TOO MANY MARKETERS LOOKING FOR “HAPPY ENDINGS” INSTEAD OF ESTABLISHING EFFECTIVE BRAND POSITIONS AND STRATEGIES

I shared the title of this article with a friend who laughed and advised I get to the point quickly before readers thought I was writing a chapter for a romance novel, so I promised I would.

More than ever advertising and marketing avenues are more diversified than ever, especially as television ad options are spread over 250+ channels, plus the proliferation of digital advertising with banner & placement ads and videos which impact consumers in 15 seconds or less.    This results in some marketers trading real brand building for messaging that attempts to be highly intrusive but can fail to effectively communicate the essence of their product/service, and why it is valuable to the customer, whether, b-2-c or b-2-b.

It is incumbent on the client of the product or service to drive this process (ideation sessions with team members, diagnostic testing, etc.) so that the creative resource, internal or outside agency, understands the positioning of the product/service and delivers marketing and advertising creative that communicates the branding accurately.   Failure to do this can result in customers purchasing a product/service for the wrong reason and/or under misguided expectations.

Just like great defense predominantly wins against great offense in sports, the foundation of brand building and the resulting advertising has not changed for decades:

• Does the brand strategy accurately delineate the product/service strengths?
• Is the advertising and marketing messaging intrusive?
• Does it fully and completely reflect the brand promise?
• Is the style and tone of the advertising/communication appropriate to the product?
• Does it make the company and its product/service likable?
• Does it motivate the customer to inquire and eventually purchase?
• Will it build long term identification for the product that will build the brand?

The most common mistakes clients make, whether by themselves or influenced by their creative partners are:

• they do not build the brand positioning into advertising and promotional messaging
• they do not extend the brand positioning into every “touch point” of their marketing
• they change advertising creative too often, diluting the brand message
• And they fail to live up to the axiom: “Promote who/what your product is/service provides and be what you promote”

 Many years ago I wrote an article for an advertising publication entitled; “IF YOU FOLLOW HOME UGLY CHILDREN, YOU FIND UGLY PARENTS”.   Before anyone gets offended, I borrowed the line from a comedian….he meant it.  I used it to focus blame for these common mistakes that clients in charge of marketing & advertising frequently make in failing to develop effective branding and/or translating branding into effective advertising.

The positive lessons are clear; BMW has been the “Ultimate Driving Machine” for decades irrespective of the model being promoted.   Lexus is “The Art of Perfection” whether promoting pure luxury or newer sport models.   At Gerber, “Babies are our Business, Our Only Business”, and Ivory is still “99 & 44/100% Pure”.   Coca Cola has been making people happy since they gathered a group of young people on a hillside to express the notion of “Buying the World a Coke” and there is still a “Pepsi Generation”.   And the list goes on and on.

And yet for all of them, there are a myriad of advertisers who go for the quick fix, and punchlines with no brand substance, who implement marketing and advertising that does not reflect any real brand positioning, brand strategy and leaves the intended customer wondering “what’s the point?”   And it is most egregious when they spend millions to do it on Super Bowl Sunday and end up with the all-too-often traditional discussion the next day; “did you see that great ad with the dog, the kid, and the rocket ship?”…..”Yeah, what was that ad for??”  

Traditional brand positioning and strategy development requires commitment to following the steps of the developmental process before implementing costly advertising and marketing campaigns.   And done properly, it does eliminate “happy endings” and prevents “ugly parent” syndrome.