You can spend a long time deciding what your business wants to say. The harder question is what somebody else will understand when they see it.
The BBC’s report on Huel’s advertising ban brings that gap into focus. The campaign featured Spencer Matthews talking with founder Julian Hearn, including a story about an ultramarathon competitor who reportedly consumed Huel exclusively. The ASA ruling, published on 30 September 2026, found the ads encouraged exclusive use in place of conventional food and included health claims that breached the advertising rules.
Huel argued that the campaign was intended to correct that very misconception. The ASA acknowledged the qualifying messages, but concluded that they did not sufficiently offset the impression created by the athlete’s story.
As a design agency owner, that is the point I would bring into a business conversation. A message can have one intention and create a different impression. The wording, format and emphasis all contribute to the result.
A memorable story can carry more weight than an explanation.
Stories give people something to picture. A dramatic result, an enthusiastic customer or a founder speaking confidently can make an idea feel convincing very quickly. That is part of their appeal in marketing.
My concern is what happens when the strongest part of the story points in a different direction from the offer you actually want people to understand. The explanation may be there, but it may have less weight. A viewer might remember the impressive outcome and forget the context around it.
For a small business, the equivalent could be a testimonial promising a transformation, a before-and-after image or a headline that sounds much broader than the service being sold. None of those should be chosen simply because they grab attention. They need to set expectations the business can meet.
Design decides which message gets heard.
This is where design earns its place in the discussion. Type size, imagery, placement, pacing and the relationship between elements guide attention. They help determine which part of an offer feels important and which part feels incidental.
Imagine a local trades business promoting a fixed-price service. The headline makes the price feel straightforward, while the conditions sit in a faint line at the bottom. Or a consultancy leads with a striking growth figure, but the detail explaining the circumstances is several sections further down. These are hypothetical examples, but the design question is practical: have we put the information people need where they will encounter it?
I would rather have a slightly less dramatic headline that gives somebody the right expectation than a powerful opening that needs explaining away later. Clear boundaries can make an offer more credible.
The website needs to finish the conversation.
An ad, social post or leaflet usually gives somebody a small part of the picture. The website is often where they go to understand the rest. If it introduces a different promise, hides important details or leaves the scope of the service unclear, the journey becomes harder to trust.
Website design and development should make it easy to move from interest to understanding. The offer, supporting evidence, process and next step need to fit together. Important details should work on a phone as well as they do on a large screen.
That means reviewing the actual experience: what appears before scrolling, what gets shortened on mobile, which details are behind an accordion and what someone sees before submitting an enquiry. A sentence technically being on the page does not tell you whether it is doing its job.
What should a small business check before publishing?
I would start with five questions. They apply whether you run a local business, lead a growing SME or manage marketing for a larger company:
- What is the main takeaway? Ask someone unfamiliar with the business to explain the offer after seeing the campaign or page. Compare their answer with the promise you intended.
- What does the strongest element imply? Look at the headline, main image and testimonial together. Consider the expectation they create without the supporting explanation.
- Can we support the claims? Keep the evidence and context behind statements about results, performance or value. Where specialist advertising rules apply, get the appropriate advice.
- Are the useful qualifications easy to find? Put essential information close to the promise it explains, with enough prominence to be read.
- Does the experience stay consistent? Follow the route from the first message through the website to the enquiry or purchase. Check for changes in price, scope, language or expectation.
Clarity is something you build into the brand.
For me, the value of this story is the question it raises about how we judge creative work. Does it look good? Does it get attention? Those are useful questions. Does it leave people with an accurate understanding of the business? That deserves equal attention.
Through Treefrog, I help businesses connect their positioning and messaging with the design and digital experience that carries them. It is much easier to create coherent work when those decisions are made together.
Before your next campaign or website goes live, ask somebody what they think you have promised. Their answer may tell you more than another round of internal feedback.
If you would like a second opinion on your brand or website, see how I can help or get in touch.