Plain White Noise: no dramatic tension, no villains or heros, no polarizing spit-fests

The Republicans cried out, "It'll bankrupt America."

The Democrats cried out, "It'll save America."

But the reality? It'll do neither. The broader issue of the rising cost of healthcare will remain a problem.

Just listen to this.

This post isn't about the historic healthcare legislation debate, though. It's about extreme marcom polarization.

Really. You witnessed it. Over-the-top twisted messaging, skewed truth and blatant sound byte lies that practically incited riots on both sides of the fight and ruffled the feathers of many in between.

Dramatic, but in the end the final product wasn't at all like either side said it would.

Ah, the new age of social media and transparency and the greater good to be a better me --

Doesn't mean squat does it. Establishing and maintaining dramatic frothy brand zest at the expense of compromised truth prevails.

The authenticity differentiator is a dud, baby.

I've been feeling kinda blasé and cynical lately. I mean, most HR marcom is buttoned up and best practice content focused. Valuable in generating straight-laced publicity, traffic and leads, but there's no dramatic tension, no villains or heros, no polarizing spit-fests.

The closest thing of late has been Sumser's digital influencer lists, but even that ripple didn't go beyond, well, the influencers.

I work with an HR software supplier that would love to break out in blatant marketing campaign controversy and turn some heads by stating that their competitors are full of crap and have sub-par technology and customer service and used to work in traveling carnivals.

Because isn't that's what's going on in the final sit-downs include with the top 2-3 suppliers in final decision making mode? Smack attack talk about the competition into the ears of buyers behind closed doors?

Publicly, most HR buyers including HR execs, C-suite and business owners don't like too much head-turning when it comes to buying products and services for their companies, public companies in particular.

Of course there are exceptions; you should see what happens after hours at conferences and expos for both buyer and supplier.

We really don't want that much transparency. Do we?

But I digress. My point is the plain white noise of HR marketplace marketing has become just that -- too many suppliers with similar stuff to sell.

Maybe we do need a few firms lighting bags of doggie poop on fire and throwing them against the competitions' doors.

Maybe.

Or maybe we should stick to the truth of white noise. Because it works.

I'm just a high-road guy that way.

Post by Kevin W. Grossman (join me on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn - and now join HRmarketer on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn!)