I
I
Understanding
why a brand
response advertising
strategy combines
image with the
strengths of direct
response advertising
BY PETER B. ARONOW
Well everything’s changed. Just a few
months ago, advertising rates were
steady or rising and inventory was
down. That was leading many mar
keters to conclude that since there was
very little cheap TV time left on which
to air traditional DRTV ads and with
little chance that high inventories and
low prices would be coming back any
time soon, if ever, they needed to make
messages more effective and efficient.
In that reality, some products never
made it to TM others failed and many
veteran direct marketers’ long predict
ed end of DRTV seemed to be upon us.
However, now for many in the
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industry this duck-and-cover period is
over. Yes, we all need to maximize mar
keting dollars, but demand has eased,
realities about the Internet replacing
traditional channels have been mitigat
ed, media availabilities are up—even in
primetime and prices are down.
This is great for direct marketers and
many general advertisers who have been
adding DRTV to their mix are reaping
the benefit. To these general advertisers,
DR media rates were low and now are
extraordinarily cheap and offer oppor
tunities they could not have imagined.
Using DR has positioned them well for
the current market and will serve them
I
well when things return to normal.
So now what? In this climate of low
media rates and broad availability,
should direct marketers pay attention
to branding? And, how can general
advertisers best use DRTV?
The answer is to embrace brand
response advertising that highlights
brand benefits more prominently in
direct response advertisements. With
brand response advertising, tradi
tional direct marketers can expand
their reach and profitability, and tra
ditional advertisers can benefit from
direct opportunities while supporting
and building their brands.
WHAT IS IT?
Brand response advertising relies on
the power of well articulated brand
benefits to drive consumer sales.
Quite literally, brand response com
bines the benefits driven strengths of
brand advertising with the accounta
bility of direct response. Brand
response advertising builds sales, gen
erates leads and increases traffic to a
web or retail site. It also leverages the
communications to build brands.
Brand response began appearing
when general media rates were high
and availability was low. General
advertisers used it to take advantage
of lower rates with creative only mar
ginally nodding to DR.
But direct marketers were realizing
that they could highlight brand bene
fits more prominently in traditional
direct response advertisements,
which helped them online and at
retail. This helped improve margins
and offset increased media spending.
In California, ARCO produced a
series of TV advertisements for
“SmogPros,” its emissions testing
service. There was no price men
tioned. No deadline. No special offer.
The entire campaign was based on a
believable brand benefit
all for an
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37
•I•
I
al
BRAND RESPONSE
GUIDELINES: IS IT RIGHT
FOR YOUR BRAND?
appointment, and we guarantee the
check will be completed within 30
minutes. The campaign was a mon
ster success and demonstrates the
power of brand response.
Wait a minute. Direct response
advertisements without classic come
ons like “but wait, there’s more,” “for a
limited time only” or “never again at
this great low price”? That’s correct.
Any product with a believable, corn
pelling brand benefit is a perfect can
didate for a brand response based
campaign. So are traditional hard sell
direct response spots, where a little
branding will help at retail and online.
The dual emphasis of brand response
means that brand response will not
be the right choice for every client or
product. To evaluate a product’s
potential for brand response, use
these guidelines:
Because the benefit message is such a
prominent component of brand response, it
may take longer for a brand response
campaign to work up a full head of steam,
compared to a value-driven direct
response campaign.
WHAT’S THE DIFFERENCE?
There are several important differences
between traditional direct response,
brand building campaigns, and brand
response advertising (see chart below).
Brand response is “maxi advertis
ing” advertising that accomplishes
two goals simultaneously.
Your product’s benefit must be
believable. Your brand benefits do
not necessarily need to be unique
to the product or category. For
example, the car doesn’t have to be
Direct Response
Brand Adv rtising
Brand Response
Concerned wholly with
the consumer’s
response—thetall to
action”—that makes the
phone ring or web regis
ter a sale as soon as the
advertisement airs or
appears in print or online.
A value message, not a
brand message.The cus
tomer doesn’t buy a
brand benefit—he or
she buys value.”But wait,
there’s more...”
Sales-builder.
Doesn’t ask for an order.
800 numbers rarely
appear on screen.
Measurements are sub
jective or measured in
general terms— impres
sions—not sales.
Seeks an immediate
response based on a
compelling brand bene
fit. Looking for an inquiry,
sale or an opportunity to
present the brand mes
sage. Develops qualified
database.
