The Silly and Slightly Sickening Cost of Tradition

I just want to state for the record that I am a big fan of visibility opportunities. If there’s a place to stick my company’s logo that is public, aligned with (or at least not opposed to) our brand values, doesn’t cost much and is ubiquitous, then I’m all over it.

Airlines, for their many, many shortcomings are pretty good at the ubiquitous logo placement thing. Beyond the obvious spots on the outsides of planes, in-flight magazines, boarding passes and so forth, I think it’s a great idea.

I’m sure in the golden age of air travel it made sense to brand simply everything in, on and near the plane but I’m wondering why, in this cash-strapped age of fuel surcharges and luggage restrictions, it is necessary to have the logo on the swizzle stick and cocktail napkin. Neither item leaves the plane and neither adds any particular sense of value to the transaction. Same with the salt and pepper packages, tray liners, and plastic cups. I just don’t understand the rationale, but I’m going to pretend it has to do with putting the logo front and centre in the overall brand experience. A nice drink, a mediocre meal, an informative magazine all contribute to making an otherwise tedious exercise more tolerable, so why the heck not?

And here is where it gets weird. Why does almost every airline in the world insist on sticking its brand identity on its air sickness bags? Like the napkin and stir stick, it will not be leaving the plane. And if it does, it won’t (I hope) be going home in someone’s purse as a souvenir of their journey. Unless they are part of that small, peculiar crowd that collects such things.

There is no positive association with the brand if one is using the bag for its intended purpose.  There is no lasting presence of the object in one’s consciousness. It’s gross, unpleasant and to be avoided.

The lesson, I think, is to consider the price we pay for tradition and thoughts that begin with “we’ve always…”. How many useless trade shows do we attend out of habit? How many time-wasting sales meetings do we hold?  How many newsletters are sent without ever wondering why? How much paper do we waste printing the things we think we need? What if we could only stick the logo on ten things each year? Attend only one event? Hold only one meeting? Print only three documents?

I like to think we’d lose the barfy branding opportunity in favour of something a little less traditional.

BizMarketer is written by Elizabeth Williams,
I help companies have better conversations
Drop me a line at ewilliams@candlerchase.com
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