Being of a certain age, I saw and I see similar constellations in communication happening not only twice, but again and again. And some leading to the same mistakes, over and over. That’s what Sam used to call “un serpent de mer”, something like that beast in Loch Ness: up it comes, down it goes, up it comes… And you can’t get hold nor rid of it.
Sam was my boss when I first took over responsibility for the Swiss Federal Railways’ marketing communication, many years ago. We didn’t like each other very much. He had a deep mistrust for everything touching advertising. But there he was right. And he shared this experience with the rest of us, but only as a generic observation.
I’ll try, in this blog and from time to time and amongst other things, to share my own experience as well, but to be more specific. So you might be able to spot them, if they turn up again: the “serpents de mer”, of whatever sort. – You’ll see, when you come back to my blog.
