In The Nooks And Crannies Of The City

Friday, July 24, 2009

CUTTING ADVERTISING WILL ALSO CUT SALES GROWTH

by Roger Pe

You wouldn’t want that.

While everyone seems to be cowering in fear because of recession, this chocolate brand defied gravitational pull of business pessimism – prompting Ad Age to headline last week: “Boost in Ad Spending Pays Off for America’s Chocolate Favorite.”

And they have figures to show: a 4th quarter income and yearly earnings up by 51% to 82 million dollars.

According to Ad Age, the company ended 2008 with a “reasonable momentum,” attributing this to “increased advertising, consumers trading down from premium chocolate and price increases.”

Should one advertise during a recession? Of course, yes. The more you retreat, the more sales will recede. The more you cut back, the more competition will attack.
As they say, “when the going gets tough, the tough doesn’t skimp on ad budgets.”

From the experts, here are 3 nuggets of wisdom to ponder:

“The first reaction is to cut, cut, cut, and advertising is one of the first things to go. As companies slash advertising in a downturn, they leave empty space in consumers’ minds for more aggressive marketers to make strong inroads.” – Peter Fader, Wharton University, Marketing Professor

“A great deal of evidence suggests that it is not a good idea to reduce marketing spend during recession in order to hit financial targets. Doing so may leave your brand in a less competitive position when the economy recovers.” -Nigel Hollis, Chief Global Analyst of Millward Brown, one of the world’s leading research agencies.

“If someone tells you they are cutting back their ad budget because of a recession, ask why they advertise in the first place. Business history books are full of examples of companies that maintained or increased their ad budgets during recessions and found that at recession’s end they had leap-frogged their competitors by wide margins.” – Josh Gordon, author “Motivating Consumers in the New Economy.”

A similar case study happened to a well-known beverage brand in the Philippines. All it takes is to look at its media-spending pattern. Look where it is now.

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Thursday, July 16, 2009

WHAT IMPACT DOES A 'RECYCLED' AD LEAVE YOU?

By Roger Pe

The movie “The Postman Always Rings Twice” was remade not twice, but four times. Which brings us to ask: which one of the four did you like better and which one gave you much impact - the one that starred Jack Nicholson and Jessica Lange, or the 1946 film noir version?

For those who’ve seen the original and succeeding remakes, Cherie Gil would probably essay: “You’re nothing but a second rate, trying hard copycat!” again. For those who’ve seen all four, the inevitable will happen. All will be pitted against each other and people will always notice the enhancements given to the original story. For those who missed the first three, ‘ownership’ will always go to, who else?

Whatever it is, people will always choose the original. The impact it created when it made the first splash will always resonate for a long time.

What is a Remake? Wikipedia defines it as a material, which uses an earlier material as the main source of the subject. It is different from Re-interpretation, as most Batman and Darna movies are done. Which takes us to the next question: Is a Remake a tribute to the original? Or producers are just running out of materials and want to capitalize on the success of the original?

It is interesting what Google says about famous Remakes. Get ready for some measures of tongue-lashings:

“Artistically and economically, Hollywood hasn’t learned that remaking classics for tv or theatrical release is dumb and never works. Not at the box office, nor does it enhance the reputation of actors and directors in comparison with the legendary cast of the originals.”

Google mentions “High Noon”, “Gone With The Wind II”, “Sabrina”, “The Thomas Crown Affair,” “The Wiz” among others. The latter was even called “the bomb of all bombs” and the site throws another dose of acid: “Too many remakes are done by half-baked hustlers trying to cash in on monumental successes of the past with pale imitations.”

“For some sentimental, and maybe even more substantial reasons, people always tend to like the original. Remakes always suffer the same fate - being compared to their predecessors and tend to evolve their own genre – the Mother of Duds. Either they languish in whimperville, hit the ground with a loud thud or miraculously redound back to life,” a colleague says.

But we all know that such is not the case when it comes to exceptional prequels or sequels. Harry Potter, Transformers and Ice Age movies have recently burned the cash registers and emitted tons of money.

But what about tv commercials?

As in movies, comparison will always be on hand: Did the Remake measure up? On BusinessWeek, David Kiley, wrote: “I like it when an advertiser tries an update of an old idea provided the idea and execution is good. Consider what BMW has done for Mini. I even like the creepy-looking “Burger King” which has turned up in BK ads this year. But Coke’s remake of its classic 1971 ad “Hilltop”, a.k.a. “I’d Like To Teach The World To Sing,” redone as “Chilltop” for Coke Zero, left me cold.”

In the commercial, the guy leading the song raps into the original song from 1971, and instead of a hilltop, it all takes place on a Philadelphia rooftop.

Riley continues to rant: “The thing looks like some exercise in hipness as conceived by some older middle-aged ad and Coke execs. I got a whiff of the ads Buick tried to pull off a few years ago behind the tagline, “It’s All Good.” The people in the ads look like they are putting on a glee-club concert instead of the edgy ad it should be.”

Remakes: Are they homage, plain recycling or interesting? You decide.