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When Words Lose Weight, Brands Collapse

I saw an advertisement recently. “Free Fridge on AC.” Immediately, two things hit me. One, you never say Fridge in a proper headline. You say Refrigerator. Words are not casual. Words define class. Words signal positioning.

The visual showed a man sitting comfortably on top of an AC. Beside him was the so-called “fridge”. Both the man and the fridge looked heavier than the AC itself. Poor AC. It looked like it would collapse under the weight of bad creative judgment.

It looked like the entire campaign was created on ChatGPT. Even on ChatGPT, the prompt engineering was not up to the mark. As they say, it is not the machine that matters; it is the man who is manning the machine who matters, who can use that machine effectively and efficiently.

And this is a national retail brand. Penny-wise. Pound foolish. The company saved a few thousand by not going to a proper ad agency.  But what did it cost in brand perception?  The brand’s communication comes across as frivolous. You pay peanuts as salaries; you get monkeys as employees. Harsh? Maybe. True? Often. Communication is not decoration. It is a strategy. It is physics. It is psychology. It is a language discipline.

And then I thought of something opposite. RES PV Ltd. Baseline: “Redefining Sunlight.” Just pause. Redefining Sunlight. In 1994-95. When even Google did not exist. When solar was not fashionable. When sustainability was not a buzzword. That is out-of-the-box thinking.

That is vision. And then came the portable solar lantern, Kuteerdeep. What did Narender call it. “Kuteerdeep – Son of the Sun.” Brilliance. Not just a lantern. Not just a rural lighting product. Not just a utility. “Son of the Sun.”

Poetic. Powerful. Memorable. Narender was our Creative Director at GI Communications (P) Limited. He wrote both the above campaigns. I was the Director of Accounts. Those were glorious days. We would debate one word for hours. We would reject ten headlines before approving one. We believed communication deserved respect. Today, software can create images in seconds. But ideas? Ideas still need thinking. And thinking still needs people who care.

Good advertising is not about tools. It is about thought. Not about software. About sensitivity. Not about offers. About ownership of language. If you respect the brand, you respect the word. And when you respect the word, the market respects you.

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Reliability: Truth in Service, Even Under Fire

We have already discussed Responsiveness and Empathy. Today we will discuss Reliability.

Reliability: Reliability can be described as the correctness of the service that is being delivered. Nothing is more annoying than ordering AMUL milk and receiving AMUL curd. Yes, the quick commerce site may take it back. Yes, they may even refund instantly. But the irritation has already happened. The customer’s time has been wasted. The moment has been disturbed.

Reliability is not about correction. It is about getting it right the first time. An incident happened in the USA and let us see how a salesperson handled it. A well-known shoe company faced a very irate customer. She was visibly upset and venting her anger at the hapless shoe salesman.

 “I bought this pair of shoes from your store and they are not fitting me!” she kept repeating. The salesman calmly measured her foot size again, took the shoes, and disappeared into the store.

The floor manager had to endure the customer’s frustration during those long 20 minutes. Finally, the salesman returned. Apologizing profusely, he handed her a new pair of shoes. She tried them on. They fit perfectly. She left the store — still grumbling, still dissatisfied.

The floor manager, irritated, confronted the salesman: “What took you 20 minutes? I had to listen to her complaints all that time!”

The salesman’s reply stunned him. “Sir, in our store we only sell shoes in even sizes — 34, 36, 38, 40, 42 and 44. The customer’s foot size was 37. I immediately realized she did not buy this pair from our store. She must have bought it elsewhere but blamed us. I took the shoe to our nearest branch that sells odd-number sizes, got it exchanged, and brought it back.”

That is Reliability. The salesman acted beyond his formal responsibility. He protected the brand. He solved the problem. He did the right thing — even though the customer did not leave smiling. Reliability is not about applause. It is about integrity.

 Reliability in Everyday Marketing Consider another simple example. If a restaurant serves mushrooms, it may be wiser to list them under the non-veg section rather than the veg section. Many customers even today perceive mushrooms as non-veg (animal-based) rather than plant-based. Let the customer decide.

Reliability means:

• Accuracy in classification
• Correctness in delivery
• Consistency in execution

It is about reducing cognitive dissonance for the customer.

Linking Back to RATER

In the RATER framework:

• Responsiveness is speed.
• Empathy is warmth.
• Reliability is correctness.

Without reliability, responsiveness becomes damage control. You may respond quickly — but if you keep making mistakes, customers will eventually stop forgiving.

A Thought for Marketers: In an age of instant refunds and quick replacements, we have started glorifying recovery. But the real competitive advantage lies in prevention.

