Alex And Ani is one of the more impressive brands to appear on the scene in the past five years. The Rhode Island-based company opened its first retail store in 2009 with a respectable $2.2 million in revenue. By 2013, the company skyrocketed to over $200 million in annual revenues and has remained true to its commitment of bringing business to Main Street America. However, in the start of 2014 I have noticed a few marketing miscues from the company that has been on a hot streak thus far.

Alex And Ani’s strong focus on being American-made and dedicated to the revitalization of Main Street America has been brought to life through the company’s television commercials, including a recent spot airing regionally during SuperBowl XLVIII. This high-profile commercial, entitled “Made In America,” is well-produced but has a tone that is unmistakably reminiscent of Chrysler’s 2011 “Imported from Detroit” campaign. It’s a noticeable similarity, but one that is easily forgiven when you look at the company’s sincere commitment to their home state of Rhode Island.

Where I have had a larger issue with Alex And Ani’s marketing efforts in the past months is with their advertising on Pandora Radio. Strategically, it is a great move. Pandora is the right platform and the right audience – but I struggle with the company’s creative approach.

I expect an Alex And Ani spot to be somewhat flowery and or maybe even slightly poetic, which is perfectly fine considering the target audience. However the latest Pandora spot features a love ballad that appears to be dedicated to the state of Rhode Island, and that is being sung by what sounded like a cross between boy band impersonators and Nickelback. When the song first popped up on my Pandora playlist, I almost fell out of the shower in an attempt to quickly skip what I thought was a terribly mis-targeted song. When I finally heard the Alex And Ani “Made in America” tagline, I went from annoyed to disappointed. In a medium that is so musical and auditory,  it doesn’t take much to disturb a user’s listening experience. Humans – especially those listening to Pandora – have very particular musical tastes. So it’s a huge gamble to use a piece of custom music that could potentially be off-putting to a majority of listeners. Honda got away with it in their Michael Bolton spots on Pandora, but that’s because they were clearly made in jest. Music is too subjective, and music fans are too passionate to forgive a bad song.

The most effective Pandora spots are those that avoid music entirely and instead take the opportunity to speak directly to the consumer while they have their full listening attention. Spots that ask the listener, “working late again?” when it recognizes you’re on your desktop at 7 pm on a Tuesday. That’s going to capture my attention.