KEN BANKS’BLOG OCTOBER 2022
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DIFFERENT BRANDS IN TODAY’S MEDIA!
It’s that time of year when everything starts transitioning to the holidays. In years past that meant that the advertising world put their best foot forward, hyped up the media budgets and produced some of the most memorable ads, commercials, catalogues and mailers. That was a time when retailers dominated the marketing messages that we all looked forward to and enjoyed seeing. Times have changed. Most of those retailers no longer exist. Those that remain have been dominated by price/item ads with little more reason to shop than a good buy. There are still some that will make the effort to provide thought-provoking or heartwarming messages that set the spirit of the holidays. However, with the change in media opportunities and lifestyles, marketing is no longer the world of retail. This struck home the other day when my seven-year old grandson, Michael, asked me if I knew who Morgan & Morgan was. They are, of course, the largest personal injury law firms in the country and John Morgan and his family dominate the marketing messages. Michael said “You know the ones who say “For the People” or “pound (#) law that’s all”. He could recite their messages and talked about Morgan as if he was Spiderman or Blippi. If I asked him who Macy’s was, or what Old Navy was, or what a pair of Levi’s are, he would have no idea. The media and the messages have sure changed, and I thought it would be worth looking at what marketing messages now dominate the advertising scene.
LAW FIRMS. I noted three separate firms advertising in one commercial break the other day. They are all anxious to help you win your lawsuit or squeeze the insurance companies out of their large sums of cash. Most, like Morgan and Morgan, feature the firms’ partners or their kids or grandkids. Most promise that there is no charge unless you win. Some have good creative with a brand strategy that separates them from the pack. We see their photos on billboards, busses, posters, postcards, online messages—just about everywhere. No doubt this works and when a person without a personal attorney suddenly has a need for legal help, top-of-mind awareness certainly is critical. Let’s not forget the attorney reference firms like AskGary) and the multitude who will help you get out of your timeshare contract, sue Camp LeJeune and other government agencies, help men with a divorce, help reduce our credit debt and on and on. Legal advertising is booming.
PRESCRIPTION DRUGS. If you watch or listen to any programs that target an older demographic group, you won’t miss at least 3-5 Rx messages per hour (and sometimes in the same break. Not to mention the online messages and direct mail. Big pharma has jumped in to build awareness for these ubiquitous names with patients and medical professionals alike. The spots always seem to show people enjoying life thanks to the relief from one ailment or another. A celebrity (like Cyndi Lauper for psoriasis) also helps gain recognition and awareness. There are just so many (I counted 10 on a CBS Sunday Morning show recently.) that I believe the consumer is being bombarded like the sale ads used to run for retail with little or no impact.
AUTO DEALERS. Car ads have been a major media staple for years. However, it now seems that the car manufacturers overspend with spots on everyone of the thousands of cable channels and the repetition on network and local media with most models and brands that look alike seems to be overkill. Every now and then a dealer will actually give you a reason to choose them over the others because of something they do differently or their commitment to service, but to have the dealer owner (or now the sons and daughters of the founders) .Then there are the regional dealers associations with their offers, the spots from the manufacturers themselves (which also tend to be so repetitious that I’m sure many viewers get turned off rather than interested in the models being marketed). Add to all this clutter the multitude of online and pre-owned companies that have proliferated and it’s too bad that the chip makers can’t supply enough to have those models in stock when a customer finally goes in to buy.
NETWORKS. Now that there are so many networks and streaming services, it’s hard to tell which programs are on which “channel”. This is exacerbated by the similarity in the programming from super heros to explosions to reality contests to silly sitcoms filled with politically correct relationships. It’s hard to keep a hulu separate from a fubu or a roku to me.
MEDICAL SERVICES. Some of the best branding, I think, on media now comes from the hospitals and clinics that now fill the airwaves. Add to this the physician specialists and groups that now use mass media and it’s hard to choose where to go to get the best medical care. Add to these at this time of the year with all of the Medicare advantage programs that are soliciting based on no premiums, no copays, no reason for being. Just one more mailer or one more text message and I might just change
CELLULAR SERVICES. I could go on but I have a text coming in. Back you next month!
Ken
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