Seems pretty enticing. Probably works like gangbusters, right?

Baloney. Prevailing wisdom is wrong… Shrink It and Pink It is pure crappola. And anyone who believes that this strategy is the path to fast, easy riches is going to be sorely disappointed.

Let me say this plainly: Shrink It and Pink It is nothing more than a lazy, half-assed attempt to reach the heart of the female consumer.

Under Armour discovered this reality more than eight years ago after its first foray into the female market stumbled out of the starting gate.

Under Armour, as you might recall, is the super-macho athletic clothing brand that took Nike’s “Just Do It” mantra and pumped it full of steroids. You’ve probably seen the company’s sweaty advertising, which features muscular male athletes in a full array of clichéd, chest thumping postures.

Well it might surprise you to learn that Under Armour took a soft and gentle approach with it’s first marketing to women campaign.

“We developed a women-specific line with seven pieces, including a couple of tops and bottoms and a sports bra,” said Steve Battista, Under Armour Vice President of Brands. “We had followed the industry rule, ‘Shrink it and pink it,’ but when six guys, including me, took a look at the pieces laid out on a table in our office, we all realized that they didn’t work.”

Under Armour spun one-eighty with its latest attempt to attract female buyers.

What exactly did the company learn?

For one thing, the company learned that you just can’t bowl women over with brand imagery. In other words, Under Armour’s products must fit and perform as promised. Its female customers demand it.

Most importantly, women want to be treated no differently than men. Rather than being pigeonholed as “female athletes,” women simply want to be known as “athletes.”

Yes, Under Armour gets it. Watch this advertisement from Under Armour’s new marketing to women campaign. The ad features Olympic skier, Lindsey Vonn.

As you just saw, the commercial mirrors the same, heart-thumping approach as Under Armour takes with its male audience. Heck. Women play sports. They’re competitive. They get knocked down and get right back up, just like men. So why treat the female consumer any different?

Clearly, Under Armour treats women no differently than men.

But that’s not all. Under Armour’s efforts to attract women to its brand go beyond words.

The company invests heavily in the currency of time and energy to prove its dedication to the female consumer, thereby booming its credibility.

Here’s how: In September, 2010, the company launched a female-specific Facebook fan page named, “Under Armour Women,” where you can upload articles, videos and workouts. You can even create your very own “team” of athletes.

And get this: Become a fan of “Under Armour Women” and notable female athletes such as Heather Mills, member of the U.S. National Soccer Team, will answer your most pressing workout questions.

Under Armour’s efforts to demonstrate its commitment to the female athlete aren’t restricted solely to Facebook. Company employees travel coast-to-coast to attend sporting events just so they can interact with its female fans. Now that’s walking the walk.

Here’s the bottom line: Persuasion — the primary goal of marketing — consists of two main ingredients: relevancy and credibility.

Under Armour’s new marketing to women campaign contains both ingredients. And the company attracts an army of female customers to its brand because of it.

So, how might you do the same?

• For the second year in a row, the survey reported a global rise in trust, yet trust tumbles across all institutions in the United States.

• The number one, primary resource where individuals go for news about a company is an online search engine (29%). When you add up ALL online sources (search engine, news, company website and social media) the number totals 64%. So, do you think a web presence is vital to EVERY business? You better believe it.

• Reputation enhances believability. As I’ve said in greater detail, your company’s reputation is its most valuable currency.

• Developed markets are more distrustful of media.

“Trust in business may have stabilized globally, but it is different and conditional, premised on what a company does and how it communicates..” – 2011 Edelman Trust Barometer

So what are your thoughts? What’s your take on this year’s Edelman Trust Barometer?

Look, I know you hate puffery. I do too. So I really mean it when I tell you that Kadena has a brilliant mind for business and marketing. Not to mention, Kadena’s energy is contagious. You really should get to know her. Check out my interview on E3Woman with Kadena Tate.

Are you ready to have your socks knocked off by the greatest clichés for the brand called you?

Ladies and gentlemen. Drum-roll please.

The Top 10 Overused Buzzwords in LinkedIn Profiles in the USA – 2010

1. Extensive experience
2. Innovative
3. Motivated
4. Results-oriented
5. Dynamic
6. Proven track record
7. Team player
8. Fast-paced
9. Problem solver
10. Entrepreneurial

Any surprises? Not from where I’m sitting. I bet you saw these buzzwords coming from a mile away too. But just in case, be sure to run your ad copy through the Carlin Ad-Speak Calculator for overuse of jargon and bland advertising terms.

And, with 2011 peaking around the corner, perhaps it’s time you and I dust off our LinkedIn profiles and rid them of any ho-hum buzzwords and clichés.

P.S. Did you see any buzzwords missing from the LinkedIn list? If so, please list them below and I’ll make sure they’re added to the Carlin Ad-Speak calculator. Have a terrific weekend!

I recently spoke with Irene Watson and Alan E. Smith from Authors Access about the importance of credibility in marketing.

Authors Access is chock-full of terrific expert interviews to help you get your book published and noticed. Check it out.

Oh, and here’s the link to my interview: http://www.authorsaccess.com/marketing/tom-wanek-currencies-that-buy-credibility-for-your-book

Off topic: Listen to my interview with Alan and Irene. Tell me, doesn’t Alan E. Smith sound a lot like Steve Buscemi? I think so.

I know several of you questioned the sanity of such a move. Many evaluated Domino’s mea culpa strategy and determined, correctly, that it could only work if the company’s new pizza recipe tasted significantly better than the old. Failure would expose Domino’s as a fraud and harpoon its sales. That’s true. If you can’t support the message you’re sending, then don’t send that particular message. Redirect your resources.

But I want you to focus solely on the believability of Domino’s message – not the follow-through of its strategy.

