Friday July 18th 2008

Advertising that features the brand's consumers experiencing/using/enjoying the brand, invariably sells a lot more stuff than explanatory/benefits listing/product based/impersonal etc. propositions.

It took a long time for me to reach this conclusion. In fact it's taken many years of econometric studies across a wide range of product categories, working for a wide range of marketers spanning many categories and brands, and collecting loads of published material, before I stumbled into this outcome.

Most marketing effectiveness work embraces evaluations of traditional and well established inputs and outputs.

• On the input side my examinations usually embrace classic variables such as advertising weight, pricing & promotions, ad.A versus ad.B, variations in distribution, regions, temperature, competitive activity, in store location & visibility, media choice and so forth.
• On the output side, my examinations usually embrace gross & net margins, penetration, frequency of use, shopper type, volume, and so forth

Frustration with the sometimes less than hoped for success with these approaches, led me to re-examine the collected data in horizontal tranches (i.e  checking across the sum of many diverse clients activity) and not just the vertical tranche (i.e. within that client's activity over time) and then to benchmark performance on other measures.

An unambiguous conclusion emerged. Those marketing programmes that actively feature consumers experiencing the brand, consistently perform better against whatever output criteria were required

Families eating food, individuals talking about the use of the brand, dining in a fast food outlet, dialogue between seller & buyer, people buying the product, etc., are essential ingredients that make advertising shift more goods. Ads that feature the brand or product not being used, involving technical descriptions & manufacturer claims of excellence in the absence of users using, etc., just don't shift as many goods. The abstract devoid of humanity ads perform the least well.

The ad effectiveness ratio averages 3:1, in favour of ads with consumers experiencing the brand.

This presentation of reality, demonstrating not illustrating makes it easy for the transient audience to identify and get the message - despite the inherent casting difficulties that this route imposes.

(I was asked recently if this focus on consumers using & experiencing the brand would apply equally to cartoon and second world ad. characters. My honest reply was "I don't know" for I don't have the required volume of data. But it would be interesting to inquire.)

For a range of commentary on advertising, media & marketing issues, John Billett's personal "Blogit with Billett" is at www.johnbillett.com (& click on "Blog" on the Home Page) or go direct to http://blog.johnbillett.com.