A smart person I know who works in advertising (!) once told me, “If you have to say you’re cool in the ad, then you’re probably not cool.” This is the same guy who confessed to me on another occasion that his ultimate goal in the business was to direct a commercial that had a monkey in it. Nonetheless, his observation on cool holds water.
The exploding Charlotte urban condo market - and their associated marketers - should heed this advice. The product is good - don’t get me wrong - and there are a lot of options, so there’s plenty of opportunity for uniqueness and even micro brand building for these urban homes. But the marketing cop-out so far has been to hang the term “edgy” and more recently “industrial” on some ads, websites and brochures and wait for the market to absorb.
High-end suburban builder Randy Poore announced his entry into the urban condo market in the Observer this week and he has something unique to sell. Perhaps more important is his statement that the focus of his business is shifting away from luxury single-family homes because of market forces. Smart thinking; no doubt.
But along the way in telling the story, he does fall back on the “edgy” term:
“Poore said his site near Independence Boulevard was ideal for ’something edgy.’”
2 responses so far ↓
1 Harry Hoover // Aug 2, 2007 at 2:44 pm
I get edgy every time I see those words in an ad. Here’s the problem - most marketers are trying so hard to win awards that they lose sight of the real audience. Consumers just want the story straight up. That’s not to say you can’t have fun with your ads.
Harry
blog.my-creativeteam.com
2 harrison // Aug 2, 2007 at 9:40 pm
SouthHaus in South End is truly edgy in the sense of bringing authentic modern European design to Charlotte and its “Highly Evolved Living” tagline is backed up with a vision.
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