Mistletoe and whine
A Florida woman has sued the makers of Velveeta Shells and Cheese, claiming the dish takes too long to make.
The meal is marketed as being ‘ready in 3.5 minutes’ but Amanda Ramirez says it takes longer.
The £4.2m lawsuit claims the time advertised doesn’t include preparation time – opening the lid and sauce pouch, before adding water and stirring.
This comes hot on the heels of a lawsuit filed by a New York man against McDonald’s alleging their ads made their burgers look much bigger than they actually were - 15% larger to be precise – than in real life.
We’re a demanding bunch aren’t we? I blame mass communication; Too Much Information at our fingertips can bring with it a whole lot of confusion.
This is why it’s so important to be able to manage expectations.
Especially in our profession.
It’s been a tough year hasn’t it? I can imagine the number of times you’ve repeated the tea towel mantra to ‘Keep calm and carry on’. In fact I know the number of times because I’ve done it on behalf of my adviser clients x 12. That’s regular messages of support and reassurance told in multiple ways, through engaging and increasingly creative monthly content.
I take my hat off to the advisers who spark these ideas. The analogies we’ve used for the value of having a plan, of staying invested, of sticking it out have come from their observations, client conversations and deep thinking. This originality is what makes this content so valuable for clients.
It’s not easy, but essential. Especially when there’s so much other noise out there. Get-rich-quick schemes, crypto millionaires, alternative ideas from Smithy down the pub. To counter these, you need to create your own feed of sensible messages.
Advisers I speak to often worry about adding to the noise – who needs yet another blog, podcast, newsletter? This is an easy one to answer.
Yes there’s an awful lot of info out there, but most of it is terrible. You’ll have received a lot of it yourself. There’s only a slither that’s any good. This is where you can step in and fill the gap. After stepping into Christmas of course.
Happy holidays!
Shameless plug
Continuing the theme, my latest piece IFA magazine offers tips on how to solve the content conundrum in 2023. And this one in Money Marketing talks about how to waste your marketing budget next year – and how not to.
Football song
Get over your end of World Cup blues with this feast of intros from ’66 to the present day. Which is your favourite? I think mine would be Italia 90 for its Howard’s Way vibes.
Fun fact
More than one in 10 Britons love gravy so much that they drink it from a flask. 11% put it on pizza, 10% have it with pasta and 6% pour it over pancakes.
Next big thing
Thanks to Jon Elkins of Smarter Financial Planning for sending me down into the rabbit hole that is the BBC archives. Here Blue Peter’s Simon Groom demonstrates the technological marvel that is the computer Christmas card. It only takes three weeks to make!
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