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Bad Advertising – Wasted Funds

 

When I first started writing these posts, my goal was to share experiences and lessons and not to rant. In this piece I am going to do a little of both because the recent Wells Fargo/Wachovia advertising campaign has my blood pressure up.

On one hand I suppose one could make the case that advertising in the current environment is helping the economy. Being a marketing person, I am all for keeping marketing, advertising and production people employed. I am totally committed to the value and importance of advertising. God knows the media needs every advertising dollar they can generate. But in this case Wells Fargo/Wachovia is spending my money and not very effectively.

Any and every advertising message must communicate a benefit to the consumer. It must be truthful and believable. To be running an almost full-page ad with the headline “One Team, Twice as Strong” is certainly not believable and based upon the amount of money both of these institutions are taking from the federal TARP funds, one could question how truthful it is. I have no idea how much they are spending (between print and TV) on their total media buy but based upon what I have seen it must be substantial. I for one do not see the benefit to consumers in the joining of these two institutions. If there were a benefit than they would have merged long before their collective managements had brought them to the point of total failure. Oh yes, and the benefit is what and for who?

Shouldn’t companies taking taxpayer dollars be using those dollars in a way that will help the economy? Shouldn’t they be loaning money to qualified people whether they are for homes or businesses? Shouldn’t there be some oversight that requires them to be more responsible managers? And if they are going to advertise for goodness sake find a benefit and don’t think you can pull the wool over consumers eyes.

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