Clowns & Balloons


June 4, 2009

clown-post1Are you afraid of clowns and balloons? My wife is deathly afraid of clowns. Probably a generational thing for those of us that grew up with Stephen King’s It. Balloons she can handle. However, in your business you need to be afraid of clowns and balloons.

First, let me give credit where it is due. The expression ‘clowns and balloons’ comes from a longtime client of ours who is a car dealer. He said that many dealers want more “clowns and balloons from the manufacturer.” This term is shorthand for having a sales event for the sake of having a sales event. More sizzle than steak.

Why should you be deathly afraid of clowns and balloons? Because it probably means that your message, your value, your unique selling position has eroded or evaporated entirely and you don’t have a leg left to stand on. So the best prospect for getting people to pay attention to your brand is to rely on clowns and balloons to do the work for you.

Of course we aren’t being literal and limiting this warning to just balloons and a grown man with a red rubber nose. Rather, clowns and balloons are all of those advertising stereotypes that make all of us cringe as they scream “come on down.” Starbusts, animals, gimmicks, and like-minded stunts.

If you find yourself renting a helium tank and looking up ‘clowns’ in the phone book — stop. Round up your team and head off-site with a wipeboard. It’s time to re-think your message. In that sense, maybe clowns and balloons aren’t so bad after all. Think of them as that cautionary, check-engine light for your brand.

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is a strategist, speaker, educator, and author of Brand Now: How to Stand Out in a Crowded, Distracted World and Get Scrappy: Smarter Digital Marketing for Businesses Big and Small. He is the Chief Brand Strategist at Brand Driven Digital, an educator at the University of Iowa, and host of the On Brand podcast. More about Nick.