Is there such a thing as advertising wear out?
The short answer is yes. The wear out factor was alive and well in the recent elections campaign in T&T when both parties appeared to have a bottomless bag of money with which to torment us 24/7. We all have opinions on what causes wear out. For me, an ad wears out super fast (think instantly), if the message does not match the positioning. Like wanting your brand to be premium yet having a cheesy message. So here’s what the folks at University of Alberta found out about advertising wear out in their Mediacom What Works Study Series. After each of their findings I give some local examples.
- Studies have shown the length of time a campaign remains effective is not necessarily the result of too much frequency but rather the creative treatment. While intriguing executions gain the most attention in the short term, if the solution is too difficult to grasp or too obvious, the “life” of the execution may be much shorter. (Why did he stop walking? Because he prefers Rum. Am I the only one who thinks this is too obvious a claim? Especially for a brand seeking to unseat a premium player.)
- Product or Product Category: Some product groups are more sensitive to consumer apathy than others. (Talking about sensitive, does that Sensodyne ad run too often? I think so. Sensodyne is a niche product and it advertises more than those in the mainstream. Does that make me feel that Sensodyne is a special product when it’s more prevalent than ordinary toothpaste?)
- Target Audience: The composition of the target audience has a bearing on the duration of an ad’s usefulness. An ad aimed mainly at adults might have a quick wear out factor among teenagers. (Is the downside here that they become adults one day and hate the brand permanently?)
- Number of Creative Executions: Multiple executions of the strategy and relatively short posting times can be used to prolong the ad’s “life.” (Digicel with Lady Gaga, James brown and the rest of the cast. i think they are walloping B-mobile with that series in terms of connectivity with the telecoms target)
- Timing and Flighting of Campaign: Mediacom’s What Works study has shown that Outdoor can sustain awareness even after the campaign has ended. Up to six weeks after the campaign has ended there is no significant drop in awareness. (This must assume that the message is relevant and interesting, a crappy message will always be crappy. Outdoor in T&T is generally the newspaper ad re-sized to the billboard space. Wrong! The medium is completely different and should be approached differently. Same positioning, different creative.)
- Competition: Competition pressures can affect an ad’s longevity. Where there is little differentiation in the creative style of two competing products, strong media pressure can result in category overkill and accelerate decay of both ads. (when I was at Stag, one of the things we NEVER EVER did was whatever Carib was famous for)
- Media Weight Levels: The weight level plays a major role in determining the rate at which consumers tire of a specific execution. Campaigns with heavy weight levels can extend awareness by using multiple executions. (we have seen this from Diana’s Nicki series, Digicel, B-Mobile, Angostura, People’s Partnership and PNM in the recent past)