Reliability builds trust. Trust builds repeat business.  Repeat business builds brands. Sometimes, doing the simple thing correctly is the hardest thing in the world. And that is why Reliability matters.

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Sometimes Being Simple Is the Hardest Thing in the World - RATER concept - Responsiveness and Empathy explained!

 

Customer Delight at Starbucks and a Neighbourhood Restaurant. Most people in marketing think that CRM and customer delight are very academic. They believe it involves technology, dashboards, AI, loyalty cards, data mining and a lot of strategic planning. True. 

But sometimes, customer delight is simply about being human. In the SERVQUAL model developed by Parasuraman, Zeithaml and Berry, service quality is measured across five dimensions, captured beautifully in the acronym RATER:

R – Reliability

A – Assurance

T – Tangibles

E – Empathy

R – Responsiveness

Today, let me speak about just two of these dimensions: Responsiveness which is the  willingness and readiness to help customers promptly. 

Empathy that is providing caring, individualized attention to customers. No software. No analytics Just a heart to a heart connection.

Responsiveness at Starbucks: This incident happened when Padma and I visited the United States in 2008. We were shopping at Walmart for our daily staples. The Walmart in Rosewood, Pleasanton was enormous, easily the size of two football fields.

After a pleasant but tiring shopping experience, our cart overflowing, we decided to take a pit stop at the Starbucks inside Walmart. We ordered coffee and were waiting. The barista was within earshot.

Suddenly Padma piped in, “Did you get bread? We have no bread at home.” Seeing my crestfallen face, she gave an exasperated sigh. “I knew it. Why don’t you go and get it?”

The bull (Tauren) in me reared up. “No,” I said firmly and dug in. The bull had found its resting place.

Padma’s eyes glittered (after all, she is a Capricorn — and the goat too can be stubborn). “Your wish,” she shrugged. “You are the one… You and the children are fond of bread. I can always eat rice and be contented.”

The sword had been twisted. The pretty barista heard the entire exchange. She walked up and placed our coffee before us. “You missed buying bread?” she asked gently. I nodded, slightly irritated. She smiled. “Enjoy your coffee.” And disappeared.

Within seconds she was back wearing inline skates. She took two dollars from me and zoomed off like a silver bullet. In less than two minutes, she returned — holding a fresh loaf of bread. Without drama. Without expectation. Without seeking applause.

She handed it over and went back to her station. We were so stunned we could barely thank her. That, my friends, is Responsiveness. Not policy. Not training manuals. Not CRM dashboards. Just a willingness to act immediately for the customer’s benefit. Even though the incident happened eighteen years ago, it is etched in my memory as if it happened last week.

Empathy at a Neighbourhood Restaurant:  The second incident happened to my Facebook friend, Rebecca Forster, the famous novelist. Rebecca was partying on New Year’s Eve at a neighbourhood pub — Hay 19, Redondo Beach, California. Her group ordered food, and their cheerful waitress said, “It’s four hours till we ring in the New Year!” 

Rebecca and her friends laughed and told her they were too old to stay up until midnight. They enjoyed a great meal. Promptly at nine o’clock, the waitress came charging out of the kitchen, blowing a horn and shouting: “HAPPY NEW YEAR!” 

Since it was already midnight in New York, she decided to bring New Year’s celebrations early to her California guests. Rebecca later wrote: “It was hilarious. She was so cute and made our night. Good food, drink and a fabulous waitress. It’s the little things in life that matter, isn’t it?”

That is Empathy. The ability to step into the customer’s world. To understand their context. To personalise the experience. She did not need permission from corporate headquarters. She needed only sensitivity. 

In the RATER framework of SERVQUAL: Responsiveness is about speed and willingness to help, and Empathy is about warmth and individual attention.

Technology can support service. But only people can create memories. Even after 18 years, I remember the Starbucks bread. Rebecca remembers the early New Year celebration. Service excellence is not always about scale. Sometimes it is about skating across two football fields for a loaf of bread. Sometimes it is about blowing a horn three hours early. It is the little things in life that matter. And in services marketing, the little things are often the biggest differentiators.

Key words: SERVQUAL, Responsiveness, Empathy, Starbucks story, customer delight, SERVQUAL model explained, RATER model in services marketing, Responsiveness in customer service,  Empathy in service delivery, Customer delight examples, Starbucks customer service story, Service quality dimensions, Customer experience management, CRM beyond technology, Emotional connect in marketing, Hospitality service excellence, Real life service marketing examples, How to improve service quality, Service recovery strategies 

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