Is Marketing...
Out of context: Reply #29
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- vaxorcist0
OK.... a slightly different view.....a random rant....
I've worked in shops that called themselves "advertising agencies" and other places that called themselves "marketing communications" ....
supposedly, advertising agencies whole aim is to enhance the brand's image, so that you do NOT have to do as much "marketing promotion" and/or as many discounts, etc.... An account planner at this agency once said something like "advertising is like building up your brand by going to the gym, marketing promotion is like your brand taking heroin, it feels great, is addictive, and will eventually kill your brand if done too much"..
.... i.e. if you do great brand advertising, you're like Apple, if you are constantly doing sales and discounts, you're like e-Machines.... there's no love lost between advertising agencies and "marketing promotion" agencies....
BUT, the Marketing Promotion agency people thought "brand advertising" was a total waste of money, where you had NO IDEA if it's working or not.... they had what they thought were solid numbers, and from an ROI standpoint, they usually had a great story...
The general feeling there was that brand advertising was often the refuge of art school weirdos (like me) who just somehow managed to convince clients to pay for their art school fun....
BUT I did learn a HELL of a lot from the marketing promotion agency when it came to A/B testing and such... we'd do various versions of something, test them, learn what got a response and what didn't.... it's a new way of thinking about your design process and I do think more people should do this.... it does NOT always lead to ugly shit making money,as I was fearing.....lots of "make everything bold" moments from hell didn't happen....
Ironically, the client side people were "in the marketing dept" even if they hired a "brand advertising" agency, or a "marketing promotion" agency... and I think many of them had to report faster results than a brand advertising approach would allow...
That said, the idea that "brand" is everything about the company that the customer comes in contact with is a good metric.. and if it's all designed well, all experienced well, including the hold music on the phone, the fine print on the business card, etc... that's a good thing.... and should be an "experienced design" not just "anything"
I do think that target market should be a huge determination of which approach you take....
are you the BMW of your industry? The Hyundai?
I've seen BMW ads in the newspaper offering Leasing Discounts...
And... the Kia and Hyundai brands are looking WAAY better these days, are they always offering discounts? Not anymore! Is their Design improving? Yes...Are they doing Brand Advertising??? Yes....
does their brand advertising look like crazy art school shit? yes! hmmmm....