The Hobgoblin of Little Minds?

Someone once described consistency as "the hobgoblin of little minds."  The point, I suppose, is that slavish consistency stifles creativity.  And that's true.  However, for marketers, once the creative process has taken place and we've selected a preferred position for our product or service ... consistency is a good thing.  The consumer is not sitting around thinking about us all day, so consistency helps reinforce the creative position that we've selected. 

The very best marketers are, indeed, very consistent.  taglines, type fonts, colors, tone, training, etc., etc. are all consistent with the image that we want to convey to our publics.  Bad marketers, on the other hand, are all over the place. 

I was watching a Subaru television commercial recently which ended with the announcer delivering the line:  Love ... It's what makes a Subaru a Subaru.  Now, I'm not bowled over by that line (I'm not exactly sure what it means), but the commercial was generally about a loving relationship and I took the line to be Subaru's tagline and I expected to see that line come up under the logo at the end of the spot.  Surprise.  It isn't the tagline at all.  At the end of the spot the logo came up with the tabline:  Subaru.  Confidence in Motion.  I'm not bowled over by that line, either, but the spot didn't have anything to do with confidence in motion.  And having two different lines is just confusing.  What is Subaru all about, anyway?  Love?  Or, Confidence. 

So consistency isn't the hobgoblin of little minds when it comes to clear communications.