Imagine this, your advertising campaign has pre-tested with off the charts likeability and engagement scores, but in the end very few viewers could identify that the executions were for your brand. Those who did not link your advertising to the brand might just as well have never had an exposure opportunity or engagement. The frustration of all those ad dollars, down the drain… A fundamental truth in effective advertising is you must link your brand to the campaign!
Only half of those who engage with a typical TV commercial can identify the advertiser. You might ask, how can our campaign improve on this instrumental dimension? Historically, it has been advised to “show the brand early and often” but our research has demonstrated that it is more than this. Utilizing an integrated campaign with strategically developed Brand-Linked Equities (otherwise known BLEs) greatly increases the brand linkage (and ROI) of campaigns.
Why Integrated Campaigns?
Brand linkages build most strongly when all ads across media have common, synergistic elements. Viewers won’t necessarily link your BLE to your brand from the first ad exposure, but by the time they’ve engaged with 3 or more campaign elements in your new campaign, they should be figuring it out.
Our best advice is to weave the executions inextricably around the brand– at no point should there be any doubt that the advertisement is about your brand, and, ideally, no other brand could plausibly be sponsoring this element.
Some integration techniques to be weary of:
- Don’t rely on the tagline as the only common link between executions.
- Having a common strategy or message is not enough if the creative themes don’t carry across media.
- Simply lifting visuals from your TV commercials to use in print/OOH/online ads is only effective if the specific visuals prominently feature the brand-linked equities.
Why Create BLEs?
The creation of strong BLE’s requires a significant investment in time and money, along with the discipline to maintain consistency. But if you, and your creative team, consciously works to develop Brand-Linked Equities across ads, across media and across brand experiences, you are building in a subconscious cue for your brand. In addition, the best BLE’s not only trigger brand associations but they also remind the consumer of your brand position and brand values. BLE’s can be characters (real or created), music or jingles, places, colors, or – one of the more used but least often successful – taglines.
The most successful BLEs are:
- Telegraphic: Does the creative element quickly identify your brand identity to the audience? One of the advantages of utilizing BLE’s is that they allow you to save time in linking your brand to the ad execution, leaving more time to tell your story.
- Iconographic: Does the creative element have emotional significance for your consumer? A good BLE stores customer emotions that are released into the advertising message. The Nike swoosh and ‘just do it’, the Staples ‘Easy’ button, or hearing the song ‘Oh, I wish I were an Oscar Meyer wiener’ immediately conjure up memories of the emotions and benefits that have been connected to the BLE in past advertising.
- Distinctive: Is the viewer at all likely to confuse it with something used by another advertiser? If so, then you don’t own it in the mind of the consumer and it’s not a BLE after all.
In Communicus research on BLE’s, we’ve identified some very strong BLE’s, and also some that – despite enormous advertising investments – have not taken hold in the mind of the consumer. Some of the best BLE’s in advertising today are characters – the Geico gecko and the Budweiser Clydesdales. As mentioned above, taglines arguably have the most difficulty in solidifying a meaningful brand connection. Of course, most of us recognize ‘The ultimate driving machine’, but which auto brand uses ‘Moving forward’? You probably know what brand tells you ‘There are some things money can’t buy’ or ‘Priceless’, but which financial services company is represented by ‘More within reach’?
Bottom Line- How will this improve my ROI?
Successful brand linkage can provide great leverage in maximizing the return on your advertising investment. Example: One advertiser began a purposeful development of BLE’s across a number of their brands. This effort resulted in branded awareness of the campaigns, in which BLE’s were employed, improving by an average of 91% per dollar invested in advertising over a five year period. What’s more, this 91% increase in advertising awareness resulted in over double the impact on sales – indicating that those who saw BLE-laden ads were more persuaded than those who saw ads that were not characterized by strong BLE’s. Just remember, a strong BLE doesn’t happen overnight. It takes time and investment, but it can certainly be a worthwhile endeavor for your brand.
Have you had success or perhaps struggled to implement an integrated campaign or develop a Brand-Linked Equity for your brand? We would love hearing about your experience in the comments…
