I was on American Airlines today – great plane. The best in a longtime – I was flying out of Hartford and not New Haven or Westchester – not knocking those airports but this was a nice plane – and on time. On my way to Greenville to hang with #teamymc. Best seats ever, pleather, extra cushioned. Charging stations, an EMPTY seat next to me, and, I swear they reclined extra far, and I could have laid out on a beach blanket with all the leg room in front of me. That last part might be a slight exaggeration of course.

Flight fantastic. A+
Pilot announcement. FAIL. D- at best.

Intrusions. I am NOT a fan. I like my peace and quiet when I am traveling. I want to go into my bubble and watch a movie uninterrupted by children, enjoy a cocktail (err, um….coffee) or a chat with my seatmate if they seem normal (well comparatively speaking of course) or maybe even work. What I don’t want is what was LITERALLY a 96 second audio infomercial on the American Airlines Barclays Mastercard (I really shouldn’t give them any sort of shout out so you can pretend I bleeped it out if you want). Anyway, after what seemed like a 3-second, “Thank you for flying. The weather is fan-f’ing-tasic out there today greeting,” the pilot proceeded to begin speaking in what can only be described as a game show prize announcer voice to get the “audience” – or, passengers trapped at 35,000 feet with nowhere to go – riled up to apply for the BEST EVER piece of plastic you can put in your wallet today. What do you get? Not one, not two but 4 – yes 4 – round trip tickets for any destination in the Continental United States that will never expire. OMG. Please just STOP. Oh, and then after he finished and turned off the mike so we could get back to make our prize selections of Biscoff cookies or pretzels, he came back. He totally forgot to tell us that you also earn 1% cash back on all your purchases! Thank God he did – cash back is such a new concept AND 1%??? I get 5% on my unmentionable card, which, by the way I have loaded into my digital wallet (plug for awesome technology)!

At what point does marketing become TOO MUCH? At what point do people begin to shut down, get annoyed and write a blog on how invasive our world has become? It’s all too much. Our senses are saturated with messaging, mixed messaging and chaotic messaging. We are left spinning; we are left tired and overwhelmed with options, choices, decisions to be made.

This is where relevant messaging becomes important for me. People are all of the above things. Tired. Overwhelmed. Saturated. When it is time to look for a new product, service or solution they need, they have to sift through things that MEAN NOTHING to them in order to find the ones that do. How strong is your messaging that the mind will remember you? How targeted is your messaging that your member will find you in their mind of hoarded, not relevant information?

96 seconds is a long spot. Think of the dollars you would spend (or may have spent) to have a 90 second radio spot, television commercial or video blogs. To me, to have to listen to that over-the-top-sales pitch was such a turnoff. It’s why I listen to Amazon Prime music and not the radio, it’s why I watch Netflix and Amazon Prime TV and not cable. How intrusive is your brand? Your communications? Are you turning members off or away by not reading your data and targeting your messaging correctly and for ONLY the correct audience?

“Noise is the most cruel abuse of care which can be inflicted on either the sick or the well”
– Florence Nightingale
#WomanAfterMyOwnHeart #PerhapsMoreSympatheticThanI