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Friday 6 March 2015

Is your brand wearing pyjamas?



Today, my children went to school in their pyjamas - not because I got fed up asking them to get dressed, but to raise money for charity and mess with the minds of the public we passed en route.

This morning our school felt like a different place.  Same pupils, teaching and support staff, but the change of usual attire (i.e. everyone wearing pyjamas instead of uniform), seemed to cause a mass mind shift.  The generic sea of navy blue children, had given way to multi-coloured, man made fibres and an air of levity.  Nightwear it seems, is a great leveller.

As a marketer I often find brands which appear to be wearing pyjamas. They don't care which typeface they use or whether the colours on their flyer match those on their website. They write in capitals to get our attention and underline words which aren't hyperlinks. They don't bother with a spell checker or a copywriter and have no follow up plan on the rare occasion that someone should respond. Zzzzzzzzzz.

We all know how much first impressions count.  While some people do their best work in a onesie, the majority of us don the garb that best matches our chosen career, seeing it as a vital element in shaping how people perceive us.

Mark Twain once said, ‘Clothes make the man. Naked people have little or no influence on society.’

Your brand may not be naked, but pyjama wearing is every bit as unnerving for your customers.