Wednesday July 23rd 2006

The evidence proves conclusively that whilst consumer response to long standing effective marketing campaigns may continue & remain high, company brand management consistently ditch these campaigns too soon, only because the company, not the consumer, has fallen out of love and just wants a change.

A common theme running through our marketing effectiveness work, is that first, company management changes, followed a close second by mergers & acquisitions are together a far more potent force for effecting marketing change than is ever created by a reduction in consumer response that demonstrates the current campaign has "run out of steam", has lost consumer impact and hence demands a new marketing approach.

From our own data base we have tracked many tragic instances where an effective marketing campaign has been terminated by an over zealous marketing team, eager to prove that what went before was out of date, only to be replaced with an anonymous forgettable marketing approach that failed to elicit even the same, let alone enhanced response.

• THAT'S THE WONDER OF WOOLIES
• YOU KNOW WHEN YOU'VE BEEN TANGOED
• R WHITES; I'M A SECRET LEMONADE DRINKER
• TOBLERONE; TRIANGULAR CHOCOLATE FROM TRIANGULAR TREES & TRIANGULAR HONEY FROM TRIANGULAR BEES
• TAKE A BREAK, TAKE A KIT-KAT
• THE CAR IN FRONT IS A TOYOTA
• STELLA ARTOIS; REASSURINGLY EXPENSIVE (The earlier "#8 of 25 Things.." features Stella's self inflicted brand challenges)

The litany is a lot longer than just this short list. Readers will have their own list of prematurely abandoned, highly successful marketing campaigns.

My plea to brand management and their marketing suppliers is look closely at what is the consumer response. Consider a re-presentation of the familiar to refresh and update effective marketing campaigns, long before you abandon something of which you may have "had enough" but to which your consumer is still responding positively.

This column presents tangible evidence and does not indulge in either hypothesis or conjecture. But we read with interest the decision by Orange to drop their long-standing "The future's bright, the future's Orange" marketing proposition and replace it with "I am who I am because of everyone". Who we inquire believes the future is no longer bright with Orange? Is it the consumer or the brand management. It won't be too long before we can find out.

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.