How does stability help advertising
Author: Cicely K. Leblanc
Stability is an uphill battle in the dynamic change worshipping culture of advertising.
After all, the setting up and solving of new issues is what stirs the momentum of the marketing process.
The task of remaining stability is made difficultthese days withy the number of multimedia touch points a campaign must maintain with clients, along with the increasing number of hands guiding it through these various permutations and extensions.
Toyota in the US dropped their “Oh what a Feeling” campaign within a couple of years of it being devised in the late 1970s. However the notion lived on other markets, like Australia, where it became the best-known motto in any advertising category, as well as the most creatively awarded campaign, in the country.
Meanwhile, the US Toyota client was spending tens of millions of dollars trying to insert a different tagline, then another, and another, without capturing the burr-like quality of the original.
There are several global blue chip advertisers who could gain knowledge from Toyota’s percipience. A number of techniques can make consistency easier to realize, like the creative use of brand properties, mnemonic devices, and demonstrably campaign able ideas, for a start. An advertising property is like a house; maintain it, freshen it up every couple of years, and it will last a lifetime.
In the East, the trader mentality still prevails: buy and sell. It is difficult to accept a formula that proposes one should build anything like brand equity for the long term. When Asian brands look to global markets, a completely different mindset is needed.
One upside of thinking short is being able to move fast; and that is the bottom-line attraction for the Asian investor. Nevertheless, in the marketing ground, expediency regularly undervalue brands in a flash. Understandably, the advertising communications services industry in Asia has been delinquent.
The ways of the West have reached into the heart and soul of Asia, and teenagers – the big Asian clients of tomorrow – are relishing and embracing it all. And why not! In the face of this, the main thing is to retain one’s core values.
However no marketing model should be so rigid that you can’t finesse it. No corporate marketing mantra can be so rigid that any change, any flexibility, verboten. Corporately, one can say: “Here’s the model we’ve always used; so let’s see if it works in a particular society.”
For instance, Marlboro has never drastically changed its platform since the 1970s, whether it’s talking to men who dig ditches or the men who sit in boardrooms. Global consistency in its advertising has been the cornerstone of Marlboro’s power. Because it is visually very strong and simple.
Everyone can be aware of it and the values it projects. Marlboro’s success among young and old in Asia is a fine example of how a well recognized Western brand identity has successfully crossed all Kinds of cultural and social barriers and has stayed true to itself in the process.
Marketing a global brand that seeks substantial growth across a large group of people should aim to follow much the same model anywhere. It’s just clear common sense. This fast-shrinking world of communications and the fast- growing movement of people across continents are two reasons for consistency.
What is stability?
Lifetime bonding is the ultimate dream of all ambitious brand owners. People love to be loved and, predictably, they gravitate towards brands that know them, understand them and reach into their hearts. For this, stability – a single message – must be preserved across time, geography, media product and ad channels.
Brand Equity
Although only formalized as a concept about 20 years ago, brand equity is by far the most valuable asset of most companies. It has been described as “the upstream reservoir of cash flow”. Clients motivation to buy or to pay more has taken place, yet it hasn’t yet been converted into actual sales turnover.
The very fact that brand equity is intangible makes the job of protecting and enhancing it that much harder. Being true to the brand begins by ensuring that the brand owner’s staff, distributors, partners and agents realizes the brand’s identity.
They should have a good grasp on what the brand stands for: What is timeless about it and what is not. Any real global brand-building endeavor should take in programs that educate employees. If the brand owner’s own staff don’t understand and consist of what he is trying to build, what chance has the public got?
Global brands are naturally obliged to transcend borders; sometimes those borders are invidiously guarded with in the company itself. More seminars, workshops, field visits and work-exchange programs will knock down walls.
Cross-border bonding not only nurtures a free flow of information and co-operation, it also lets a company develop its own marketing vocabulary and templates. Systems can also be put in place to track when brand-building efforts dope off strategy.
