Marketing
Issue No. 30 - August/September 2006
Ads: great expectations
Marketing Week 2006
Clemenger Proximity CEO Andy Pontin has seen — and made — a lot of advertising. He contends that people expect too much of advertising, throwing time, resources and creativity at a problem that might not be solvable that way.
“While it is true that every ad should solve a business problem, not every business problem is solved by an ad,” Andy says. “Or in other words, if all you’ve got is a hammer — a 30-second TV spot — then everything looks like a nail — a TV brief.
“But what if the business problem is rooted in the sales team? What if the ads are working, people are calling, but you can’t convert?
“More ads aren’t going to help — in fact they’ll make matters worse. You need to re-engineer the sales process and re-invigorate your sales team with an internal promotion.
“Often both clients and agencies default to traditional advertising solutions because they’re simply easier to execute and less politically charged.
“However, often the solution isn’t an ad; it could be an overhaul of the product, a change to the distribution strategy or a change to pricing.”
Andy offers a systematic procedure to follow to determine the best approach to a marketing problem.
First, ask yourself a brutally honest question: is the problem one of consumer motivation or is it internal — uncompetitive product proposition, poor service, poor quality?
If it’s the former, then ask your...
