The Camel – a cautionary tale

“The simplest way to do sophisticated marketing.”

“I thought it was going to be ‘The best way to do sophisticated marketing.’”

“No, we definitely agreed on ‘simplest.’”

“I think ‘best’ is clearer, let’s go with that.”

“Er, well let’s talk abo…”

“Sorry I’m late guys, what’d I miss?”

“We’ve changed ‘the simplest way’ to ‘the best way’.”

“Did we?”

“Like it. One thing, we’re trying to reach digital marketers with this, right? Shouldn’t we get that in there somewhere?”

Good point. So, ‘The best way to do sophisticated digital marketing?’”

“Perfect.”

“But… Wait, I…”

“Oh shit, we haven’t asked Brand, let’s get Tina on the line.”

[Pause]

“So, Tina. As you know, we’re working on a new strapline.”

“Oh, are we?”

“Sorry to drag you in at this late stage but we thought your input was important.”

“Oh, ok. Yeah… What’s the line?”

“The best way to do sophisticated digital marketing.”

[Pause]

“I… I like it… I mean, well… We don’t have any of our brand identifiers in there, do we?”

“What are they again?”

“Disruptive. Innovative. Original. Always.”

“Ah, ok. Well, we can’t cram them all in, that’d be ridiculous.”

“Agreed.”

“What about ‘The best way to do disruptive and original digital marketing?’”

“Er… Really? I…”

“I think it’s just the right side of too long Todd, like it.”

“Hi, Jim here. I like where you guys are heading but I’m a bit worried about how the line is going to translate. We don’t really say digital marketing over here.”

“Ah, ok…”

“Yeah, our phrase kind of translates as internet-first marketing.”

“Got it. So would, ‘The best way to do disruptive and original internet-first marketing’ be better?”

“Obviously we can’t run with that though… Right?”

“Hmm, localisation is important Sam.”

[Long pause]

“Anyone have any final thoughts?”

“Guys, I’m really not sure about this….”

“One sec Sam, Scott’s here. Let’s run this past him.”

[Pause]

“Afternoon gents… And lady. What have you got for me?”

“So… We’re thinking… ‘The best way to do disruptive and original internet-first marketing.’”

[Long pause]

“So, what do you think?”

“I love it! But you’re missing one thing.”

“…What’s that?”

“AI!”

“Duh!”

“Let’s get ‘AI-powered’ in there.”

“Brilliant, thanks Scott.”

“One other thing. Swap ‘best’ for ‘best-of-breed’, it’s more specific.”

“Will do. So, Tina – you happy with that?”

“Er… Yeah… I guess?”

“Victor?”

“Yep.”

“Sam? What are you saying Sam? Oh, he’s dropped off…”

Jim?

“Sounds good.”

“Cool. So, it’s agreed, the new strapline will be… ‘‘The best-of-breed way to do disruptive, original and AI-powered internet-first marketing.’”

“Nice.”

“Great! Now let’s get this down to legal and see what they think.”

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