Brand marketing in a direct marketing world
Pop quiz:
What was the top 2021 Super Bowl ad according to USA Today's Ad Meter?
Heck, if you can name one of the top ten, I will give you bonus points.
The reason you can't remember the best ad or any ads from the big game, it's not the best tool.
It's not the best tool because it doesn't connect, make an impact, or leave a mark.
You see, brand marketing doesn't work in the direct marketing world.
Brand marketing is from a different age. A different business environment. A different communication era.
Brand marketing was created when John Wanamaker's statement "half the money I spend on advertising is wasted; the trouble is I don't know which half" worked because it could work.
It could work because advertisers created a mass broadcast communications environment to serve its needs.
Radio was created to sell ads.
Television was created to sell ads.
Brian Millar, a co-founder of the Emotional Intelligence Agency, writes, "traditional advertising went after 'share of mind’–the idea was to get you to associate a brand with a single idea, a single emotion. Volvo: safety. Jaguar: speed. Coke: happiness. The Economist: success. Bang, bang, bang, went the ads, hammering the same idea into your mind every time you saw one.
"Advertising briefs evolved to focus the creatives on a single unique selling position and a single message. Tell them we're the Ultimate Driving Machine. Tell them in a thrilling way. It worked when you saw ads infrequently on television, in a Sunday magazine, or on a billboard on your morning commute."
This type of advertising worked because it was a communications environment of one to many with only a handful of vehicles to reach an audience.
But that is not today.
Today we are living in a direct marketing world powered by the WWW.
Now we have micro-media and personalized broadcast communications environment which serves the needs of the end-user.
The internet was not created for ads.
The internet is not mass media.
The Emotional Intelligence Agency conducted a study to understand what kind of content works to better understand this new communications environment. The firm found communications that used funny, practical, beautiful, and inspiring content delivers the best results.
Not surprisingly, the most successful brands do all four.
Also, not surprising, these are the adjectives used by any top storyteller.
She knows they are the best words when executing micro and personalized communications.
Yet most of us communicate using only one type of emotionally compelling content - if at all - employing brand marketing techniques that are closer to the days of Mad Men than to the present day of Laundry Service.
We still communicate like once a day, or worse, just a few times a month.
Instead of using tools that follow and engage our most active supporters in their media diet.
When it comes to the WWW and the direct marketing communications environment, being multidimensional beats being single-minded.
Surprise beats consistency.
Emotion beats fact.
Funny beats dour.
Useful beats sales.
Beautiful beats boring.
Inspirational beats directional.
The best communicators have always understood this instinctively.
By the way, USA Today's Ad Meter ranked Rocket Mortgage's "Certain Is Better" with Tracy Morgan, Dave Bautista, and Liza Koshy" as the best 2021 ad.
I don't remember the ad either.
-Marc
Five to read
Malice at the Palace: How a new doc reexamines the epochal NBA brawl: A new docuseries offers a fresh perspective on the infamous 2004 melee that changed the shape of basketball as we know it.
Guardian
Banksy is on the prowl again: Several works of art by the elusive painter have emerged across coastal towns in England. Here's a look at some of the mysterious artist's works in the past.
DW
What I don't do
Dave Trott
The mascot whisperer: Dave Raymond practically invented the modern sports mascot. And over four decades, he has built a career on helping pro teams bring them to life.
NYT Mag
How to start a media company in 2021:
Step 1: TikTok
Step 2: TikTok + newsletter + podcast
Step 3: TikTok + newsletter + podcast + free community
Step 4: TikTok + newsletter + podcast + free + paid communities
Step 5: TikTok + newsletter + podcast + communities + paid products
HT @gregisenberg
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-Marc
Curation + commentary by Marc A. Ross | Founder + Chief Curator @ Brigadoon
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