When Enough Isn't Enough

Marketing today centres on being measurable; the terms ‘metrics’ and ‘ROI’ are a little too commonplace in marketing departments in my opinion. Overly-measured marketing can mean very specifically targeted messages at minimal over-spending. You tell just enough people about your product/service so you can meet your goals via the wrong metrics. Sometimes enough isn’t enough.

Often these metrics are not exactly wrong but simply the traditionally tried and trusted methods to calculate ROI. They don’t even necessarily match up with pre-campaign goals. Their main role is to appease the accountants and ensure similar marketing funds for the next campaign. If the campaign objective is to increase sales, why are you patting yourself on the back for getting 100,000 views on your video? Impressions and other similar results are a great way to measure how your brand image campiagn is being received. As has always been the case, you have to set your pre-campaign goals and judge success on meeting or not meeting these goals. Everything else is irrelevant. The brand’s success is your success and if you’re bluffing, your career and personal growth as a marketer will suffer.

AIDA: The case against inbound marketing

Sometimes you need to shout your message. Make people your target audience by being interesting to them; don’t just aim for sure things. AIDA stands for attention, interest, desire and action. This is an initialism that has done the rounds in advertising since the 1950s but I believe it’s still relevant. If you grab somebody’s attention, make them interested in what you’re selling and make them desire it, there’s a good chance they’ll carry out the action you want them to (your call to action). If you create attention-grabbing and interesting ads, you’ll have more success. I'm not saying inbound marketing doesn't work; in fact, it works extremely well for certain business types (and it's always measurable if that's what you're in to).

I do, however, disagree with the argument being put forward by today’s inbound evangelists against traditional advertising: that it is disruptive and annoys consumers, which is bad for your brand image. This is a good argument against bad advertising and I agree with it completely. However, if you create interesting ads this argument is nullified. If you disrupt people’s routine with something that will interest them, they’ll welcome it. The basic premise of inbound marketing is that we should create interesting content for people, allowing them to form a relationship with your brand. Why can’t this content be a TV advert? Would you say a gorilla playing the drums was an unwelcome disruption to your routine that put you off eating Cadbury chocolate?

Speaking of brands...

Invest in your brand. This investment may not be very measurable but it could be vital for success. Investing in your brand image can be an alternative route to creating content as it helps customers form long-term relationships with your company in a similar manner. A brand is a company’s most valuable asset; it accounts for approximately more than half of its value. Your brand primes you for every move you will make in the future. Do you think people will sleep outside waiting for the new Huawei phone? The answer is no, but ask yourself the same thing about Apple’s next iPhone.

Your brand allows you to create hype and set the prices you want to set. People can be lifelong fans of a brand and this means they’ll possibly be fans of each and every major product released under that brand name. This means less risk in the long run as you’re almost guaranteed a certain level of success if you stick to the qualities that made your brand lovable in the first place.

You have to spend money to make money (A cliché, I know but it still makes sense)

Get creative and shout your message from the rooftops. Use all means available to you within your budget. The truth is that traditional advertising works. It might not always be the most measurable but it works. Do you think Dollar Shave Club would have been such an instant success if they had provided useful tips on the best shaving techniques and the best razors via blogs? Here's what they did instead and at a relatively low cost. Sometimes you need to make a statement (and a big one at that).

All in all, traditional advertising is, believe it or not, a sure fire way to stand out amongst today’s measured, safe marketing campaigns if you do it well. While your competitors are reaching enough customers with enough media, why not do more?

Shedding Light On Alcohol Dark Markets

What Are Dark Markets?

When it comes to advertising alcohol, you have to be privy to your surroundings as the relevant laws change from country to country. Dark markets are those which have heavy restrictions on the advertising of certain products such as alcohol and tobacco. 

France, for example, has a total ban in place which prohibits the advertising of alcohol on TV and radio, as well as in newspapers. And although any sporting events sponsored by an alcohol product can be broadcast on TV, the placement of advertisements (hoarding etc.) cannot be shown on that broadcast to people watching at home. This categorises France as a dark market for alcohol advertising.

Where Are The Other Dark Markets?

In Europe, France is joined by Norway, Sweden, Russia, Turkey, and Poland when it comes to being a dark market. On a global scale, Malaysia, Thailand, UAE, and Singapore can be added to this list (among others).

There are, however, also some not-so-dark markets such as The Czech Republic where there are no heavy restrictions on advertising alcohol (at least none that are strictly enforced!). 

So These Markets Are a Waste of Time for Alcohol Brands?

Definitely not.

Dark Markets can actually return very high margins for alcohol brands. This is especially true for dominant brands in a market as competitors find it very difficult to play catch-up with no advertising. Dark markets can, in fact, help to make dominant brands more stable although they do, naturally, also limit the brand's potential for growth.

Additionally, there are ways to shine some light on these markets (excuse the pun!).

Take Sweden as an example; Sweden has banned all alcohol advertising on TV. However, Swedish people also have access to TV channels from abroad such as the BBC in Britain. This means that an alcohol brand could potentially target a Swedish audience by releasing an ad on the BBC that may appeal to a Swedish as well as a British audience.

Leaving comment: where there's a will, there's a way!

Why Context Is Everything with Product Placement

Why Consider Product Placement?

There’s a lot to be said for product placement. If you do it right, you can capture the audience of the TV show or film you place your product in; whether it be a cult blockbuster such as Back to the Future or a film with a more mainstream following such as those in the James Bond series. For me, Back to the Future is a classic; I’ve always loved it.

Looking at it through my advertising lens though, I can clearly see that every large company under the sun jumped on that ship with product placement. Every brand from Pepsi to Calvin Klein to AT&T to Nike has very explicit slots in the film, and there’s good reason for it. It has been demonstrated that prominent placements elicited higher recall than did advertisements, which, in turn, outperformed subtle placements. There are, naturally, more factors than recall to consider though.

There's More?

You better believe there's more.

Firstly, by featuring in a film such as Back to the Future, you’re saying that your brand is so good it’s a given that it will last well in to the future and that it will change with the times, the famous self-tying Nike trainers being a prime example.

Secondly, and more importantly, if you have a major place in a film, the odds are that your competitors don’t. Keeping with the Nike example then, they are shown to be futuristic and innovative while their major competitors such as Adidas are non-existent. In this sense, you’re not only telling the audience that you’re brand is ahead of the game, you’re telling them that your brand is the only brand.

This is a powerful message.

However...

Now don’t get me wrong; product placement can also go a little sideways at times.

The most famous instance of product placement in Back to the Future is, of course, the Delorean. While it undoubtedly enjoys the same benefits as the above mentioned brands such as appearing futuristic and innovative, it is also the only brand to be shown in a negative light. In order to maintain the storyline and the nail-biting climactic scenes, the car had to be shown to be unreliable. 

It doesn’t start on several occasions, leading to major frustration for the protagonists as well as amongst audience members. Marty McFly is shown to kick, hit and plead with the car for it to start. Furthermore, the entire plot of Back to the Future III hangs on the Delorean not working.

This is a prime example of context driving perceptions, and why it is crucial to consider all factors before jumping at the chance to have your product feature in a major film.