Futuristic taglines: can companies predict the future better than consumers?

The tagline of a company says it all. It's their focus. It's their definition. It's what they want to be known for in the world. Corporations that have become house hold names are often accompanied by their tagline. For example, everyone knows the tagline to All State Insurance is "You're in good hands." The best tagline a company can create is one that involves their customer, a positive emotion that is invoked when it is read, and one that focuses on one-to-one marketing, as opposed to one-to-mass (broadcasting).
I have begun to question, however, the effectiveness of companies that attempt to forecast the future in their promotional strategy. Take, for instance, the ice cream company Dippin' Dots. They have been claiming to be "The Ice Cream of the Future" for the past twenty years. I have to ask myself, "When will the future come to be the present, and when will Dippin' Dots be the ice cream that represents that time period?" There are two things about this tagline that are crippling to the company:

1. There is no relevance to the current day and age that we live in, when customers are actually buying: TODAY. There is a disconnect to customers' wants and needs. I would not be surprised to find a customer thinking, "If this is the ice cream of the future, what is the ice cream of today? I want to buy ice cream now that satisfies my desires, not that will be the best ice cream there is ten years from now."
2. There is no connection to the consumer. Nothing in their tagline benefits me as a consumer or connects me to their product.

Statistics show that Dippin' Dots franchises has decreased in numbers over the past years. A declining trend in popularity started in 2006 in the United States with 448 franchises, decreasing to 441 in 2007, and ending with 420 in 2008. They fell from a Franchise 500 rank of #112 in 2008 to #175 in 2009. Could this have anything to do with the fact that no matter how hard we try, tomorrow never comes? Nor does the future.

Corporate communications director Terry Reeves was quoted saying, "Our goal is to increase the number of stores and sales at stores owned by existing franchisees, and we of course want additional franchisees to open stores in new locations." This seems to be an unmeasurable, non sustainable goal that has no numbers, benchmarks, or an action plan to accompany it. I would venture to say that if Dippin' Dots continues to claim to be the ice cream of the future, their company and all franchisees involved may not have a future of their own.

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