Nostalgia Marketing: Did We Just Kill Advertising?

If you thought the nostalgia marketing bubble was due to burst any time now, keep thinking. Reputable ad firms are producing more “remember this” campaigns than ever, leading some to wonder whether this is now a permanent part of advertising.

Recently, AutoTrader.com launched a series of ads featuring the original Dukes of Hazard stars--not the actors who played those characters in the big budget reboot from a few years back. AutoTrader’s campaign is fun and memorable, and plays off themes Dukes fans will love, but you have to wonder: Have we broken the industry?

Hollywood Syndrome

When was the last time a major film studio backed an exciting new franchise? Godzilla, Star Trek, Josie and her Pussycats…you’ve seen it all before. And it’s not just the pulp! Studio execs haven’t met a Shakespeare or Jane Austen rewrite or spin-off they couldn't throw a huge budget and a pile of A-listers at.

Be honest: Every time you see a new trailer for an upcoming I dream of Jeannie or Voltron reboot, you worry nothing new will ever be funded. Hollywood has dusted off and propped up all the good ol’ days favorites, and we all know it’s just plain laziness.

If we all agree this strategy is sub-par, why are we marketers relying on lazy appeals to the characters and products we outgrew decades ago?  

Nostalgia Sells

The short answer is nostalgia has worked pretty well for many brands. Sure, there are some disaster stories, like Nintendo’s downward spiral, propelled by appeals to people who love characters created 20 years ago.

For the most part, though, we love seeing our old favorites re-imagined and sporting the latest brands. Blame it on whatever suits you:

• Wistful longing for better days
• Regret over the loss of our 9/11 or pre American Idol innocence
• Acceptance of  the fact Hannah-Barbera is relevant in any context

As long as our audience keeps rewarding our efforts to associate everything new with anything old, there seems to be no reason for the marketing industry to move on from lazy, cloying sentiment. We've become reliable machines, chugging along and doing the same things we've done for 20 years. 

Remember Creativity?

It’s a sign of the times that even consumers are nostalgic for the marketers of old. Remember when an ad manager would have responded to your pitch with: 

“Dukes of Hazard? That’s been done twice already, show me something fresh!” Then he would have lit up a Marlboro, backhanded you in front of your peers and tossed back a fifth of gin.

Is it time to give creativity a second chance? If you’re afraid you’ve forgotten how to think outside the Nick at Night box, here are some exercises to jumpstart your marketing General Lee:

• Read a book

Shaking up your mental imagery can kick-start your brainstorming. Some of the most original imagery and ideas are being published in literary fiction and graphic novels. Take a break from your favorite marketing blogs and HBO movies for a few nights and earn some paper cuts.

• Resurrect the classics

Read up on marketing strategies people used prior to the television age to rediscover what used to get attention and influence people, and how to apply that to your audience. If you’re stuck in a reinvention rut, you can at least reinvent the classics.

• Remember why you outgrew all that stuff you outgrew

Change the way you think about the things consumers are supposed to feel sentimental toward. You stopped watching Two and a Half Men and ThunderCats for very good reasons, and so did your audience. Just because it used to be popular doesn't mean you need to subject the next generation to it.

What we do isn't rocket science, it’s persuasion. Shouldn't we have more in our toolbox than The Jetsons and Apollo 13?

Betting Big on Celebrity Endorsements

Why do Marketers go for Celebrity endorsements? The reasons could be many; the highest recall among consumers, immediate positive impact on sales, new brand launches and re-introductions etc.

As a few experts put it, the reason could also be one of pure pressure from the top management to deliver on the brand and see immediate results. The pressure is definitely not unreasonable, as in today’s competitive scenario, the number of touch points that a consumer is exposed to, is showing a manifold increase. Hence, after years of meticulous R&D on a particular product, there is a rush on the Marketing side of the new brand.

The valid question that needs to be raised is the rationale or science behind each celebrity endorsement, from the marketer’s angle. From the celebrity’s angle, the rationale is purely one of personal choice or value of contract.

Breaking the clutter within multiple touch points, warrants the Marketer to come up with innovative attributes that will latch onto the consumer’s mind. Unfortunately, this is definitely not possible each and every time, with multiple people handling multiple brands in an organization. FMCG biggies in India have all implemented excellent clutter-breaking media from time to time. But everyone’s had their share of naïve moments.

