Imagine he hands you his business card. You look at it and smile and say “You are Mickey Mouse”
Imagine she hands you her brochure. You look at it and smile and say “Ye are a Mickey Mouse outfit”
Imagine she asks you to check their website for more information. You look and say to her “Sorry, ye are Mickey Mouse”
He pulls up in his van and hops out after travelling to meet you and you say “Ye are a bit too Mickey Mouse for me”
You visit their showrooms and the enthusiastic sales person bounces over and asks if she can assist you in any way. “No thanks, you are Mickey Mouse” you reply
Did you receive our presentation they ask. “Sorry, but ye are too Mickey Mouse for us”
Can you imagine being that rude to anyone?
How could anyone say such a thing and while I have come across plenty of rudeness in my time you just wouldn’t hear anyone saying something quite so blunt and I guess, hurtful.
However the truth is we do actually say these things the whole time except (unless we have an odd condition) we say them quietly to ourselves. Literally the second we see something we process it and if it is cheap and unprofessional looking we immediately dismiss it as being “Mickey Mouse“.
We can quickly get into an argument that says “looks aren’t everything” and the point will be made that professional looking material is no guarantee of quality and professionalism. Furthermore, isn’t the proof in the eating as the popular saying goes?
All of this is true but from my experience anything that has come across as “Mickey Mouse” has rarely pleasantly surprised me and has never ended up being successful with one big exception!
That is Mickey Mouse himself who was created by Walt Disney in 1928 who knew a thing or two about creating fantastic brands.
If you are serious about what you are doing then don’t let your branding make you look Mickey Mouse!
Greg Canty is a Partner of Fuzion PR, Marketing and Graphic Design, with offices in Dublin and Cork
