When Stock Photography Meets Lazy Marketers
I received a card in the mail today from Third Screen Media. They’re a mobile ad management co. and I coordinated a client ad buy through them which is why I’m on their mailing list.
The card was letting me know they’ve moved to new offices in downtown Boston:
The trouble is that the image they’ve included doesn’t look like downtown Boston at all. In fact, it looks a hell of a lot like the Toronto Skyline (BCE/Brookfield Place, Commerce Court & Scotia Plaza are prominent). Let’s compare.
Boston Skyline:
Toronto Skyline (from outside my office on Front St.):
or from this angle:
Maybe they matched the image to the recipient’s city? This was a mass mail and that seems irrelvant to point of the card (plus requires an attention to detail that seems unlikely). I can only conclude that someone went searching for a stock image, couldn’t find one of Boston they liked and settled on the one they used.
This is just pure laziness – hoping either noone would notice or care. Incongruities like this are a pet peeve of mine. If you aren’t making sure that words & images in your marketing collateral match the piece’s message and the corporate/brand particulars, then you end up losing credibility.
Technorati Tags: Third Screen Media,marketing,postcards