The prospect of bringing some sense of sanity and consistency into marketing leads to celebrity endorsements. Statistics on the latest survey show that only around 30% of the consumers would consider the purchase of a brand based on a popular face. A higher percentage would associate themselves to a brand, if the celebrity is actually linked to the brand message in some way or the other.

Many pundits are now arguing about the ‘Tiger Woods’ phenomenon, ‘putting all your eggs in one basket’. Whether the associated brands have been affected or not, is debatable. Only Gatorade, would have suffered an immediate impact, due the withdrawal of an entire range of ‘Tiger’ branded drinks.

In India too, many brands solely run on the back of successful celebrities, the flip side would be a ‘Tiger’, but the positives weigh much more than the intangible probability of the brand getting hammered. Especially in light of Brand Managers changing almost every 2 years.

The only simple mantra, can be to stick to one’s ‘Brand message’ atleast for established brands, irrespective of the celebrity or non-celebrity route, Airtel is a good case in point. For new brands like Max, Karbon & MicroMax (IPL), ‘celebrity’ power could be the only way forward in a highly competitive category like Mobiles.

 This post is a consequence of the Brand Equity article on Celebrity endorsements.

Sales Promotions

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GRP and TRP

GRP (short for Gross Rating Point) is the sum of ratings achieved by a specific media vehicle or schedule. It represents the percentage of the target audience reached by an advertisement. If the advertisement appears more than once, the GRP figure represents the sum of each individual GRP. In the case of a TV advertisement that is aired 5 times reaching 50% of the target audience, it would have 250 GRP = 5 x 50% -- ie, GRPs = frequency x % reach.

A Target Rating Point (TRP) is a measure of the purchased target rating points representing an estimate of the component of the target audience within the gross audience. Similar to GRP (short for Gross Rating Point) it is measured as the sum of ratings achieved by a specific media vehicle of the target audience reached by an advertisement. For example, if an advertisement appears more than once, reaching the entire gross audience, the TRP figure represents the sum of each individual GRP multiplied by the estimated target audience in the gross audience.

In the case of a TV advertisement that is aired 5 times reaching 50% of the gross audience with only 60% in the target audience, it would have 250 GRPs (= 5 x 50%) -- ie, GRPs = reach x frequency and 150 TRPs (=250 x 60%).

Both of these metrics are critical components to determine the marketing effectiveness of a particular advertisement.

http://www.ksg.harvard.edu/case/3pt/berkovitz.html

Here is a link towards a more detiled outlook on an entire Media Plan.

More to come on these topics in detail soon..

the 5 M's of Advertising

Oglivy & Burnett Philosophies

There are two different approaches to an advertisement as can be sen from the illustration.

An ad like Reliance Mobile 'Rang Barse' ad with different people dancing in rain with various colours falls under the Burnett philosophy.

Above the Line & Below the Line

These terms may have simple definitions as will be given below, but constantly one tends to misinterpret the different forms of promotions and advertising as above-the-line or below-the-line.

In an attempt to try and solve the confusion, let us look at a few different angles.

Above the line-advertising
is allocated to television, radio, press, outdoor and cinema advertising

Below the line-advertising
promotions, direct marketing, sponsorship and public relations

Origins of the term refer back to the balance sheet – Above the Line advertising costs are part of ‘costs of sales’ and are deducted before Gross Profit is determined, non-commission baring advertising is part of the operating expenses and is deducted before Net Profit is determined.

Another way to view it is 'concept' delivery versus 'tactile' delivery.

So a concept media is one where you transmit ideas but nothing concrete ever passes to your audience - radio, tv, billboards and even most newspaper ads.

Tactile delivery is giving the audience something they can actually touch - so coupons, direct mail, product samples.

ATL tends to be visual/auditory where as BTL usually excludes auditory but includes sight, smell, touch, and even taste.

Through the line (TTL) refers to an advertising strategy involving both above and below the line communications in which one form of advertising points the target to another form of advertising thereby crossing the 'line'. An example would be a TV commercial that says 'come into the store to sample XYZ product'. In this example, the TV commercial is a form of 'above the line' advertising and once in the store, the target customer is presented with 'below the line' promotional material such as store banners, competition entry forms etc.

Go through the Wikipedia link, which offers some really good examples:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Below_the_line_(advertising)

Advertising and the Seven Sins of Memory

Imperfections in memory have obvious implications for the successful processing of advertising. Even if a positive intent is achieved through an advert, a memory malfunction can ruin it all for the marketer.

