Today’s cognitive world has made a multitude of facilities available to us at ease. A customer finds himself in a sea of brands. In this sea of brands, the one that stands out most, the one that delivers its promise and makes its presence known in a world where time and attention-spans are both limited, will emerge successfully. Advertising plays a crucial role in bringing a product into the limelight. The process of advertising is tricky and is also easy to go wrong with. Department store owner, John Wanamaker rightly says, “I know that half the money I spend on the advertisement is wasted, but I can never find out which half.”
Advertising is essential, but not the only path to a successful business. One has to understand that the product/brand that is being advertised needs to meet the customers’ expectations and deliver what is being advertised. Many companies resort to false advertising that raises concerns about the authenticity of the brand in itself, in the minds of the customers. The needs of the company have to be analyzed. Companies should ponder on if the same money could be spent rather on improving product/brand quality and customer satisfaction. So many companies spend their resources on psychologically manipulative ads in the hope of increasing their sales. This money and time could be put to better use in improving the product. The best form of advertising is a satisfied customer.
Ogilvy admonished ad makers who choose popularity in place of sales, “The advertising business is being pulled down by people who don’t know how to sell anything, who have never sold anything in their lives, who despise selling, whose mission in life is to be clever show-offs, and con clients into giving them money to display their originality and genius.”
It is misleading to consider advertising the solution. Advertising alone does not build a brand. It might spark the interests of the customer, maybe even shine a spotlight on the brand if the efforts taken to advertise have paid off. Multiple facets determine how a brand is built. It is a tapestry woven by different strands: public relations(PR), events, sponsorships, social causes, clubs, spokesperson, sales promotion, strategy planning, including advertising. But, advertising cannot ensure a customer’s preference of the advertised brand/ product over others in the market, or ultimately, its purchase.
Like many other things, advertising is also an art. It is not necessary for an advertisement to be creative. But, it is necessary for it to sell. Advertising the brand, but unwillingness to take any stead forward to bring what is promised in the ad alive in the brand is a recipe for disaster. Advertisements are not a one-time investment. It is a continuous process. With every new ad brings with it new learning from the previous experience. But continuing the same strategy from the first ad is also going to lead to failure. Ads become outdated and boring with time. It is a constantly evolving, growing organism, and it needs to change with the changing times. One of Apple's first ads features a montage of videos from movies of someone picking up a phone and saying ‘Hello’. It shows how time has changed with the different phones we use, and the ad ends with the introduction of the iPhone, portraying it as the latest and the most updated model of a phone. The ad has used the knowledge that though times have changed, and so have phones, the way we pick up a phone and say ‘Hello’ has not changed over the years. An effective ad campaign requires meticulous planning, market research and strategizing.
Doyle, Dane & Bernbach, an advertising agency preferred to develop ads as episodes in the form of a narrative. These episodes tended towards how the brands helped find solutions to problems. For example, a Federal Express ad features a man anxiously waiting for his package, who is then relieved of his worries, thanks to FedEx's tracking system. It is simple, but shows the features and offers a solution to the man’s problem effectively. Advertising does not merely list out features. Rather, it sells a dream, a world where there are solutions to problems; those solutions lie in the products/brands being advertised.
Some advertisements sell ideas. High-end companies such as Ferrari, Tiffany, Gucci, and Ferragamo sell social recognition, heroism, and freedom. Charles Revson, founder of Revlon remarks, “In our factories, we make lipsticks. In our advertisements, we sell hope.” These ideas, however, sell a false view of the brand. It fuels the thinking that a particular brand, car, perfume, or clothes makes a person more interesting, more attractive. Customers are more varieties of advertisements that portray an idealistic image of the product. Mindset is, however, to an extent, shaped by advertisements and good brands. One will feel more powerful driving a Ferrari, owning an iPhone, wearing ‘branded’ clothes. The advertisement has indeed a major role to play in shaping these beliefs. “Advertising may be described as the science of arresting human intelligence long enough to get money from it,” says humorist and educator, Stephen Leacock.
The reality, however, is that some ads are not creative. Many are not even memorable. Automobile ads are plagued with a cliché shot of a bike or a car racing at 100 mph around mountain bends. The truth, however, is that the speed limit is 60 mph and we have no mountains here. Every ad features the same shot that one forgets which car the ad was for in the first place. Many ads are a waste of the companies’ time. An ad should be worthy of the customers’ time, and should also succeed in delivering its promise. An ad should, above all, instill trust in the customer that this product does not aim to merely manipulate him/her. For this, there should be a certain amount of truth in the advertisements. Otherwise, the customer is going to be feel cheated and may refrain from using the brand again. One has to be careful about negative advertising.
Another school of thought blames the client/company for non-creative ads. Some agencies come up with three ads, from mild to extreme. Most clients settle for the mild one. They want to be risk-free. The client hence plays a significant role in stubbing creativity. One should develop an advertising campaign based on the five Ms of advertising: Mission, Message, Media, Money, and Measurement.
One should be clear about the message that can be inferred from the ad. For instance, Jockey ads stress a lot on comfort. One should be clear what the advertisement is trying to convey. Some advertisements send mixed messages. Deodorant spray ads leave the customer confusion as to what it was about. It is vital to consider how strong the message is, and how likely it is to influence the customers’ decision. There should be a certain ‘feel’ aspect of the ad. One must objectively learn to analyze what works in the ad and what does not. Another major debate to be had is about the medium which is likely to have the maximum response for the ad. One good example of an ad with a strong message is that of the Apple Ipad Air 2 with the catchphrase, Change is in the air.
Another skill that comes in handy while designing advertising campaigns is the pre and post measurement of success. Ads are tested for effectiveness in communicating the message using either recall, recognition or persuasion measures. These are relatively easier to gauge as compared to the post-measurement strategies. Post-measurement aims to understand the impact on sales caused by the ad campaign. How can one measure the success of an ad that’s been aired on multiple channels and viewed by millions around the world?
One can say that the quickest way to kill a poor product is to advertise it. No matter how many millions are expended to advertise a low-quality product, it is doomed to failure. One good example of this is the multi-million dollar ad campaign to promote Pepsi One.
Another good question that is raised is, how much money then, is enough? The upper limit varies with the brand and the idea. But, spending too little on advertising is spending too much, as it will not yield the expected results, and hence is a waste. On the other hand, a company that looks for a ‘big bang’, investing most of their profits on advertising, will also suffer a huge loss even though the coverage may be high.
Today, however, many companies are suffering from low attention spans of customers and look for the shortest, most concise way of putting their product across. Some ways of doing this are through the use of high-profile movie stars and athletes (Loreal), short statements or questions (Nike – just do it), free offers (Big Bazaar always has these going on) and countless others.
A good advertisement simply draws the viewers’ attention. A great advertisement goes on to instigate and influence buying choices. Marketing Guru Theodore Levitt says, “The new competition is not between what companies produce in their factories, but between what they add to their factory output in the form of packaging, services, advertising, customer advice, financing, delivery arrangements, warehousing, and other things that people value.” Most companies make the mistake of observing their competitors’ marketing strategies so keenly that they lose sight of customer satisfaction. It is not a war between competitors. Customers play a major role in the market. Many companies who lose out on business, fail to keep their customers happy. One can start talking about good advertising, only after fulfilling the customer’s needs in the product specifications. The current market with its butt load of competitors is at each other’s throats. The clever ones are those going after the fish, not those who bite at each others’ throats while the fish swim by, confused and unsatisfied.
All this goes to say that a pretty package is welcome, but the product inside will ultimately decide the success of the company.
