Some wise marketer once said, if you have nothing new to say, sing a song.

In the spirit of 21st century interpretation, I put a modern twist to this: If you have nothing to say to defend your failed marketing activity, say its for creating awareness.

Creating brand awareness has been the insurance for lame marketing for years and the source of a lot of friction between sales, marketing and finance. When marketing activities fail to generate sales or revenue, its often told its objective was always to create awareness. When advertising often resembles more like an art or a film than a communication with clear selling message, marketers justify it will raise image and awareness. When marketing messages or activities are considered too risky or controversial in nature to damage corporate reputation, marketers justify it as a medium to create word of mouth and awareness. 3 million facebook likes with very limited activities or chances to turn them into sales prospects – all to create awareness. What many people fail to understand that high top of mind awareness is like a wedding promise of staying together in sickness and in health, with no guarantee that its ever going to be like that. Thats all it is: a future promise.

All that being said, awareness does have a space in marketers manual. A high brand awareness usually speaks of potential sales of future as well as a benchmark for new product launch success. However, the way most of marketing budget is used to create awareness is often not the smartest way to go. Its just playing safe or lazy.