As we racked our brains for examples of communication blunders for this issue, we remembered a post card we recently received from Quark.

Quark makes the design software we use daily at POV, and the company’s promotional post card touted the release of QuarkXPress 6. It talked about reliability and dependability.

Those would be fine messages if not for the fact that this particular piece of software – much anticipated because it would work on the newest Macintosh operating system – had repeatedly stalled in development. In fact, the post card itself noted that the release date was not yet determined. So this promotional mailing inadvertently reminded the audience of how unreliable Quark had been in delivering the product.

Great brands are built through consistency – consistency of both message and experience. Quark talks a good game, but as long as the customer experience is the complete opposite of Quark’s message, that message can only fall flat.