The Six Most Dangerous Words in Marketing
by Steve Topper
Some things seem to stick in your mind forever. For me, the dumber they are, the longer they stick. One of these things goes back to early 1999. It was when I learned that Citizens National Bank in Evansville, Indiana was changing its name after 125 years.
I was born and raised in Evansville and remember my father taking me to the local Citizens branch on Saturdays. So a name change seemed out of the question.
Needless to say I was shocked upon learning that the CEO had made the decision to change the bank’s name after 125 years to Civitas Bank. I remember arguing with my brother about what I called a stupid name change. He tried defending the new name as he was friends with the CEO. I refused to back down. Stupid is stupid.
He explained to me that “civitas” is a Latin word for citizens. It’s still stupid, I told him.
As I was writing this, I did some quick online research to find it means “the body of citizens who constitute a state.” After all these years, I still believe it to be a bad decision.
Which brings me to the six most dangerous words in marketing: You need to refresh your ______ (fill in the blank).
The sixth word is most often “name” or “logo” while others include “corporate colors,” “tagline,” and “brand.”