It isn’t just ads, of course, where blandness is fatal.

Brand names qualify. Email campaigns. PR. Media plans. Speeches. Taglines. Tweets. Heck, you could include military strategy, prom dresses and chili recipes.

Keep pushing until somebody says “I’m afraid it seems too fillintheblank.” Bingo. Those first two words are a good sign. The goal, my friend, is not to blend in, to be inoffensive, to be “ah, just what I expected.” Bland acceptance all around is a red-flag symptom of zero-impact caution and impotent messaging.

Let’s change hearts and minds: sell beer, win votes, get donations, enroll members, raise the stock price, disarm the sentries, change loyalties. Let’s get noticed. Let’s risk offending somebody. Let’s amuse or seduce or provoke or puzzle or dazzle. Let’s do more than measure opinion – let’s change it.

P.S. If you’d like a copy of this poster, first click the Tweet Button (scroll way down to the bottom left of this page), then email poster@killianbranding.com with your snailmail address so we can send it.