There's a great post over at Brand Autopsy about a new book called Broken Windows.
The post splendidly explains and summarises the idea in the book (probably making the book redundant) which is that the broken window theory of crime prevention and policing is also applicable to branding. ie that seemingly small things actually make a huge difference. Not a completely startling thought, but one we should all remember.
So, I'd just finished reading that and saw an example for myself.
I went to Leon for coffee, which is rightly getting rave reviews, it's a fantastic place. Great food, nice design, friendly people. So I went to fill out one of their lovely feedback cards.
I especially liked the way they offered to 'gently update' you via email. Very nice touch. And then I noticed they'd left the apostrophe out of 'here's' and my positivity came to a screaming halt. Which I know is massively, unreasonably pedantic, but that's what happened. The tiniest, smallest, most miniscule of errors, but it made a difference to me (and now I'm blogging about it).
Why does it matter? Firstly, retail is detail, you want people to pay attention to this stuff. Secondly, it's the context. It's on a feedback form. I'm less worried about that kind of thing on a blog (this one for instance is dense with errors) because free-form, unchecked writing is part of the blog-context, but a feedback form is something that should be checked and rechecked and rechecked.
Or am I just being an arse? Probably.
Anyway, read the Brand Autopsy post, it's very good.
I've tried to persuade our agencies'CFO to read 5 months ago, this Broken Windows article at the Harvard Business Review mag - with the purpose of telling him that the agency needed a "face lifting" in order to motivate the staff to be happier, more creative and more productive :)
Posted by: hidden persuader | December 08, 2005 at 09:31 PM
re: the apostrophe, I think your just taking it a little seriously.
Posted by: anthony | December 08, 2005 at 09:50 PM
Maybe, but I know Neil would care, (http://wklondon.typepad.com/welcome_to_optimism/2005/06/apostrophe_cata.html) which is what makes him so damn good. And sometimes annoying.
Posted by: russell | December 08, 2005 at 10:32 PM
I may have to check that book out.
And... its that attention to detail that makes you (and people in general!) worth employing!
Posted by: Rob Mortimer | December 09, 2005 at 12:35 AM
"your" just taking it a little seriously???
I am also one that takes those things too seriously... and english isn´t even my native language.
Posted by: Blip | December 09, 2005 at 09:16 AM
What's the opposite of a broken window? That little sticker on the till at Pret that says, "Sorry. We are legally obliged to charge VAT if you eat in. Nightmare." never fails to charm me a bit.
Posted by: Martin | December 09, 2005 at 02:41 PM
Apostrophes are our friends. The little chaps helps us to understand what's an abbreviation, what's a possessive, what's singular and what's plural. And evry time I see a misplaced apostrophe it jumps out and painfully pokes me in the eye. As you might imagine, I'm with you on this one, Russell. I'm hoping that Rob and Anthiny above were knowingly making errors to be amusing.
Posted by: neil | December 09, 2005 at 08:30 PM
Yes!
You got it.
Well done :)
Posted by: Rob Mortimer | December 09, 2005 at 10:20 PM
This is not being fussy. It's just plain wrong, along with 'their' and 'there', 'your' and 'you're' and my latest pet hate when people write 'of' instead of 'have' (should of etc.) I too have received literature from companies with the above mistakes, and I am immediately turned off using that company.
Posted by: Korngold6 | December 22, 2005 at 12:52 PM
Much the same when I drove past a cafe-cum-caterer who can 'hand-taylor (sic) your menu'.
Thanks but no thanks. I could imagine the menus arriving full of errors. :D
Posted by: Benn | January 09, 2006 at 12:48 PM