Don't make promises you can't keep

Poetic words and pretty pictures do not a brand make.

This spot by Wieden+Kennedy for Delta is gorgeous. It features spectacular imagery, wonderful music, and the work of one of my favorite voice-over actors, Donald Sutherland.

It's also a complete waste of money.



Why?

Because all this artistry leads to the completely empty promise, "We're not just building a bigger airline, we're building a better one." Oh really?

Do they make people wait in long lines for ticketing and boarding like all the other airlines?

Do they charge for bags and make passengers wait for 30 minutes or more to pick them up after every flight like everyone else?

Are the prices passengers pay subject to whims of when they purchase and when they have to travel like everyone else?

Do they charge for in-flight meals like everyone else?

Do they compromise legroom to fit more passengers on the plane like everyone else?

Do they charge extra for the exit row seats like everyone else?

Do they overbook their busiest routes like everyone else?

Do they experience mechanical and weather delays like everyone else?

Do their flight attendants read the same preflight safety script as everyone else?

This is the worst kind of advertising on television. Worse than screaming car dealers. Worse than cheesy infomercials. Worse even than Flo from Progressive. This is incredibly well produced, artistically designed, first-class filmmaking that fails on advertising's most fundamental level.

It makes a promise that the brand can't or is not willing to keep.

Delta claims in this spot that they "still have the passenger's back." But when you walk up to a Delta counter to find that you've been bumped from your flight and the agent says, "Sorry, there's nothing I can do but put you on the first flight out tomorrow." the promise is broken. The passenger says, I guess you're really not any different. And the millions of dollars spent to communicate the brand promise has been wasted.

Here's a tip for Delta and anyone else developing a brand campaign to communicate their values and promise to the world: before you start saying you're better, figure out how you're actually going to be better maybe then your expensive advertising will have some impact