So I saw this on the front of the Metro: a fairly innocuous ad, touting the latest Iceland deal.
Nothing really caught my eye until I got to the bottom right-hand corner: ‘the food WAREHOUSE’
1. Since when have Iceland called themselves that? As far as I know, they’ve done away with the outdated ‘That’s why mums go to Iceland’, and I thought they were running with ‘The power of frozen’ – no idea where ‘warehouse’ comes into it.
2. ‘Warehouse’ – when you’re trying to make your food appear appetising – conjures up all the wrong images: vast buildings with high ceilings, metal gantries, pallets, crates, forklift trucks, dirty floors, sweeping, floor-to-ceiling shelves crammed with stuff.
I have no idea why Iceland are calling themselves ‘the food WAREHOUSE’, when considering that Sainsbury’s run with ‘Live well for less’, Asda run with ‘Bring it home’, and Aldi run with ‘Spend a little, live a lot’.
It makes me think of restaurants that bang on about their hygiene rating. Don’t make me think ‘hygiene’ when I’m about to eat: the word plonks me in a world of grease, floors, cooker tops, extractor fans, mops, bleach, jay cloths – not things which make me want to order food.
I’m not sure if Iceland’s ‘warehouse’ line is a one-off, but it certainly should be.
Have a think about the words you use to summarise your organisation – they may be viewed in a different way than first intended.