In my lifetime (and that’s a VERY long time) I have rarely if ever seen as much interest in television as I’ve seen in the past few years. I have never seen as much high quality programming. And I’ve never heard as much talk among average people about television series.
And yet, if we are to believe the numbers, advertising spending on social media is kicking TV’s ass. The question is, why? It is my belief that there’s no problem with the medium of television, there’s a problem with what the advertising industry is feeding the medium.
When I first got interested in writing about advertising, I wrote about the significance of brands. At the time, and ever since, I have written that the value of a strong brand should be self-evident. Any controversy should not be about the value of a strong brand, but about how a strong brand is built.
At the time I wrote…“Some things can only be achieved indirectly. Sometimes, the more directly you address a problem, the worse it gets…You can’t be happy by trying to be happy. If you want to be happy you have to go fishing, or eat a pizza… It’s the same in marketing. You want to have a strong brand? Quit branding. A strong brand is a byproduct. It comes from doing a lot of other things right.”
When it came to advertising, I wrote…The best way to build a brand is not directly with “brand” advertising. It is indirectly with excellent product advertising.
This is truer today than ever. Much of what we call “brand” advertising has become squishy and free of discipline. We’ve become flabby and self-indulgent. Brand advertising has come to mean pretty much anything we can put a logo on.
Unfortunately for TV, it has become the go-to medium for advertisers who want to do “brand” advertising, but have nothing to say. When the TV spot appears, it won’t actually be about the product. It will be about the user, her lifestyle, or the brand “meaning.” In other words, mostly horseshit.
- Pretty pictures and a nice track are not enough.
- Pounding your chest for world peace is not enough.
- Grandpa and Timmy playing hoops is not enough.
- Buying a pop tune and having people jump around is not enough.
- Holding a mirror up to the viewer and saying ‘we’re just like you’ is not enough.
Successful brand building is…
