Advertising makes no difference!

Let me be clear upfront, it’s not me that thinks so; I am a firm believer in the power of advertising, more so, good advertising rather than the pedestrian communications you see so much of this day. No, it’s not me thinking so, but the many businesses that advertise and the agencies that help them to do so.

Of course, there should be howls of protest at this from the advertising industry. Who in their right mind would say that the N97.9b Nigerian advertisers spent in 2015 would be spent if they thought advertising made no difference?

Well, first let’s not assume that I am right. Second, let me start to count the reasons why, and please if I have missed any, feel free to include it in the list. So here we go:

• ·        Very few people, agencies and clients set marketing and communication objectives for the activity they undertake. Except for a sales result, marketing matrix do not seem to matter. And interestingly enough, over the last 20 years, no one has put much effort into understanding how to evaluate the work and its success, particularly brand work.  
• ·         I understand that is hard to do, but it’s harder when no one does it and no one tries to find out the best ways to do it. If businesses and agencies had invested in this area over the last 10 or 20 years, we would be in a position now to understand these workings much better.
• ·         But no, best to push on without anyway to help substantiate the effectiveness of the work we deliver.
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-       In fact, very few, if any advertising agencies, establish an understanding up front of what success looks like for the work they deliver, in particular the creative agencies like SO&U, Centrespread, Insight, Rosabel, Prima Garnet, LTC, STB, etc. And there are no absolutes, absolutely not.

-       Even if they do set objectives, very few, if any (again) formally review and learn from the results. Media agencies like MediaReach OMD do run post-campaign reviews, but in several years of working in this industry and measuring agencies post review approaches, I have never heard a client say that these reviews are of any value. And although this has been told to media agencies, none have ever tried to improve them (an interesting issue to discuss in itself). Creative agencies don’t even bother with post reviews.

-      People are rotated through marketing departments and agencies like rats being experimented on in a maze, with only a few being rewarded if they make it to the end.

-   Sometimes, those in senior marketing positions have no marketing experience at all.

-       Marketing is restructured maybe every 6 – 8 months. New people coming in to drain the bath water and throw out the tub in the hope of what?

-       Very few and an ever-reducing number of marketers have a way of working to help ensure the best work is delivered in the most efficient ways by their agencies.

-     And in fact very few, if any (again and again) advertising agencies have their own way of working which they mandate upon a client to follow, preferring to work in whatever way the client (who has no way) wants to work.

-      Very few recognise what ‘best’ comms looks like for their industry; product or brand and most are not interested in pursuing it anyway.

-      The entire structure and relationships are built more and more on just getting work into the market rather than getting strong and effective work in front of their consumers.

-      And as far as I know, none of the big global agency holding companies any proprietary tools to help them help their clients understand the impact that strong work has over pedestrian work. In fact, no investment is made at all to help agency personnel track the success or otherwise of the work they deliver - best not to know that, right!

I finish off with what I started with – who in their right mind would be spending all that money on advertising and not do these things? Not doing them surely reflects a lack of interest or belief. Or is it just that there are more important things to do? 

If you think this is truth well told, please share!

By Peter Davis, Founder and Director, Maximised.

Additional reports by ‘Dele Dele-Olukoju, Marketing Communication strategist and publisher of the online Marketing Communication Digest. He writes from Lagos, Nigeria.