While the amount of advertising in traditional media has gone down in the past couple years, it’s still amazing to see so many ads that appear regularly that don’t seem to have any reason for being other than to fulfill a long-term media contract.
Some of the circulars that run every week—and sometimes twice a week—have about as much subpoena for the customer to read and then shop as the legal notices that still appear in the classified section. The customers have to be bored and I suspect that the advertising staffs at many retailers are bored as well.
This is especially true for the ROP ads that continue to be placed by major department store chains. The ads fill space, but certainly don’t provide any reason to chose one store over another. The item selection isn’t much more interesting and the prices are ho-hum. So why do they run these ads anyway? Sometimes I wonder if anybody at corporate is paying attention!
Case in point is the now famous ad that Macy’s ran in the Miami market the day after the sixth game of the NBA championship series between the Heat and the Dallas Mavericks. The ad congratulated the Miami Heat on their championship and featured team products on sale to celebrate. Only problem was that Dallas won not only that game but the championship. Even if the Heat had won that Sunday’s game, they would still have had to play one more game to decide the championship. Knowing the power of the press, I became skeptical that maybe that was the plan all along and that the media event that ensued might have been exactly what Macy’s wanted. I never checked to see if they ran one in Dallas/Ft. Worth as well. Overall though, it’s just another case of advertising that does nothing to enhance the brand and build a relationship with the customer.
Many of the ads that appear every week—week after week—seem to have as much marketing thought behind them as the signage on some of the windows of the stores. Knowing the cost of these ads, can you image what could be done if they created messages that inspired the customers to like the store and differentiate it from their competitors. Retailers complain about the economy and tight budgets, but then there are wasted media dollars that do nothing but satisfy a contract or fill an already boring ad calendar.
It’s time to start watching our ads and making sure that there is a reason for being in every message. And that reason can’t just be to clear out sports memorabilia for a team that was as inspired as the advertising for the store.
COMING SOON: Robyn Winters and I have just completed a book on branding with a revolutionary point of view. Brain Branding, Activate the Brain—Stimulate Your Brand is in its final edit and will be available on Amazon and your Kindle very soon. Watch this blog for a special introductory offer!!
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