Time to change the advertising model

Time may change me, but I can't trace time
I said that time may change me, but I can't trace time

Memorable David Bowie lyrics. Open to debate as to what they really mean – but one interpretation is that while we may struggle to track the process of change, time and experience generally change people.

Except – that is – in the Advertising industry.

An industry jammed full of dynamic and original thinkers.

But despite a raft of evidence to suggest that much of the Ad industry’s output is hugely wasteful – it’s an industry that has changed little in the past 50 years.

Briefing for advertising. Familiar? With a few tweaks here and there, the briefs of today are pretty much identical in structure to when Bowie wrote Changes in the '70s. Heavy on message, USP and reasons to believe and light on the need to create fame and feeling.

Presentation of ideas. “Trust us. It’s great”. Sound familiar? Creative presentations today are pretty much identical to the hard sell presentation format used by Advertising Agencies 50 years ago. Agencies still sell, clients still buy and the adversarial-dance continues to produce generally poor Ads.

Research of ideas. Familiar? Guess what? A time consuming and deadening process that has almost never predicted a famous campaign and quite often done the opposite. Just ask the teams involved in some very famous campaigns; Stella Artois Reassuringly Expensive, Cadbury Gorilla, Compare-the-Meercats.com.

The occasions of Effectiveness Week led by the IPA, and The Marketing Society, along with many other associations and practitioner partners, and The Marketing Society’s Global Annual Conference make this a great time to reflect on the state of play for advertising. The fact that the Advertising industry has changed so little over the years is all the more surprising when you take into account the huge advances in understanding around how consumers choose between brands. Work in the behavioural sciences – and the likes of Daniel Kahneman - have given us irrefutable evidence to show how advertising works:

1. People don’t make brand choices based on logical, persuasive marketing argument (as many in our industry still like to believe).
2. Brand choice is driven by emotion and feeling. The more you feel for a brand, the more likely you are to buy.
3. People choose brands quickly and intuitively – using their “System1” brains - rather than slowly, methodically and rationally using their “System2” brains. Fast thinking drives decisions.

Nike (where I spent some hugely formative years earlier in my career) discovered this truth years ago. In the '70s – as the brand was born, Nike refused to take a persuasion based “superior product technology” approach to communication. Instead – it focused on creating emotion around its products by honouring the athletes that wear them. Nike understood intuitively – and understands today - the “System1” approach to marketing and communication. The more you feel for a brand, the more you will buy.

Apple, Lynx (Axe), Dove, Virgin Atlantic. All are brands that have bought into this emotional System1 approach to communication … and have seen huge success on the back of it.

Now – it might be a little harsh to blame advertising agencies entirely for much of the System2 “persuasion” based approach to communication we see today.  After all – clients (and I was one for 17 years) get the agencies – and the work – they deserve. Don’t they?

But we all deserve better. Agencies deserve better briefs. Clients deserve more effective work.

Given what we now know to be true about how people choose between brands, isn’t it time to think differently and take a fresh, “System1” approach to the advertising development process?

There are three simple changes that you can take to help move our industry forwards – and deliver guaranteed profitable brand growth for your marketing buck!

1. Change the way that you brief for ideas. Less persuasion. More seduction. Instead of briefing for differentiation, brief for feeling. The more you feel, the more you buy. What do people feel about your brand now? What do you want them to feel about your brand after seeing this communication?
2. Change the way that you validate ideas. Instead of testing for USPs and product messages, test for how the work makes people feel. The most effective communication doesn’t sell and persuade. It seduces. Try BrainJuicer’s System1 Ad Testing methodology as a great way of understanding emotion in advertising and predicting famous campaigns.  
3. Change the way that you judge ideas.  Judging emotional advertising is subjective, tricky – and demands skill and experience. It’s much more demanding than searching for a product message or USP. Ask your Agencies to validate their ideas for Feeling before you see them. How an idea makes your consumers feel will have a huge impact on how you judge it.

It’s time to change.

Your agencies? If they are worth their salt – will love you for changing.

The work? Will be significantly more loved by consumers and massively more effective as a result.

And your business? Will grow. Guaranteed.

Rod Connors is a co-founder of System1 Agency, a disruptive new agency model that guarantees ROI for clients by developing emotional advertising to make people Feel More: Buy More. It is part of the portfolio of 5 Star Marketing resources that include BrainJuicer System1 Research. Rod brings a passionate view of what makes advertising effective, having spent his career helping to build brands, in Marketing Director roles in Unilever (The Lynx Effect), adidas & Nike (Run London) – and most recently setting up and running The BSG (Global Marketing Consultancy). Contact him at [email protected]