Pride Cometh Before the Fall

Seeking ideas for the upcoming holiday season, my wife recently delved into her stash of old “Family Fun” magazines she keeps on a shelf in the garage. As she was flipping through the fall-themed pages, she came across an ad on the back page of the October 2004 issue that caught her attention.

She said, “Take a look at this,” which diverted my attention from a lame attempt to work on a story and watch the World Series at the same time.

The ad she held was striking and simple – dominated by a huge company logo on top. It was the kind of ad that rock-solid, trusted and well-branded corporations use to drive home their position as an industry leader.

The ad copy was minimal and direct.

“THE FINANCIAL ORGANIZATION
TO CHOOSE FOR YOUR
GREAT-
GREAT-
GREAT-
GREAT-
GREAT-
GRANDCHILD.

Over $700 billion in assets, 50 million customers and 85 years of experience say we’ll be around. For her and her grandchildren, too.”

The ad was for AIG.

I guess they were unable to foresee a $100 billion federal bailout as part of the plan for keeping that promise.

Given today’s economic outlook, it might be best to promise stability and great service for only this generation – two generations tops. Long gone are the days of tradition-based arrogance. Instead, we should be focused on what we are doing now to best serve our precious customers and survive in a rapidly changing world. Kind of exciting, huh?

On a lighter note, keep those blogs coming. Send me yours or your local favorites and I will include them on this page for all to ponder.

Finally, Dave’s Presidential Poll Tracker remains open for another week. So be sure to vote. If you have already voted, you can vote again from another computer – ACORN style!