We received this brochure last week that “politely” announced the 2008-2009 season of a local theater company.
The item is evidently a lesson in marketing ambiguity — a how-to visual illustration of what not to do if you’re spending a shit-ton of money designing, printing, and distributing your organization’s most important marketing tool.
While the cover of this brochure features the smiling, appealing face of a lovely actress playing the violin (telling the viewer that this season is going to be fun!), and while it tells us something about the theater company’s 77th season (telling the viewer that this theater company has a long tradition of having fun!), it says little else.
For instance, and most importantly, the name of the theater company is missing from the cover. In fact, it is not evident even after opening the brochure. It is not apparent until you turn to the back of the brochure, where, in the upper left-hand corner of the addressee page, you’ll find the logo of the theater company. This is the only use of the logo in the entire brochure.
It seems to me that if you’re going to the trouble of featuring a smiling, appealing face of an attractive actress playing the violin as a way of expressing that your theater company is lots of fun, and has had a tradition of having lots of fun for the past 77 years, you’d want people to know the name of your theater company.
Then there’s the vague, incongruous word “politely” followed by a weighty, pensive ellipsis. What does the smiling, appealing face of an attractive actress playing the violin as a way of expressing that the theater company is lots of fun, and has had a tradition of having lots of fun for the past 77 years, have to do with politeness? I don’t know.
Who’s behind this? Sorry, like me, you’ll have to guess.
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