The Sin of Transience
Forgetting something that naturally occurs over time may be thought of as transience. This implies that people 'recall' from advertising is much more likely to reflect a generic description of what is expected about a brand rather than the specific benefits that are a part of the message.

encourage more elaborative encoding to help reduce transience is to relate information that target audience is interested in remembering with something they already know.

The Sin of Absent-Mindedness
Absent mindedness manifests itself both failing to remember past experiences as well as failing to remember to do something in the future.
Because on is more likely to pay partial attention rather full attention to advertising , familiarity with the advert is more likely than the specifics. Spaced exposures generally result in better memory.

The Sin of Blocking
All-too familiar experience of recognizing someone but not being able to remember their name. This is blocking. An association with the encoded information in the brain is not made. It is also what can lead to remembering of a product name but not a brand name.
Have benefits unique to a brand name to enable better association.

The Sin of Misattribution
If one correctly remembers something learned, but attributes it to the wrong source. 'unconscious transference'
Benefit must be linked to the brand- memory linking

The Sin of Suggestibility
Occurs when one tends to include information that has been learned from an outside source as something personally experienced.
This sin in the world of advertising might actually come as a blessing. Advertising that utilises questions that remind people of a favourable brand association could occasion a 'memory' for that positive experience, even if it never occurred.

The Sin of Bias
This sin reflects how currnt understandings, beliefs and feelings have the ability to distort how one interprets new experiences and the memory of them.

• Contingency and change bias
• Hindsight bias
• Egocentric bias

Include personal references in advertising and other marketing communication.

The Sin of Persistence
Emotionally charged experiences are better remembered than less emotional occasions. The sin of persistence involves remembering things you wish you would forget, and it is strongly associated with one's emotional experiences.
Emotionally-charged information automatically attracts attention, and even in the briefest exposure, the emotional memory will encode information.

Non Sales Revenue in Modern Retail

Non Sales Revenue form a good percentage of the revenue generated for Organized retailers. This concept is ever prevalent in the US where in-store advertising and the fight for best visible shelf space has been around for a while.

The non sales revenue earn upto 45% of the operating profits in the case of big retailers like Big Bazaar and even smaller ones like ITC's Choupal Saagar.

In Store:

• Shop - in - Shop
  
• Gandola advertising
• Glow Signs
• Display Signage
• Impulse bins
• Product display space

Outside Store:

• Show Window
• Store front-facia
• Kiosk

All these modes bring in money in the form of non-core activities. The leveraging power of the Retailer kicks in here.

There are certain brands which are strong enough to be placed where they want to be placed and still pay minimal if any to the Retailer.
A simple example is Cadbury's: Majority of the retailers place Cadbury coolers at impulse points and near the cashier without the company having to pay retailer for that space.








An example of a Shop-in-Shop is shown here, where Music World has set up a counter inside a bigger Retail outlet.









There is also a famous case of Allen Solly and Shoppers Stop, where the latter stopped stocking the famous former brand because of the low non-sales revenue agreement. Allen Solly wanted the best space in the store since it is perceived to be one of the best premium brands, but the premium it offered to Shoppers Stop was significantly low.

Increasing Ad Effectiveness

Magazines
Increase Readership of Your Message - Run Two Ads in the Same Issue.

Repetition is the foundation of communications.

Studies have shown that more readers see ads when they are repeated over time, but how do readers respond when an advertiser runs two different ads with the same sales message in the same issue?

Logic would say that adding a second advertisement to an issue would bring additional readers to the message.Some readers who read the first ad would pass on the second, and some who didn't read the first ad would stop and read the second. If the unduplicated readership of both ads is higher than the readership of the first ad, then the second ad brings incremental readers to the message.

In the case above, taken from two 1-page, 4-color ads running in a single issue, 46% of respondents read the first ad and 38% read the second. The unduplicated readership though, shows that 63% of respondents read at least one of the ads. Running the second ad increased readership of the message by more than onethird over the first ad.

Running two ads in an issue can help maximize readership of a sales message (Assuming the Ad is ofcourse good by itself). Utilizing this strategy is ideal for:

• New product introductions (Dove, Zero Damage)
  
• Immediate release information about product improvements or updates
• To support a sales push or promotion (Airtel)
  

Indian Context: Billboards

The Dove "Zero Damage" campaign has been running throughout India, especially in the metros. It follows a similar concept to the magazine example given above.

Marine Drive in Mumbai is filled continuously at a space of about 100-200 m with repetitive, but different Dove ads. Each communicates the same product, yet is hits the consumer again and again. Thus the cumulative unduplicated viewing percentage among consumers would be very high.