Persuasive Advertising - J. Scott Armstrong [156]
Campaign consistency can also reduce costs. Soundtrack elements from TV commercials can be used for radio. TV commercials and print ads can be adapted to the Internet. Shorter versions of ads, referred to as “advertising fragments,” can be used to remind people of previous claims. Fragments allow for ads to be delivered in fast-exposure media, in situations in which the target market is distracted, such as at sporting events, and on the Internet as in banner ads.
Evidence on the effects of consistency across a campaign
Color, such as for packaging or advertising, should be consistent with the sound of the brand name. Five papers (dating from 1913 through 1997) showed, for example, that people associate lighter colors with high-frequency sounds. In addition, these elements should be consistent with the shape and color of the logo (Klink 2003).
8.2.2. Keep the advertising consistent across time
Given identical products, identical budgets and identical sales forces, I will let you have a
brilliant campaign every six months, provided you change it every six months—and I’ll take
a less than brilliant campaign and beat your tail off with it because I’ll run it ten years.
Rosser Reeves, 1950s
In August 2009, IKEA made a small change in the font for its 200 million catalogues. Or so the company thought. It changed from its traditional customized version of Futura, a font that it had used for half a century, to Verdana. Customers rose up and vented their anger on the Internet.1
Organizations make substantial investments to inform the target market what they stand for. If they have managed to develop a good relationship with the market, it is risky to change. Hopkins (1923) said, “In successful advertising, great pains are taken to never change our tone. That which won so many people is probably the best way to win others … people come to know us.”
Many advertisers have used this principle. Henry Roleigh, a well-known artist, did Maxwell House Coffee ads for 40 years. Watkins (1959) notes that B. F. Goodrich ran the “First in rubber” campaign successfully for 15 years with the same layout, same typeface, and same kind of copy. Campbell Soup, Ivory Soap, Esso, Pillsbury, and Guinness Stout have had consistent campaigns over time. Bakers Complete dog food, a U.K. product, has used the same campaign since 1994, and won an IPA award for its effectiveness (Binet 2006).
Advertising managers and agencies come and go. When they are new to an assignment, they often feel pressure to change basic elements of the advertising program. I agree with the leading advertising experts who advise that firms should only change course when the evidence is overwhelmingly in favor of such a change. For example, consider changing the identity and tone when people do not like the brand or where the brand has been associated with unsavory behavior.
In particular, when sales are lagging, management often believes that it must do “something,” and that something often involves changing its advertising. For example, in the late 1990s, Whiskas cat food experienced a downturn in its U.K. sales. To address this, the company made frequent major changes in its campaigns throughout the late 1990s and early 2000s, such as using dancing animated mice, advertising a charity appeal for cats who are fed canned food, and showing a purring cat in a family home. The changes did not halt the slide in sales. In contrast, during that period, Felix used a consistent campaign based on Felix, a scruffy black-and-white animated cat whose antics, according to market researchers, reminded people of their own cats. Felix had a crisis when sales dipped in 2001. However, management fought off the temptation to change the campaign. Felix continued to gain sales, and by 2005, it was the largest selling cat food in the United Kingdom. The Felix campaign, lauded for its consistency, was an IPA award winner for its effectiveness (Green 2007).
In another example of a lack of consistency, Oxo,