Making brands saleable with a lasting impression

By Nigel Hollis

In the WPP Annual Report, Jeremy Bullmore suggests that while some advertising works by encouraging an immediate sale most advertising works to make a brand more saleable. It is a hugely important distinction. Making a brand more saleable improves the efficacy of all aspects of the marketing mix but to do so the advertising must make a lasting impression.

Bullmore’s article is titled ‘Just Because You Can Doesn’t Mean You Should’. I will leave you to read the piece for yourself but the essential takeaway is that people shy away from pushy brands – the ones that claim to know you and what you want – and that instead a successful marketer

“imbues a brand with characteristics and character that are most likely to attract the attention of its clearly defined target audience – and then invites that audience to make that final, all-important connection themselves.”

If that is the case – and I think it is for most brands – then the important thing is how you imbue a brand with those all-important characteristics and character that will predispose people to buy it. Which brings us to a new report by Kantar Millward Brown titled, ‘Make a Lasting Impression’. Only if advertising can make a lasting impression will it have any chance of influencing people’s choices in the way Bullmore suggests.

Our report highlights an important dichotomy that exists in the world of marketing today. On one hand, everyone acknowledges the power of emotion to motivate people, but on the other hand marketers seem incapable of giving up rational arguments and justifications in favor of allowing people to make that final, all important connection for themselves. An assessment of advertising styles across TV, pre-roll and social media conducted in 14 countries found that the vast majority of ads relied on explicit messaging rather than leaving people to form their own impressions of a brand.

Why is this an issue? Because as Bullmore suggests, people have an instinctive negative reaction to being ‘sold’. Moreover, people rarely remember specific claims or messages unless delivered on a repeated basis, even if they do accept them at face value. Far better then, to work with people’s brains rather than against them; to help people feel not think, to show not tell. As the report states,

“Kantar Millward Brown’s database shows that, when compared with ads that focus on a key message, ads with creative impact, driven by branded, emotional engagement, have a much clearer relationship with in-market sales effects. Failing to get the key message across in ads is associated with a lower likelihood of a sales response – but this is dwarfed in comparison to the problems caused by failing to engage viewers.”

Our report offers five key areas for developing strong creative that will make a lasting impression and make a brand more saleable. Please have a look but meanwhile please share your thoughts here.

 

 

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