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WHERE HAS ALL THE BRANDING GONE?

Aug 10, 2026

KEN BANKS’BLOG JULY/AUSUST 2026

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WHERE HAS ALL THE BRANDING GONE?

Now that we have settled back in our home, I have developed a pattern for my regular television and newspaper viewing.  While most of the programs are news oriented or sports broadcasts, I also regularly view streaming networks, like NetFlix, YouTube and others. While the programing and viewership has changed considerably over the past several years, I still pay special attention to the advertising on traditional media as I did when I was actively involved in the world of advertising.

One of the major changes is the shift away from traditional retail chains which traditionally had dominated the airways and the printed press.  Promotional and seasonal campaigns were blitzed regularly and every major store built awareness and traffic with their advertising.  The successful ones also communicated their branding strategy through effective campaigns.  These campaign effectively used a multimedia approach in broadcast, newspaper, direct mail/catalogues, outoor and specialty media.  The internet changed all that permanently

Many of the retail chains that set the standard in advertising have disappeared and so has the creativity and strategy that dominated their message.  This has been somewhat replaced by new mega chains and, of course, by Amazon and other online companies.  As I’ve watched, it seems to me that the biggest change in the advertising is the growth in two categories—Pharmaceutical and Legal.  While retail overall has significant budgets, these two categories, which didn’t even us mass media a couple decade ago, now dominate local as well as national campaigns.  Spending for prescription drugs now totals over $39 Billion annually. Most of that is in digital media ($26 Billion) but traditional spending (mostly TV) tops $8 Billion. That’s a meteoric growth.  It doesn’t seem that long ago when we marveled at Walmart reached the $100 million mark annually. What amazes me is that most of the messages are hard to distinguish from one medication to another. Besides having brand names that are hard to pronounce (mostly consonants that look like typos. You really have to search for what these drugs help treat and what the benefits are.  Most spots are feel good with folks enjoying the good life with family and friends. Senior and baby boomers dominate the casting.  The disclaimers (which are enough to discourage most prospective patients and the true benefits are often not even mentioned. The budgets are so high that often the spots run several times in the same programs.  Often there are multiple spots from various Rx companies in the same commercial break. The cost of health care (prescriptions) is a national concern but the wastefulness of these campaigns is even more depressing.

That brings us to all those lawyers, especially personal injury, whose budgets have grown faster than their fees. Annual spending now exceeds $3 Billion.  see one campaign by a major firm like Morgan & Morgan (who set the paced for the growth in this industry) and within a week or two, several other firms copy the same strategy so much that it’s hard to differentiate one from the other.  The personal injury cases started with bold “we fight for you in dealing with the big insurance companies. This morphed into claims of how much they have won in those cases while never mentioning their substantial fees. Then, it was time to have actual clients on stage thanking the firm for winning substantial amounts and making life better for them. Then attack an industry like trucking with those killer semi’s on every highway. They all tout their expertise in dealing with truckers. How about retailers who cause an injury by not cleaning their floors or providing better lighting. Make sure you show all the partners who represent each gender, age group, heritage, and other demographics.  Morgan & Morgan recently started an alternate campaign that tries to be humorous but fails to make a point or provide a testimony other than we have more money to waste on dumb ads.

These are just a couple examples and I don’t think they should be less aggressive in building their firms, but let’s give our prospective patients and clients a real, original reason to choose their brand over all the look-alikes throwing ad money down the tubes.

Thanks, Ken