Let’s Make Some Complementaral
As we were helping a client on a marketing plan, Amanda said, “I really don’t like the word ‘collateral’.” Collateral, as most of you know, has traditionally referred to all of those ‘other’ marketing activities, such as brochures, flyers, posters, etc. that act ‘in collateral’ to all-important advertising.
“So,” I asked, “what should it be called?” We decided, for the sake of our own amusement, to think of a word that made sense from a Brand Harmony perspective. We came up with ‘complementaral.”
I am not, of course, suggesting anyone use that term. (It really sounds silly!) The point is that the purpose of these kinds of marketing efforts is not to act as something that is collateral, or parallel, to advertising, but to act in complement of all other touchpoints the customer has with the company.
If we think of all of our marketing efforts has acting in a parallel, but non-integrated, fashion, they will fizzle into the ether. If we want our marketing efforts to be effective, they need to complement each other, and blend in Brand Harmony.
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It’s a shame the Brute Force Branding guys got naming rights to all things marketing. “Complementaral” may sound silly, but it’s no sillier than drawing an analogy between war or ranch life and offering goods and services to willing customers.