”

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