Benefit driven. How will
this help me? Who are:
these people? Should I
trust them?
Direct market driven.
Image driven.
Low production values.
Pragmatic, inexpensive
creative. Response
driven.
High production values.
Original creative, often
dramatic, but not
focused on sales. Image
driven.
Frequently, there’s no
relationship to branding.
DR functions independ
ently of other advertising.
The branding position
that is supposed to lead
all marketing efforts.
38
the fastest, shiniest or biggest. You
don’t need to own the superlative
to establish a brand benefit. But it
needs to be believable!
Benefits are paramount in a brand
response advertisement. There still
is room to use traditional DR tech
niques “two free cases of bottled
water” or “buy one, get one free”
Image driven.The mes
sage is brand awareness.
Loyalty-builder.
Sales- and Loyaltybuilder.
Direct market and Image
driven.
Medium to high produc
tion values, Creative that
is integrated fully with
both the sales and
branding message.
Response still matters.
Maxi-marketing.
Achieving results in all
channels.
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in a brand response advertisement.
The key is that these more tradi
tional techniques remain secondary
to the positioning of the brand ben
efits. For example, the brand benefit
for Sparklett’s is great tasting water
with dependable home delivery.
That’s what people are buying, even
though the campaign still invokes
the industry-standard “two free
bottles when you call” offer.
The brand response sales environ
ment generally will be a direct
response environment. These usu
ally aren’t products you’d expect to
find at the grocery store or elec
tronics superstore. AOL is a great
example. You don’t even expect to
see AOL at retail. You expect to get
it through direct response. Dell and
Gateway in fact, the whole com
puter industry are perfect candi
dates for brand response advertis
ing. However, brand response need
not exist exclusively in a DR sales
environment. Sometimes, the retail
sales are equally (or more!) impor
tant as driving DR sales. You need a
very powerful branding message to
accomplish this (take Proactiv
Solution as an example). To be
effective, you also need to coordi
nate different sales channels so that
I•
at
they work together.
You are willing to spend at brandbuilding levels. A brand response
campaign does cost more than a
direct response campaign, which tra
ditionally is done for the least amount
of money possible. Brand response
production costs can be comparable
to those of a typical image campaign,
while media rates are a mix.
You believe in the power of brand
ing on TV. You’ll need to use TV as
the driving force of your campaign.
That takes commitment and
money. Print-oriented campaigns,
as an example, rarely generate any
thing resembling the level of aware
ness you get from TV.
It takes time. Because the benefit
message is such a prominent compo
nent of brand response, it may take
longer for a brand response cam
paign to work up a hill head of
DID
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Brand response is clearly not for everybody,
or every product. If you don’t have a viable
product, or if the product doesn’t have a
clear and compelling brand benefit—and
let’s face it, there are many products that are
useful, but not particularly compelling
brand candidates—then brand response is
not an approach you should embrace.
steam, compared to a value-driven
direct response campaign. Also,
because this approach creates a more
memorable impression on the con
sumer, brand response advertise
ments can be more complex to eva!
uate. Brand response can generate
tremendous synergies between print,
the web, radio, FSIs and direct mail.
KNOW THAT..
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TIME WILL TELL
Brand response TV is clearly not for
everybody, or every product. !f you
don’t have a viable product, or if the
product doesn’t have a clear and com
pelling brand benefit and let’s face
it, there are many products that are
useful, but not particularly com
pelling brand candidates then
brand response is not an approach
you should embrace. Or, if you are
selling a low priced, single shot prod
uct and just want sales, are not inter
ested in building a brand or selling
line extensions and only have the
margins to make traditional DRTV
work, then you know what to do.
Will brand response TV become the
de facto direct response standard?
Things were certainly headed in that
direction, but then the financial crisis
hit and turned everything upside
down. Now it appears it will have an
ever increasing role because marketers
need to use all the tools available to
maximize response and return.
Peter B. Aronow is with PBandJ
Partners in East Hampton, N.Y The
company specializes in advenising mar
keting and production. Aronow can be
reached at (631 329 9912, or via e mail
at peter@pbandjpanners.com.
P~ ?$44S24361 Fw 7U4U44U
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For example, if someone finds your
Yellow Pages ad and calls, but they
saw your brand response TV adver
tisement the night before.. .who gets
the credit for the sale?
I Api) 2009
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