{"id":1292,"date":"2025-03-31T14:54:11","date_gmt":"2025-03-31T18:54:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.kenbanks.com\/?p=1292"},"modified":"2025-04-02T14:06:51","modified_gmt":"2025-04-02T18:06:51","slug":"expensive-spots-dont-mean-great-branding","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.kenbanks.com\/?p=1292","title":{"rendered":"EXPENSIVE SPOTS DON&#8217;T MEAN GREAT BRANDING!"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>KEN BANKS\u2019BLOG MARCH 2025<a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/kJ-y_wlviP0\">h<iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/kJ-y_wlviP0\" width=\"560\" height=\"314\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>PRESS PLAY&gt;&gt;TO VIEW THIS MONTH\u2019S WELCOME VIDEO<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>EXPENSIVE SPOTS DON\u2019T MEAN GREAT BRANDING\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Sorry again for the delay in getting this message out again.\u00a0 The recovery from Hurricane Helen is a long process but we are making progress. After listing as is for a few months, we decided to repair the major damages and that takes a lot of time and energy. However, thanks to FEMA and our insurance coverage we are moving forward. The continued support from friends and family has helped us move down the road to normality.<\/p>\n<p>There certainly have been a lot of major events over the past couple months, but I won\u2019t dwell on those.\u00a0 The retailing world continues to shrink with the closing of Joanne Fabrics and Family Dollar as well as major cutbacks at both major drugstore chains, Walgreen\u2019s and CVS, who have closed thousands of stores. In the grocery category, Aldi\u2019s takeover of Winn Dixie has resulted in many WD store closings which was not unexpected. Major retail shopping centers\u2014once the major contributor to retail sales growth and expansion\u2014has been downsized as many centers have now been demolished for other uses.\u00a0 Change as always is the most consistent trend.<\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s been interesting to see the change in high priced tv marking on major events like the Super Bowl, the awards shows, like the Grammys, Oscars etc., as well as many of the streamed series that have changed the broadcast landscape. If one records a show or series online, it\u2019s amazing how the commercial breaks have gone for 120 to 180 (or more) seconds.\u00a0 A recent salute to the Grand Ole Opry had over 45 minutes of commercials (by my count) for a 3-hour special.\u00a0 If only the creativity of those hundreds of messages had improved as much as the frequency!<\/p>\n<p>As I have every year for a while now, here is my review of some of the spots that ran in the super bowl in February. There is:30 seconds of air time.\u00a0 There\u2019s no question that the media value is there, but the production costs for these spots has also gone off the charts as well. Unfortunately, the creativity, in my opinion, has not kept pace with the costs.\u00a0 In my experience on both the agency and advertiser side, we always set a production cost for spots based on the planned media expense for the spot.\u00a0 A spot that might only run for 3 days behind a weekend event certainly didn\u2019t warrant the expense for one or more that were part of an ongoing campaign that branded the product or service over an extend schedule.\u00a0 Creativity and an effective branding message was just as important in all of the schedules- short and long.<\/p>\n<p>I\u2019m not sure that was the case for this year\u2019s Super Bowl mega-spots. It seems that all that was important was to get a celebrity (or several) that may or not be consistent with the brand\u2019s target or come up with a tie in with a major movie release. Or just come up with a message that\u2019s so obtuse that the viewer is left asking \u201cWhat are they advertising in that spot?\u201d\u00a0 Effective, break-through creative is the direct result of an effective, well researched brand strategy.\u00a0 This holds true no matter what the media cost.<\/p>\n<p>Here&#8217;s a few of this year\u2019s spots and some brief observations.<\/p>\n<p>PRINGLES MUSTACHE <iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/uAOFSKaIXms\" width=\"560\" height=\"314\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>I\u2019ve always liked Pringles but honestly, I never noticed the mustache or what it has to do with the taste of the chips.<\/p>\n<p>DODGE RAM GOLDYLOX PITT<iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/YcHQW475YEc\" width=\"560\" height=\"314\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>I don\u2019t know what Goldylox has to do with a big, honkin\u2019 pickup truck but having an expensive Brad Pitt really is a stretch.<\/p>\n<p>HELLMAN\u2019S MAY-BILLY CRYSTAL. HARRY AND SALLY.<iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/UX9qfSEKyuc\" width=\"560\" height=\"314\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Ok, I\u2019m a big Billy Crystal fan and I love When Harry Met Sally, especially the famous diner scene. This\u00a0 spot uses the celebrities and the movie reference to perfection\u2014just like the Mayo.<\/p>\n<p>INSTACART\u00a0 HOT DOGS RUNNING <iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/oChwQrAJm5g\" width=\"560\" height=\"314\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>I wasn\u2019t sure if this was a spot for Kool Aid, Green Giant, or Oscar Meyer hot dogs and it really didn\u2019t convince me that InstaCart was any better than Uber Eats or DoorDash.<\/p>\n<p>STELLA ARTOIS. BECKHAM\/DAMON. <a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/GAoeGC-eL4I\">https:\/\/youtu.be\/GAoeGC-eL4I<\/a><\/p>\n<p>This spot uses celebrities (Matt Damon and David Beckham) with a suprising premise and it works when they both like one of my favorite beers.<\/p>\n<p>ULTRA PADDLE BALL. <iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/oIXwJeDrrMo\" width=\"560\" height=\"314\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Another. Beer commercial with an interesting premise that appeal to a couple different age groups and capitalizes on the paddleball craze.\u00a0 The beer may be mediocre but the message works here.<\/p>\n<p>BUDWEISER. CLYDESDALE RETURNS <iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/K0iKgJXy_gk\" width=\"560\" height=\"314\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Another beer commercial that probably woudn\u2019t work with out the long history of Bud\u2019s Clydesdale spots over the years always memorable and this is no exception\u2014except its length makes it an epic.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>DORITOS TROJAN HORSE <iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/LZFfL5MIuaA\" width=\"560\" height=\"314\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Doritos once again spends and spends on the Superbowl. Here are the short spots.\u00a0 I think the Trojan Horse was the best.<\/p>\n<p>Have a great Spring<\/p>\n<p>Ken<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>KEN BANKS\u2019BLOG MARCH 2025h PRESS PLAY&gt;&gt;TO VIEW THIS MONTH\u2019S WELCOME VIDEO EXPENSIVE SPOTS DON\u2019T MEAN GREAT BRANDING\u201d Sorry again for the delay in getting this message out again.\u00a0 The recovery from Hurricane Helen is a long process but we are making progress. After listing as is for a few months, we decided to repair the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1292","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kenbanks.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1292","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kenbanks.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kenbanks.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kenbanks.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kenbanks.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1292"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.kenbanks.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1292\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1297,"href":"https:\/\/www.kenbanks.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1292\/revisions\/1297"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kenbanks.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1292"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kenbanks.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1292"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kenbanks.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1292"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}