Getting employees to vote on the ad campaigns they think best exemplify the essence of the brand builds involvement; more importantly, it hints whether employees fully understand what the brand is all about. Every brand owner has to discover his own way of being true to his brand yet whatever model is used, enthusiastic support of the program at local market level is fundamental.
The Danger of Change
While variety is the spice of life, change isn’t. Opposite to popular opinion, I figure that mature consumer generally refuse change. On the other hand, many marketers feel change is their salvation. So do advertising agencies. It is conventional to change; it is unconventional not to.
The world is changing so rapid, or so we’re told. Information technology is upon us, changing us. Everything has to change to stay alive. It’s as though we are all racing down a fast-flowing river, pushing each other to lead the race, with little concern or understanding of where the river is taking us – and it could well be to Niagara Falls. You don’t have to jump blindly into that fast-flowing river. You don’t have to be totally gripped about change. Sit back and calmly get the perspectives in balance.
Brands are Made Up of Three Parts: The Body, the Soul and the Conscience
The body is the change engine; it represents the tangibles of your brand offering, the product developments and enhancements that are an ongoing process.
The brand’s soul represents the emotional side of your brand offering; it is usually deep-rooted, and mirrors the unique character, personality and culture of your brand. The brand’s conscience represents the company’s corporate “pay-back” responsibility to specific target consumer or to the public at large.
If large consumer marketers are serious about global growth for their brand, the three dynamics must come into play. The mission of the brand body is pretty clear – it is your engine of regular upgrades and innovations. Where things oftentimes go off the rails for marketers and ad agencies alike is the handling of the brand’s soul.
Getting the brand’s soul right is not an effortless task, but once you’ve nailed it, it needs not essentially change for decades. The brand’s soul is the mother of the brand, and like a country’s national flag and national hymn, is should have a positive, long-term place in consumers’ hearts.
The brand’s stability has been an basicpart of the game among big global brand owners for generation. As it is more “corporate citizen” and institutional in character, it should tend to mirrorthe values of the brand’s soul and not be the target of constant change.
Brand building is like building a relationship with a friend. If you connect fairly regularly, you stand a good chance of nurturing the friendship. If for some reason he or she declines to a chat once every six months, then once a year, or may be you may see each other every two years, you’ll little by little fail to remembereach other. It’s the same thing in advertising.
A Unique lcon or Property
Its improbable that the Marlboro Man will be bettered as a visual icon, although some of the world’s most successful campaigns shave not had a graphic icon in their communications.
I just happen to believe that a compelling, exclusive graphic entity is a huge asset in this game and that this ingredient need to be firmly on the agenda in developing new brand-communications programs.
Apart from graphic characters, there are various other properties that can be employed exclusively to the brand’s advantage. A distinctive wordsmith style is one; the exemplary slogan is another. Then there are catchphrases that potentially become part of everyday language.
Creating and massaging exclusive brand icons or properties is an prerequisite in a brand-building exercise. Brand builders must be firm and focused. There are no half measures building a brand. If an ad isn’t right, if the language is wrong, if it is not the brand talking, say so. Every ad should be making a small investment in the brand’s eternal worth.
Success has its challenges. Once you become a global brand leader in both profits and reputation, there is a tendency to move to a defensive strategy, to protect your treasure, to look for safeguards rather than retain the adventurous sprit that won you fame and richesin the first place.
I have no problem with the argument that different target audiences and different consumer feelings entail different advertising solutions. What I do have a problem with is when the only thing that links all the different ads together is the company logo.
Keep in min, please, that every worthy brand has a soul, a special personality. It is a vital accountability for brand owners to leverage their personality in one form or another in all their advertising. It’s all part of the brand-building exercise. It’s part of consistently connecting in a certain way with your customer.
The brand’s core values should not change, nevertheless the creative delivery of those values should constantly be at the cutting edge. Someway brand owners get that confused; then they confuse their advertising agencies, and their final advertising reflects the lost path and confuses the reflects too.
If you want to create a reputation for yourself, whatever you do, branding is the name, branding is the game. Branding has always been the major bugle player in the marketing combat. With the invasion of the Internet, the smart card and other technology, branding is now the Napoleon in the combat.
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