Misplaced Messages

I noticed the Starbucks ad below on a GO Train a few months ago.

If you don't understand French, it reads: "Travel with GO Transit. Earn Starbucks Stars."

There's nothing inherently wrong with the message of this ad: it certainly won't win any creativity awards, but it clearly communicates an offer that allows GO Train riders to earn Starbucks reward points and encourages people to scan the QR code to learn how.

No, there's nothing inherently wrong with the message of this ad.

But the message is misplaced.

That's because this ad is in French. And if you live in Ontario and don't understand Canada's other official language, you'd be in the majority; in 2021, it was estimated that only 11.1% of Ontarians could have a conversation in French.

So why would Starbucks run an ad on GO Transit (which operates only in Ontario) in a language that 88.9% of riders likely can't understand?

More likely than not, this was a simple mistake: an incorrect file was accidentally sent to the printers, perhaps, and nobody who handled the ad from printing to installation questioned why it wasn't in English.

But this mix-up nicely illustrates a marketing fundamental that should never be ignored.

Effective marketing involves the right message, at the right time, to the right audience.

If even one of those things is off, your messaging isn't likely to work.

Misplaced messages happen more often than marketers would like to admit.

And, unfortunately, they usually aren't this easy to identify.