There's a rather amusing article in Business Week today by Steve McKee called "Five Words to Never Use in an Ad." Steve's basic premise is that the words Quality, Value, Service, Caring and Integrity should never be used in advertising because they hold no meaning with today's modern consumer. Bunk. These words today are as relevant as they ever were.

In a visit to a rather large ad agency recently, I was reminded of some of David Ogilvy's words of wisdom from Ogilvy on Advertising. Most of which are still valid today. Things like "hard work never killed anyone" and "You wouldn't tell lies to your own wife. Don't tell them to mine" are truisms (Ogilvyisms) that I find priceless. The power of advertising is in delivering the most compelling message to the right consumer. If "quality" or "integrity" contribute to the overarching brand image and message, then so be it.

Steve's right that words can work against you, but only if you use them in such a fashion as you would a blunt instrument to bludgeon your customer with poor, misleading or otherwise deceptive information.

In the same vein, customers should already expect these things from your company - they are table stakes for getting to market in this day and age. However, that doesn't mean that you can't advertise the fact that you have the best service (as rated by past customers or an independent study), the best quality (vis-a-vis your competitors), care about your customers more (as evidenced in how you treat them), provide more value to your market segment (features, benefits and the things that really matter to your customers) or have high integrity (something that's far from the norm in some industries) so long as you're sending the right message to the right customer.

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I agree that these words are still relevant, but I think the true wisdom of your post is in the last two paragraphs.

I think for so long, words like quality, best, etc. were used just as words...but not backed up with proof.

I think any word can still be useful, but it needs to be true and evident so people would have that impression even if you didn't use that word.