Several recent stories and research reports confirm the power of marketing to brand products. Smart marketing, of course, creates a positive brand image for a product or service. Poorly thought out and executed campaigns however, have the opposite effect. First let's consider the latter situation.
Nike's new Tiger Woods ad featuring the voice of his dead father that debuted during last week's Masters Tournament has created a good
amount of controversy.
When I first saw the ad I thought "what is Nike thinking?" Is Nike all about Tiger or is it about selling golf shoes and equipment? The first research on the ad's effectiveness confirms that judgment. The report, published last Friday by HCD Research, showed Nike's favorability rank among viewers who saw the ad drop 13%. In addition 29% of ad viewers said they are less likely to purchase Nike products as a result of this ad. Tiger's rank however dropped only slightly.
A March 2010 Harris poll shows that college educated and more affluent consumers are much more likely to avoid a brand whose ads they find distasteful. This of course is the sweet spot target of Nike's golf ads.
If the idea of this ad was to elevate its brand image Nike scored a double bogey. The Harris research underscores Nike's mistake in using the tainted Tiger in this manner.
While 35% of the total survey said they avoided a product because of a bad or distasteful ad, the numbers were 43% for college grads and 39% for consumers with HH income over $75,000. The spokesperson makes a difference as well. For those at different income levels; 25% of those with a household income of under $50,000 a year say they did not purchase a certain brand because they did not like the spokesperson compared to 28% of those with a household income between $50,000 and $74,999 a year and 33% of those with a household income of $75,000 a year or more.
Another interesting brand story involves retail giant Wal-Mart. Wal-Mart controls a great deal of product distribution and as such has made
legendary demands on brands. It turns out, however, that the power of the brand sometimes exceeds the power of even the great Wal-Mart to control the purchase process. It seems that Wal-Mart, in an initiative they called "Project Impact", decided to remove many brands from its shelves in favor of more profitable lines.
The result was many shoppers, rather than buying a similar product or brand, skipped shopping at Wal-Mart altogether and went instead to competitors that carried their favorite products.According to Wal-Mart COO Bill Simon, they lost $60 - $80 in sales for every defecting customer. Wal-Mart quickly reacted and added back popular brands and sizes.
Good brand marketing has great value. It can have huge payoffs in sales and profits for most companies. Done poorly, however, and the marketing efforts can have a negative effect. That is why, no matter the size of the company, it is wise to employ professionals to direct your marketing efforts. Companies whose advertising campaigns are executed professionally and reach the right consumers with the right message create a positive brand image. If their products deliver on the promise of the ads, they gain loyal customers. These are the companies that had their products returned to Wal-Mart's shelves. As for Nike, they have such strong brand equity that they will survive the poorly conceived Tiger ads. That equity was bought with years of smart marketing. The question about this ad however, is why did they "Just do it"?
Hope all your marketing efforts are birdies and eagles.
For those who may not have seen the Tiger ad, here it is:
