Advertising in the Changing Era

Nobody counts the number of ads you run; they just remember the impression you make ~ Bill Bernbach

The real awards are presented in our minds, not on stage. Each moment that we connect with our individual selves, for each and every one of us, we give an award when someone inspired us for that next step. For every momentary moment we commemorate due to the impact and value it added. We remember the movies that touched us and not the number of accolades it received. We remember our loyal sports team and not its awards. All in all our memory helps us connect and bond with one and all. This human notion applies for the brand world as well. Now more than ever, brands are conscious about their choices and its impact on their image. The beliefs of a brand play a fundamental role for its success and consumer acceptance. 

The augmentation of social media has changed the one-on-one communication to one-to-million communication. The nature and characteristics of brand communiqué is evolving and trying to keep up with the changing consumer and technology. The mean, medium and mode is changing. The consumers are now in charge, pulling the information they want rather than having it pushed on to them. Hence, the approach for reaching out to consumers is getting diverted from selling to educating. If your company has a quality offering and adds value then it’s just a matter of time and correct marketing that the offering will be noticed. This is an emerging tactic adopted by multiple brands, Subway fast food chains being one among many.

Advertising is about creating the emotional relationship with the brand while educating them about your offerings. Consumers today are smart and self decision makers. Hence, Subway merely attempts to meet their requirements and educate them of their offerings that match the consumer needs. It is less discount talk and more fun food talk and information. These are a few instances when social media platforms such as Facebook and Snapchat were used wisely for paid advertising. These ads proved to be beneficial and informative. Facebook ads facilitated an affordable targeted approach that reached a wider audience and ROI was easy to calculate. The Snapchat filters are a particularly easy and cheap resource to utilise. They have a wide spread of atleast 20,000 feet. The cost of a Snapchat filter starts from approximately $35 and goes upto approximately $170 subject to the hours it is bought for.

   The paid advertising plays well for the quick-service restaurant brand because they have complete control with regards to the content that is created. They get the opportunity to test new keys words and track immediate results and clicks. It is very highly targeted and hence the resources are invested in the correct direction. Subway also elegantly promotes its brand through the Subway Surf Series by creating a Snapchat geofilter to extend on its 2017 sponsorship of junior surfing tour. The Subway Surf Series is an internationally recognised surfing event, aiming to propel Australia’s leading junior surfers into successful careers.

The goal of progress has been toward making our lives easier from the invention of the wheel to the delivery of food on the wheels, we have come a long way. Advertising in the modern era helps to connect the dots and provide insightful insights. An article by the Harvard Business Review discusses how one agency got innovative in order to win the Harley-Davidson account. The agency drafted a creative brief and posted it to a crowd of 7,000 creative’s. Similarly, brands need to be fearless in the face of this change and evolution.

I’d rather apologize than to be so timid as to never try and do anything smart or brave ~ Lee Clow