The Long And The Short of It

There are two types of advertising, Long-Term Branding and Direct Response, and they both have different jobs or goals. The question is which type is better and which should you be using for your business. For most businesses, there are two answers … both, and it depends.

In 2013, two of the world’s most respected marketing minds, Les Binet and Peter Field, published a book titled, The Long and the Short of It. The book dives deep into what form of advertising, Branding (long-term) or Activation (direct response), is better and more profitable. The basis of the information comes from research and analysis of 996 marketing case studies from over 700 brands in 83 different business categories.

While there were a ton of important lessons derived from the book, the ultimate conclusion from the study was those brands (businesses) that balance and harmonize short-term sales activation with long-term branding are better positioned for marketplace dominance.

Binet and Fields often refer to 60/40 (Branding vs Activation) as being the appropriate split. But it comes with a lot of “it depends”. It depends on things like your current position in the market, your competition, your price points, whether it’s a mature product/business or relatively new, etc. Some categories and businesses should have an 80/20 or 70/30 split, while others may be better off with a 50/50 split.

This “long and short of it” theory coincides with and relates to last week’s topic of the Advertising-Targeting Pyramid (click here to view the Pyramid). Activation, or Direct Response advertising, targets those consumers (the very tip of the Pyramid) that are in the market to make a purchase now or in the immediate future. Branding Advertising is most effective to reach the consumers that will be in the market down the road, or the Upcoming Buyers and Future/Potential Buyers.

As business owners, you want to know what the best way is to spend your advertising and marketing investment and what will provide the best ROI (Return on Investment).  Many analogies can be made, like investing money, weight loss, relationships, etc. The longer approach almost always pays bigger rewards. The problem is that short-term results can be more appealing. The graph below shows the long-term impact of each form of advertising.

The study by Binet and Fields and other follow-up studies since their book was published have discovered another important lesson. That is, Activation (Direct Response) advertising has very little impact on building brand awareness and therefore long-term sales, but Brand advertising can have a significant effect on short-term activation advertising and therefore short-term sales.

The Short Does Not Deliver Long:

The graph above predicts the sales potential of an Activation (Direct Response) campaign from short-term to long-term. You’ll notice that there is only an 8% chance and a 3% chance of any sales effect well in the future. On the other hand…

The Long Does Deliver The Short:

This graph clearly shows how long-term campaigns have an immediate upfront sales impact that lasts, as intended, well into the future.

One last thing. You can attempt to create “Double-Duty” ads (an ad that tries to be both Activation and Branding), but you won’t get the same effect as you would if you run individual Activation and Branding campaigns.

There is one last determining factor in the success or failure of either an Activation or Branding campaign and that is, the quality and creativeness of the campaign. The better the creativity and content, the better the results. We will discuss this topic in an upcoming issue.

Keep in mind, as we mentioned earlier, that every business in every market can have a different set of circumstances. To understand and determine the best option for your business, we suggest you visit with a media or marketing professional you trust to create a strategy and plan that stands the best chance of working for you.

To arrange a meeting with your marketing rep, please reply to this email, or if you would like to discuss this topic with the author of this article, Rick Fink, email him at rick@ensmediausa.com