As I stepped onto my tube platform this morning on the way to work I was greeted by the polite lady on the tannoy announcing that there was a good service on all lines. Good news! Five packed tube trains later and I was still on the platform trying to start my journey to work and the polite lady on the tannoy was still trying to convince me that there was a 'good service on all lines'. My levels of annoyance, frustration and disappointment were mounting and 'miss irritating voice' had not helped with her false promise.

This got me thinking about brand promises, consumer expectations and avoiding disappointment. If the tannoy announcement had said something along the lines of "Really sorry folks, we've got some problems today, it's going to be tough but we will get you there eventually" I think I'd have had a resigned smile on my face and kicked back and relaxed...or got the bus.  

There's no doubt that we are now in an age of brand transparency. Communications professionals have been banging the 'transparency and honesty' drum for some time and many brands and companies are doing this well. However, this hasn't reduced the desire for brands to have the most compelling selling lines and claims they can. Nowhere is this more evident than for functional foods (I'm thinking Activia and Actimel) and beauty products with their pseudo science of ceramides and peptides.

Here's the 'but'. Will the ever-more cynical Generation Y and after them Z still respond to these types of claims? Maybe, if the products truly deliver but a disappointed consumer can be a consumer lost for life. Personally I'd like to see a bit more realism in product claims, avoid disappointment and consumers will remain loyal.

Eat Special K for breakfast and lunch, you'll be starving but by eating less, exercising more you will lose weight.

Everyone grows old and gets crow's feet. Use L'Oreal Revitalift every day and your wrinkles will not disappear but they'll look a little less prominent.

Pampers  absorb a lot of baby wee and are designed to prevent even the messiest number two's from spilling out the sides. Making parents lives a tiny little bit easier.

I for one would find this approach totally refreshing. It might also mean that marketeers could spend less time worrying about the articulation of a strapline and more time making sure their consumer insight is right, their product is good and their customers are happy.

Juliet