Random Rewrite #3: Honda

The back cover of the July 2008 Harper's magazine displays a full-page ad for Honda. Blue sky, green grass, a father and son flying kites on a sunny summer day. After a stat showing that Honda has averaged five more miles per gallon than the industry average over the last 15 years, the copy reads:

Higher fuel efficiency, lower greenhouse gas emissions.
That's the power of dedication.

Over the past fifteen years, Honda has achieved the highest average fuel economy of any automaker. Which means our vehicles have emitted less CO2--the primary cause of global warming--on average, than any other car company. All of which enhances our ultimate goal: a cleaner environment.

HONDA
The Power of Dreams

* * *

It's a perfectly good ad, yet it seemed like a bit of a missed opportunity. Thanks to its own forays into hybrid technology, Honda has some legitimate environmental street cred, but the tone favors the advertiser over the audience (when you don't use the second person, you're not really talking to anybody). Plus, coupling "the power of dedication" with "the power of dreams" is a little confusing.

I would have written it slightly differently...

* * *

More miles to your gallon.
Less carbon in your atmosphere.

Spending less money at the pump isn't exactly a new idea. At Honda, we've been leading the charge for more than 15 years. Because giving you the best fuel economy of any automaker isn't just good for your pocketbook, it's better for the environment.

Green innovation is a goal for some automakers. For Honda, it's already a way of doing business.

HONDA
Innovation. Proven.

* * *

Previous Random Rewrites:

#2: AkzoNobel
#1: Nortel

BrandWatch: Leeann Chin

I have a rule of branding thumb that goes something like this: The minute a business that has always been known for one thing suddenly announces a seemingly unrelated thing, count the days until it closes, declares bankruptcy or gets snatched up in a hostile takeover. I call it BrandWatch.

Case in point: Five years ago, a bagel shop near my house stuck neon posters in the windows screaming "Now Selling Smoothies!" It was a jealous response to the popularity of nearby Jamba Juice, and everybody knew it. Within six months, that bagel shop was replaced by a Caribou Coffee. (On the other hand, the mom-and-pop photo developer that also sells umbrellas is mysteriously still in business...)

For several months, BrandWatch has been tracking two stalwart brands: Starbucks, as it retreats to focusing on coffee (a good idea after some overly aggressive food flirtations), and McDonald's, as it rolls out its premium coffee McCafes (an undeniably good revenue stream with a fantastic advertising campaign that should be another short-lived experiment).

Now, as of today, I've added Leeann Chin to the Watch. Why? Because new owner Lorne Goldberg has updated the menu (good), painted the walls lime and vermilion (great) and introduced Red Cherry Frozen Yogurt (what?).

Don't get me wrong. I picked up dinner at one of these new stores last night. The decor is lively. The menu is easier to understand. And the Red Cherry Yogurt display is a nice little eye-catcher with an attractive logo. But frozen yogurt? Personally, I go to Leeann Chin to deceive myself that I'm being healthy while eating sugary breaded meats (sesame chicken...yum) on top of carbalicious fried rice. Do I want to top that off with some frozen yogurt concoction that takes me back to the mid-80s? For me, the answer is a definite no; Leeann Chin might as well sell umbrellas. We'll see what the market decides.

Do You Have the Attention Span to Read This Post?

It all started when a friend of mine was talking about her experience teaching high school kids. We were on the subject of plagiarism and how the web enables it. The conversation shifted to the larger issue of IAIQO: Instantly Accessible Information of Questionable Origin, and that's when I learned something unexpected.

"My students don't check their sources and don't check the facts; they just cut and paste," my friend said. "But it's not because they're lazy. It's because they don't even understand the basic concept of synthesizing information, drawing their own conclusions and writing them down."

Wow, that's scary, I thought. It's as if the web is actually changing basic human cognition.

Enter the Atlantic Monthly. This month's cover story ("Is Google Making Us Stoopid?"), absolutely floored me with these opening remarks from author Nicholas Carr:

"I’m not thinking the way I used to think. I can feel it most strongly when I’m reading. Immersing myself in a book or a lengthy article used to be easy. My mind would get caught up in the narrative or the turns of the argument, and I’d spend hours strolling through long stretches of prose. That’s rarely the case anymore. Now my concentration often starts to drift after two or three pages. I get fidgety, lose the thread, begin looking for something else to do. I feel as if I’m always dragging my wayward brain back to the text. The deep reading that used to come naturally has become a struggle."

What floored me was the realization that Carr was describing me. I've had this exact same feeling lately, and I've been getting a little worried. Is my reading material just not as arresting as it used to be? Is my brain beginning its inevitable decline already?

Now, after finishing the article (well, almost... I got distracted), I'm wondering if technology is actually changing the way I think. I had come to think of A.D.D. as a scapegoat among adults--an enabling acronym used as cover for people who just don't like details. On the marketing side of things, I've long thought that the line of communication demarcation was the age of 30: over 30, narrative good; under 30, just show pretty pictures (or ask them to talk about themselves). Now it looks as though there's more of a spectrum at work, with the lines getting blurrier as human brains adapt themselves to the media we use, rather than the other way around.

I don't know what else to say about this development, except that in the course of writing this, I've received five emails and two IMs, checked the Dow, added my sister to my Facebook friends and... wait, my son is crying about something.

Did anyone make it to the end of this post?