“It's not a matter of forcing people. It's getting them to want to use it. If you can't, you're not going to do great advertising." -Alex Bogusky. $200 billion was spent on advertising in the United States alone last year. This number signifies that corporations see the inherent need to use advertising as a means of getting people to use their product or service. Can the staggering amount of money be justified? How effective are ads in today's society?
People who useTivo and Dvr systems try to eliminate ads during their tv show will find that we live in a world where it is literally impossible to escape from ads. A person is exposed to an average of 3000 ads every single day which is why it is impossible to dodge ads.
I wrote a paper on advertising vs. public relations about the effectiveness of each and if one field yielded more profit for an organization. When it comes to brand building, advertising only works when everything else is right. A product doesn't build a brand, experience builds brands. Public relations exists to build relationships through creating positive experiences hence is a very effective means in brand building.
Advertisements, however, must be doing something right if corporations are willing to spend $3 million for a thirty second ad during the super bowl. At the end of the day, the message of the corporation is more important than any advertisment.
If advertisements align with the message of the organization and if that message resonates strongly with the public, the message will drive numbers. Dove’s campaign for real beauty is an example of a message that created high resonance with women worldwide. Instead of focusing on its beauty products, Dove accentuated the beauty of women everywhere regardless of shape, color, size, race, or age. Global sales surpassed the $1 billion mark after the launch of the campaign. The Dove phenomenon illustrates that corporations can benefit more from a strong message than the product itself.
3 comments:
I think the question was if advertising is worth it. I think it is. Ads can help get a message to the masses in a tightly targeted media that will communicate the message of the organization. Sometimes you need to be in certain places that PR can't get the message, so in comes advertising, that can buy that space.
I like how you bring PR into the picture. I hadn't thought of it that way. Really, PR and Advertising go hand in hand. One fosters the culture for the product to thrive, while the other convinces consumers why they want that product. Is advertising worth all the money spent? It seems to be working for the large companies. The more money spent the more money earned, right? But, I do like that you brought in PR, because I think the long sustaining success of a product comes from that aspect of the profession.
I strongly believe advertising is worth it. Without ads we wouldn't be aware of the different products.
Post a Comment