We Cater to Cowards
Used to walk my dog in a neighbourhood where my partner at the time lived. I loved weaving my way down this one street until we reached a wooded area. Almost every time I walked this way, there was a little white car parked in the driveway of one of the houses on the street.
It had red vinyl lettering on the back that disturbed me. It boldly stated “We Cater to Cowards. Relax, You’re in Good Hands.” The vehicle was promoting West Coast Dental Clinics. For some reason, I felt annoyed because I thought if I really had a fear of dentists, I would be too embarrassed to call them up and tell them I was a coward, that I had seen the ad on one of their cars and needed help immediately.
This is when I realized that I was not one of the people this ad spoke to. First of all, I didn’t mind going to my dentist. Secondly, I really liked where I went. The message on the back of this car was directed at people who were either not going to the dentist because they were too stressed about it, or they felt their current dentist office staff weren’t able to address their need for special attention and fear regarding their dental concerns.
West Coast Detail Clinics’ marketing person recognized that need and was actively targeting those who had serious fears about getting into the dentist chair.
Most of all, what I liked about the car ad the most was the attention to detail. They included their website address and the phone number 1-888-no-fear-1.
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I, too, have had a similar knee-jerk reaction to a sign for the same dental office that’s in Metrotown. I always feel like “coward” is just the wrong choice of word. My impression is that it feels very negative to call prospective clients cowards. I have a hard time imagining that anyone would want to identify themselves as such either. I’m not sure how successful the signage is in getting across the point. For me, it just leaves a bad taste in my mouth.
I think a good visual of a person who looks really frightened and a good one-liner such as “relax, this won’t hurt a bit.” or something to that effect would still get the message across with a much less name-calling type of feel.
Just my $0.02!
Carly – good to hear other peoples perspective on this. As a brand specialist, your comments are appreciated.