Hasta La Creative!

Before delving into the main portion of this article, I’d first like to clearly define what I mean by the term ‘great’ in the title.

‘Great,’ in the sense of advertising, is in reference to an ad or campaign that transcends time and trend. ‘Great’ describes a truly creative and inspiring idea that has enough emotional, logical, or persuasive rhetoric to consistently move large portions of consumers to act.  Simply put, it’s got zing.

Alright.  Now that we’ve got that out of the way, we can really get to the “meat and potatoes” of this article; what great marketing campaigns can truly achieve for a brand.

Walking down the figurative Advertising Hall of Fame, you’d run into “Mean” Joe Green, an old woman inquiring about the absence of dietary cow product, and a swooshing symbol telling you to “Just do it.”  But what do these ad campaigns that have stayed in our mind through the decades actually do for their respective brands?  They’re cute, inspiring, and fun, but after the millions of dollars are spent and a few more million are made, can an ad campaign have a lasting effect?

Short answer: absolutely, yes.

For almost any ad campaign, a company will yield a moderate ROI for a short term period (i.e. – Placing an ad in the local paper, doubling your sales for a week).  But a great campaign can truly stick with consumers and implements a lifelong brand perception.

Look at Volvo.  What is the first thing almost everyone thinks when asked about the vehicle brand, Volvo?  Safety.  This is a result from their influential campaign from decades ago that touted Volvo as the number one safety vehicle on the market.  At the time, that was true, and people were receptive to the great ad campaign.  Now, 20 years later, people still think Volvo releases the safest vehicles on the market, when in fact, they’re no longer even in the top five.

Now that is one amazing campaign.

More recently, Pabst Blue Ribbon, amid the recession, zero advertising spending in 2009, and a product price increase, has reported a 25% sales increase. (Ad Age) How could this have happened while other sub-premium beers cost less, advertise more, and have reported much smaller sales increases?

Experts told Ad Age that is was likely due to a word of mouth (WOM) campaign that Pabst Blue Ribbon initiated in 2004 as an anti-establishment beer, of sorts.  It has its own niche of young drinkers who don’t conform to the premium or big name brands.  And PBR did an amazing job at taking their campaign to the streets to find their niche.

Benefits?  Well, five years later, PBR is growing during a recession without an ad budget to speak of, against all odds.

Great campaigns have the power to shift, solidify, or revitalize brand/product perception.  They have the ability to transcend time or place by remaining relevant through the fads and trends.  It’s about reaching down to the core of what your brand can do for a group of people.

A good ad campaign can make people think, ‘Wow, I think I want that.’  A great ad campaign will make people realize, ‘Wow, I didn’t know I needed that.’

Stu Haack is a Copywriter & Social Media Guru at Aviatech.  He likes long walks on the beach and scary movies.  Learn more about him and his writing.

Starbucks

During these trying economic times, I would just like to say, “Thank Heaven for Starbucks.” Arguably one of the most expensive cups of coffee currently available on your local street corner, Starbucks has stepped up to the plate and is now offering all of their delectable products at half price! (No, not really.)

No, what the Seattle-based coffee giant is planning to do is launch an advertising campaign to convince consumers that their products are not as expensive as we think they are…their coffee is not a luxury, but just a plain ‘ol cup of Joe.

I definitely missed that day in class. The day that listed the number of  companies that changed nothing about their business model, but successfully re-branded their products. The day that a company, once touted as a luxury, trendy, “go to” brand actually tried to reverse this identity by stating, “We are nothing special.  There is nothing extraordinary about what we do. And, contrary to what you may think, our products are not expensive.” Trust us.

And, maybe Starbucks is right. Maybe they are getting a bad rap as being an over-priced luxury. The WSJOnline reported that, ”…according to a December survey of coffee shops in Chicago by a stock analyst for William Blair & Co., some sizes and varieties of Starbucks were less expensive than Dunkin’ Donuts coffee when adjusted for size differences.” (Source: WSJ Online) 

Which raises so many questions, such as; “Why is Starbucks comparing themselves to Dunkin’ Donuts?” But, that is another topic. The truth of the matter is that this will be an extremely complicated reverse branding effort, and possibly a brand-killing error. Rather than defending the hard-won Starbucks brand position and capitalizing on the “brand experience” embodied by Starbucks, they have decided to attack positions firmly held by competitors, namely Dunkin’ Donuts and McDonalds. 

If you ever saw the movie Mr. Mom starring Michael Keaton, you may remember the scene where Keaton’s movie wife, Teri Garr, is in an ad agency meeting with their top client, a canned tuna account. The meeting, oddly enough, was to determine the best strategy to use for a premium brand during a recession. Teri Garr’s brilliant strategy was to maintain positioning while throwing consumers an incentive. The end result: A campaign that did not compromise the brand and offered lower prices during ”these trying times.” In essence: “Still the best tuna best available, we understand our consumer’s problems and therfore are lowering our prices.” Sounds like a winner to me.