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Outdoor Advertising “Speaks” the Brand Language of Consumers

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Outdoor Advertising “Speaks” the Brand Language of Consumers O U T D O O R A D V E R T I S I N G The Brand Communication Medium oaaa O U T D O O R A D V E R T I S I N G ASSOCIATION OF AMERICA, INByC. James Maskulka for OAAA 1 Table of Contents I. Introduction . .2 II. The Outdoor Medium: Past, Present, Future . .2 III. Lower Costs, Better Communication! . .3 IV. Consumers USE Products...but they BUY Brands . .4 The Emergence of “Philosophy” Brands . .4 Brand Building -- A Strategic Perspective is Essential . .5 A “Wealth” Perspective of Brand Advertising Placed on Outdoor Boards . .5 Outdoor Advertising “Speaks” the Brand Language of Consumers . .6 V. The Relevancy of Outdoor Advertising--The Medium is the Message . .6 Brand Association . .6 Stability and Consistency of Message Presentation . .6 Clarity of Brand Focus -- Even Chromosomes Count? . .6 Mass Advertising is NOT a Dirty Word . .7 Lifestyle “Guaranteed” Repetition . .7 VI. Summary and Conclusions . .7 Footnotes . .8 Outdoor Advertising: The “Brand” Communication Medium of the 21st Century by James M. Maskulka Marketing Consultant, Ph.D (c) November 1999 2 Outdoor Advertising: The Brand Communication Medium 1. Introduction II. The Outdoor Medium: Past, Present, Marketers’ recognition of the increasing importance Future of brands as perhaps the firm’s most important A recent campaign for the outdoor industry touted strategic asset requires a fundamental rethinking of that “Outdoor is not a medium. It’s a large”. To this conventional business and marketing strategies. Not headline we should also add “Right for the Times”. only must this re-thinking apply to brand manage- The contemporary view of the outdoor medium from ment, but equally as well to brand communication a media planner’s perspective has evolved over time. strategies. Successfully managing brands today Prior to the era of broadcast media, outdoor advertis- requires a creative portfolio of relevant media strate- ing was the primary medium. After the introduction gies that extends well beyond the “safe bets” of pre- of radio and later television, the rapid diffusion of vious generations of advertisers. Today, generating these two broadcast media relegated outdoor adver- awareness and enhancing an existing image are tising to being used primarily as a directional medi- merely the price of entry to compete in a given mar- um for local retailers or service providers. Outdoor ket. Today’s consumers are yesterday’s Generation was also used a complementary medium for national Xers — complete with short attention spans and the brands to achieve low-cost awareness as part of the ubiquitous “been-there-done-that” attitude. overall media plan. Spontaneity reigns supreme in leisure activities, The first generally recognized example of an advertis- music, entertainment and receipt of information. ing campaign employing the outdoor medium as an Memory is relative. Something computers have; so, integral element of the overall marketing plan was “Why do I need it they ask?” It is against this back- the Volkswagen “beetle” campaign of the late drop of a profound cultural and technology-driven 1960’s. The VW slogans launched more than 30 years shift in communicating that the media of 21st centu- ago — “Think Small” and “Avoid Gas Pains” — are ry are evaluated and that the future of outdoor still part of the American lexicon today and were piv- advertising is presented. otal in helping to inculcate the “brand image” of the The basic premise of this paper is that layout and VW beetle in the minds of the American consumer. design limitations imposed by the intrinsic nature of More recently, a campaign that positively elevated the outdoor medium frequently requires the creative the awareness of the outdoor medium as a viable talent of both the advertising agency and the client alternative for establishing a brand’s image in addi- advertiser to rediscover the essence of a client’s tion to building brand awareness was the 1984 brand. Case histories will be discussed in this paper Summer Olympics campaign for Nike. Few advertising in the context of: 1) the role of brands, 2) under- campaigns prior to that point in time had achieved standing the linkage between establishing brand pre-campaign advertising objectives in such a dra- attitude and advertising, 3) “managing” shifts in matic, “media event” fashion as the 1984 Nike out- brand attitude dictated by consumer trends, competi- door campaign featuring Carl Lewis broad jumping tor actions and/or information processing strategies across the LA freeways! Fortunately for the outdoor of consumers. While this paper is primarily about the industry this initial campaign touting the outdoor outdoor medium the discussion takes place in the medium’s capacity for developing a brand’s image has context of all media. New angles on media usage not been an isolated event. and perspectives on how consumers are likely to use The outdoor medium has recently been employed as media in the future are additional topics