By revealing an uncomfortable truth, and thereby risking its reputation and prestige, Domino’s message sliced through the noise and peaked the public’s curiosity. Rather than delivering a message weighed down by clichés, Domino’s told the public that which it already knew to be true – “yes, our pizza sucks.” This powerful admission elevated the believability of the company’s statement of creating a better tasting pizza.

As I’ve said before in greater detail, your customer’s attention span is in short supply – suffocated by a noisy world. Furthermore, your customer has been anesthetized by prolonged exposure to ads that are saturated with ad-speak and hype. That’s why your marketing message must account for credibility.

But few marketers run their message through the filter of believability – a critical ingredient most take for granted. And unlike Domino’s, most companies are afraid to invest the resources required to boom credibility, preferring to stick with safe and familiar clichés. But clichés are the enemy of credibility.

Are you willing to take the road less traveled?

Remember, credibility is earned not by the words you speak, but by the actions you take. Be courageous. Take action.

You demonstrate confidence in your product or service with a credibility investment.

Saddleback Leather Company brazenly dares you to compare the quality of its bags with those made by its competitors. The company’s website even makes it easy for you by linking to 14 rival bag companies, including Coach, Swaine Adeney Brigg, and Louis Vuitton. By spending the currency power and control, Saddleback Leather’s power statement of manufacturing the world’s most durable bags brims with believability.

Likewise, Progressive Insurance spends power and control by offering comparison rate quotes online, including most rival insurance companies.

Yes, Progressive’s admission of being more expensive might scare off price-conscious shoppers. But this credibility investment allows Progressive to communicate that it’s trustworthy and easygoing, which attracts plenty of customers.

It’s what my friend and partner, Roy H. Williams calls the Law of Polarity, which states, “Your business’ ability to attract customers cannot exceed its potential to repel.” In other words, a powerful message that attracts one group of consumers, will be the identical message that repels another.

So, are YOU willing to spend a little power and control to lift the believability of your marketing message?

Few companies have the courage. But unlike money, power and control is a currency any business can afford. And demonstrating the virtues of your product or service is much more persuasive than telling your customers about the virtues of your product or service.

Michele Miller recently commented on her WonderBranding blog that sliding sales have caused the head honchos at Burger King to finally wise-up and understand who buys their product. Women.

Yes, women. Which means, Burger King has been targeting the WRONG customer. For the past few years, the fast-food chain has been trying to woo males, ages 18- 34. (Oops!)

But here’s the kicker: Burger King’s marketing was equally ineffective at persuading this male demographic.

Allow me to explain: Burger King never tried to convince male consumers that buying a Whopper was a good thing to do. Instead, Burger King tried to entice male consumers with images of sex, which included mind-numbing, cheesy gimmicks such as the Super Seven Incher, Sponge Bob Square Butt and meat-scented body spray.

Not surprisingly, it didn’t work. You see, marketing ploys and gimmicks are equivalent to falsely screaming fire in a crowded theater. These tactics have a short shelf life, and will eventually hurt your credibility.

At the heart of it all, Burger King’s marketing was focused on being surprising and entertaining. But, entertainment is NOT the goal of marketing. The goal of marketing is to persuade. Just know that ploys and gimmicks rarely persuade because they lack relevancy. And your brain immediately discounts that which is irrelevant – even if the information surprises you a little.

Make no mistake, selling a bushel of rotten apples will cripple any company’s credibility. But Toyota’s recent quality and recall headaches are especially devastating.

For more than three decades, Toyota has been synonymous with quality. The reliability of Toyota’s vehicles became a linchpin for the company’s credibility, and its most defining trait. So iron-clad was Toyota’s quality that Consumer Reports magazine would regularly assume an average reliability rating for the company’s newest vehicles, all without ever relying on survey data from Toyota owners.

Consumer Reports no longer gives Toyota a free pass.

And neither do consumers. Quality is a characteristic that you and I no longer associate with the company.

Yes, the halo is broken.

Watch Toyota’s recent television ad below. The ad is brilliant. But do you trust the company now when they tell you that Toyota vehicles are the world’s most reliable?

I didn’t think so.

Here’s a more accurate barometer of the public’s opinion of Toyota:

“I got this beautiful car, now I’m afraid to drive it,” said Maria Ciresi of Smithtown, New York.

I don’t mean to kick Toyota when it’s down. Really, I don’t. I only want you to appreciate that YOUR company’s credibility is inextricably tied to its defining characteristics. And this relationship is fragile. Betray your company’s defining characteristics and your credibility will surely tumble. Just ask Toyota.

2010 Edelman Trust Barometer Highlights:

• The survey reported a modest global rise in trust in business. The rise was fueled by a handful of Western countries, especially the U.S. where trust in business leaped 18 percentage points to 54 percent. It appears U.S. companies are on their best behavior in an all-out effort to rebound from the Great Recession.
• The other side of the coin: trust is fragile. Nearly 70 percent of respondents expect business and financial companies to return to “business as usual” after the recession.
• Only 17 percent of respondents say product and corporate advertising is a credible source of information. Product and corporate advertising ranked lowest on the credibility scale of any information source surveyed.
• Transparency now outranks high quality products or services as the number one factor influencing a company’s reputation.
• Nowadays, companies must build a “mosaic of trust,” which means companies need a multi-channel and multi-spokesperson approach. In my humble opinion, this underscores the importance of social media as a tool in fostering trust with consumers.

“Last year, we learned that people need to hear something about a company three to five times to believe its veracity, pointing to the importance of a multi-channel and multi-spokesperson approach. To advance reputation, companies need to be everywhere, engaging everyone.” – 2010 Edelman Trust Barometer

So what are your thoughts? What does the Edelman data mean for your business?