Biggest, Fastest, Tallest: Marketing with superlatives

I've spent the last few days in the United Arab Emirates and unlike the vast majority of visitors I actually got out of Dubai where I'm staying. In fact I've visited all seven emirates. Yesterday my friend Paul Keijzer and I hired a car and visited the five emirates north and east of Dubai and we also headed into northern Oman briefly (at the Straight of Hormuz).

The UAE is full of superlatives. Today, thanks to David Haddad, I visited the top of the Burj Khalifa in Dubai, the world's tallest building. Later, at Abu Dhabi's Ferrari World (the world's largest indoor theme park), I rode the world's fastest roller coaster (zero to 240 km/hr in 4.9 seconds). I rounded out my day with a few downhill runs at Ski Dubai, the largest indoor snow park in the world.

There are many more winners in the biggest, fastest, tallest, and most expensive categories here in the UAE. It's an important marketing strategy.

Which got me thinking of how beneficial this sort of marketing is. Here I am talking about it, right? So it works. And as I made my way around Dubai, many people asked if I was visiting these "biggest, fastest, tallest" places. Dubai is certainly known for these world’s greatest things. It is an excellent brand image. For now.

Can you top this?

This kind of superlative marketing strategy is tricky because someone can always trump you. Other places have announced plans for taller buildings. Soon, my guess is there will be a faster roller coaster. Will as many people still pay the instant admission fee of over USD $100 to visit the top of the Burj Khalifa when it is the second tallest building? Will they still flock to Ferrari World?

More importantly, when the UAE becomes a country of second bests, will it continually build in order to maintain its position on top of the world? Or can the country safely settle into another brand image?

These are the sorts of important questions all organizations that use superlatives as a marketing strategy need to consider.

Comments

[Be3d]

Not such an issue with purely physical, quantifiable claims like the UAE's, but another risk of using superlatives is believability. We are so used to hearing them, I think consumers tend to tune them out, or worse, not believe them--despite evidence to the contrary, etc.

When I see a press release claiming to be from the "leading" XYZ company, I don't even think I process the word. It simply adds nothing to the company's position.

[Joe Cleaning]

Really great read. I want to go and check out this tower some day, just looks ridiculous. I bookmarked this page so keep the blogs coming.

[Matt Toll]

Hi David - I'm tempted to call this the greatest blog post ever written, but I'll restrain myself ...

Which is sort of my point. In my experience (mostly financial services) I've found that legal restrictions dilute the power of superlative messages to the point that they end up with so many conditions applied to them that the impact is lost. It's rarely so cut-and-dried (and clearly provable) as a building's height, for example, so most of the time I've ended up with a watered-down message that assured little more than the fact that we (probably) wouldn't get sued.

I'd be interested to know if others experience the same thing. My sense is fin services is more gun-shy than most but maybe I'm wrong.

Safe travels! Matt

[David Meerman Scott]

Be3d - Now you're talking! I was hoping someone would pick up on that. You're right of course - some things are quantifiable (like the tallest building) but when you reach for superlatives like "leading provider of..." you are just annoying.

Matt - Good to hear from you. I think it becomes more difficult with intangibles. But one thing I keep thinking of is why even go there? I could plaster all over my site something like "the largest selling social media marketing book in the world" but I choose not to because it is not what my personal brand stands for.

[Colin Warwick]

Hi David, Sweet! When you get tired of this gig, will you let me have a go? I assume if you blog it, it's tax-deductible, right? :-)

[John White]

David:

I was expecting you to round out the post with your signature riff: "Nobody cares about your products and services...Your buyers...care a great deal about solving their problems."

Marketing with superlatives is not marketing; it's an attempt at distraction. Marketing is telling me how the world's tallest building, fastest roller coaster and largest indoor snow park solve my problems.

John

[Lewis LaLanne]

I think gunning for holding the -est title is a bold move. I think it keeps you consistently striving to bring more value to the market.

One company that's earned a special place in the heart of people all over the planet is Disney and the their theme parks which they deem, "The Happiest Place On Earth".

I think this ambitious claim has forced Disney to stay on their toes and keep a laser focus on consistently delivering an experience to their customers that doesn't make them scoff at this claim, but rather playfully embrace it.

Everyone knows that this claim isn't to be taken literally but at the same time almost no one can argue with their success they've built on the back of this mighty proclamation.

And the backbone to the U.A.B. or Disney or Beverly Hills or anyone who's cultivated an -est mentality in the mind of an audience is constant and never ending improvement.

[Creative80ds]

About 10 years ago the Dallas Zoo installed a statue of a giraffe with its tongue sticking out of its mouth. It's quite goofy looking. The tongue sticking straight up in the air makes it the tallest statue in Texas...Undoubtedly something they thought would bring more visitors. I guess it is more tangible than trying to say they have "the best looking animals in Texas." People are constantly snapping photos in front of it, and it has held the title for a decade. I guess in this case it can be considered a success.

[David Meerman Scott]

Colin - You're on to my secret...

John - You do that quote better than I do! I think this stuff has a role in a place like Dubai, but too many lazy marketers resort to it in inappropriate situations - "the world's leading supplier of enterprise level software for the oral surgery anesthesia market" (I made that up but you get the point).

Lewis - Great point on Disney. It does force them to maintain standards that support their claim. Thanks for sharing.

Creative80ds - I hear "everything is bigger in Texas" so claiming the tallest statue is really saying something!

[Srini]

I think the best adjective is FIRST because it's immediately verifiable and indicates novelty, which means, something is new, pay attention. You're the first at something.

[Kent]

When we talk about too much biggest, tallest, fastest, most probably we will ignore details and forget that successful marketing built on daily small habits.

It always gives people a wrong message that, we need to go big, go tall and go fast in order to succeed in marketing, but that is not true.