discussed. an integral media component in Procter and Gamble’s strategy to expand the awareness and sales potential of Pantene shampoo, from a niche brand to a mass market product by formulating a new look for the Pantene brand. P&G’s media strategy for Pantene was unique from a package goods marketer’s perspec- tive in two respects. Firstly, P&G selected outdoor as the “creative canvas” by which to change the image By James Maskulka for OAAA 3 of the brand. Normally only TV or magazines would planners are typically rewarded on the basis of how have been considered for this communication task. many “eye balls” they reach—not whether these con- Secondly, outdoor was used as the lead medium, with sumers wanted to be reached! other measured media relegated to providing a sup- But these attitudes toward media have been widely porting role. The reported business success of P&G’s understood for the past decade, the only recent Pantene brand in terms of both improved brand atti- change has been the increasing proportion of people tude measures and increased sales not only renewed agreeing with various dissatisfaction measures. The interest in the outdoor medium, but more important- same questions...the same answers...nothing really ly caused other media planners to rethink the usage new! The most generally unrecognized media trend is of the outdoor medium in their overall media plans. that the majority of consumers today simply have too Additionally, recent articles by Edmondson speaking little time to attend to most forms of advertising — of traffic patterns, and Reichel & Wood commenting unless they are specifically motivated to replenish on revised frequency schedules, both strongly favor a stocks. Furthermore, demographic and lifestyle reconsideration of the outdoor medium in comparison changes over the last half century leave no doubt to other media choices (Edmondson, 1998; Reichel & that time is the most inelastic of all commodities. Wood, 1997)1, 2 One of the major reasons for the popularity of the As more empirically-based field research is conducted Internet as an advertising communications medium is on the outdoor advertising medium, additional the (mistaken) perception held by time-pressured research hypotheses are likely to emerge, as well as consumers that they are recovering “lost hours” by exploring the plausibility of achieving more sophisti- purchasing over the Internet. But the Internet is pri- cated communication objectives. marily a transactional sales tool. And while there is some evidence that graphics enhancements may pro- vide some brand building capability in the future, III. Lower Costs ... Better Communication!! this feature is not the major strength of the Internet What has been overlooked in the current media dia- medium. It is more clearly an informational and a logue is the common misperception that lower media transaction-facilitating medium vs. a transformational cost naturally equates to better communication. advertising medium.4 Transformational advertising is Media planners well-documented preoccupation with essential to building brands because it implants lower CPM’s has been an advertising industry problem either a message (or image) about a differential for some time, but there are other problems with product advantage in the mind of the user. measured media as well. A casual dialogue with any Transformational advertising is a powerful strategy, consumer today regarding perceptions of various but successful execution of a transformational adver- media would likely reveal the following comments: tising strategy requires frequent exposure over an television advertising, while occasionally entertaining extended time period — a primary benefit of the is more often seen as mindless and irritating; radio outdoor medium. advertising, while timely is too cluttered; magazines suffer from too much “title” fragmentation and are A time-sensitive evaluation of all media would reveal needlessly cluttered with blow-ins; newspapers have that the outdoor medium could emerge as the medi- grown too large, take too much time to read and um of choice for the time-poor consumer in the 21st older issues accumulate too quickly. Finally, personal- century. Modern consumers want and actively seek ized direct mail is increasingly viewed as an invasion information, but the time-management equation of of personal privacy. In summary, most consumers the future will require that these same consumers will today are not hesitant to voice sentiments regarding want to expend as little personal time as possible in their general irritation and dissatisfaction with acquiring information. Media planning is about advertising media. More often than not the primary matching selected media against the target audience. source of advertising irritation for consumers is the Analogous to team sports, media planning is about receiving of unwanted messages. (Aaker and key match-ups, and currently no other medium can Bruzzone, 1985)3 The irony of course is that media match outdoor on the brevity of message delivery cri- 4 Outdoor Advertising: The Brand Communication Medium terion.
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