Advertising Is The Cost Of Being Boring
Advertising is the cost of being boring. This is a quote from Andy Sternowitz’s amazing book “Word of Mouth Marketing
There are a million small things that you can do to get people to talk about your business without advertising. Provide excellent customer service. Provide excellent products. Be the nicest company. Be awesome.
Remember Seth Godin’s advice from “Purple Cow
If advertising is the cost of being boring, why does a very un-boring (not sure if that’s a word) company like Red Bull advertise?In my opinion, companies advertise to either become, or remain “top-of-mind” when consumers are making purchasing decisions.
A few examples of companies that “shouldn’t need to advertise” but do are: Coke, Pepsi, McDonald’s, WalMart, GM, Ford, BMW, Volkswagon… etc, etc. I think you get my point. Large companies continue to buy advertising in order to maintain “top of mind” awareness.
Advertising is a company’s way of reminding you that they are there. The frequency and message of the ad makes sure that when you are ready to buy a product, you will remember their product and/or service first.
Have a “Purple Cow”, absolutely. But don’t be afraid to tell consumers all about it through advertising. The next time they’re shopping for steak, maybe they’ll ask the butcher for purple steak.
My belief is that the reasons for advertising change as a company grows in size/scope. At first, a company needs to advertise just to sell enough to pay the bills every month. Being remarkable at this stage is very important, because if you can get some of that advertising for free via word of mouth.
As a company grows to the size of Red Bull or Coca-Cola, they need to reinforce their brand image against equally large competitors who are also trying to reinforce a brand image. I’m not sure Coca-Cola is concerned about the measuring and tracking the ROI of every billboard they run.
One other thought – are we sure that Red Bull and Coca-Cola aren’t boring products? Studies have shown that yes, people can tell the difference between Coke and Pepsi by taste. BUT, if you add a third brand into the mix, such as RC Cola, then people have a very hard time distinguishing between them. So, in a way, the actual product that Coca-Cola makes is boring (or at least, unremarkable) – what really distinguished Coke from Pepsi is the feelings of nostalgia/pride/brand awareness that you get when you buy a Coke.
Same with Red Bull – there are lots of energy drink makers out there – they weren’t even the first in that market. Is the product actually remarkable, or is it their advertising that makes the product so great?
You bring up some interesting points James, certainly something to think about. Thanks for the comment.