Seth Godin got neutralized. A copy editor took his text and "corrected" it, sanding off the edges, cleaning out all idioms and adding political correctness.
It reminded me of when I was working as a copy writer in ad agency and one of our biggest clients was a bank. Banks have this tendency to be non-controversial and rather traditional in all communication. They have to show trust and respect. But still.
I once wrote a copy for a news paper ad which was a bit edgy and witty. The aim was to get the reader to notice, to laugh and to show it to the next person. The marketing manager showed up for the meeting and we showed him the ad. He read it. He laughed. He showed it to the next person. Exactly as planned. It was working.
Then he took the ad and showed it to some more people in the marketing department of the bank and in some other departments. And people saw it and people laughed but some thought it might be considered controversial or insult some one (though no one was insulted). So it was cut. And edited. Better safe than sorry. And finally everyone was pleased and we had this ad that would insult no one and was not controversial in any sense. And it didn't grab any attention either and no one showed it to the next person and there was no added value of word of mouth marketing. And everyone was safe and I was sorry. Sometimes I love tight deadlines. Then less people have the change to ruin the decision.
My policy is, if it doesn't get people to react, it doesn't get people to react. Sounds logical, doesn't it? So if no one is insulted, or thinks it's controversial, or funny, or "wow", it's dead.
Add juice, not water.
Hjörtur
