Branding in Steep Decline

Written By Ted Grigg

In a recent article published in Response Magazine, Don Potter wrote the headline "Branding is Dead."

He starts out by saying:

"Over the years, many advertising practitioners have forgotten that the primary purpose of their profession is to sell stuff."

This sounds a lot like my post "What is the purpose of advertising anyway?" I was reacting to the multi-million dollar advertisements in the last Superbowl when I wrote:

"Things are indeed getting worse than we thought for advertising agencies that waste millions of dollars of their clients' money with advertising that does not get the cash register ringing."

But saying that all branding is dead was not Potter's point. He is simply stating the obvious that eludes many advertisers. "Advertising's true role? Sell!"

In his own editorial in the same issue, the editor-in-chief Thomas Haire says that "once so brilliant brand marketers who had no time for DR now have one chance to save themselves in the new marketing universe: line up to learn the secrets of direct response from its leading experts or face obsolescence."

If you have been in direct marketing for more than 10 years, then you know that the traditional direct marketer has indeed gained a new relevance in the eyes of corporate America. The call for accountable advertising has never wielded a stronger voice than right now.

Just look at the spending trends.

According to Jacqueline Renfrow, total ad spending fell 2.6% in 2008 while DR was up by 9.2% (third article down on the linked page).

But we must not make the same mistake that branders made when they took the position that direct marketers have nothing to teach them.

What are some of the lessons we can learn from positioning, branding and image building advertisers?

Ted Grigg

Ted Grigg is a direct response strategist who helps growth-focused companies reduce risk by identifying weak assumptions before they become costly mistakes.

Over the course of his career, Ted has evaluated several hundred million dollars in direct response testing across direct mail, digital, print, television, telephone, and other channels. His work combines direct response strategy, acquisition economics, customer analysis, creative evaluation, offer development, and disciplined testing.

Ted has worked on both the client and agency sides of the business. That experience gives him a practical understanding of the pressures facing executives, marketing teams, agencies, and service providers—and of the problems that arise when activity, media volume, or creative preference replaces a clear economic objective.

His consulting work helps organizations examine such questions as:

  • Are acquisition goals economically realistic?

  • Is the allowable Cost Per Sale supported by customer value?

  • Are targeting, offers, creative, media, and response paths working together?

  • Are tests structured to produce reliable business decisions?

  • Are unproven assumptions being treated as facts?

  • Is the organization measuring sales outcomes rather than convenient proxies?

Ted’s experience includes the development of direct mail and multichannel acquisition programs for insurance, healthcare, financial services, technology, nonprofit, manufacturing, retail, transportation, communications, government, and business-to-business organizations.

For a national direct-to-consumer insurance company, he developed a direct mail format that defeated established controls and helped expand the productive use of compiled prospect lists from less than 10 percent to more than 30 percent of total direct mail circulation within one year. He also planned Medicare lead-generation programs for more than 60 regional and national HMO and PPO organizations, with some programs exceeding sales projections by as much as 60 percent.

Ted founded Wyse Direct, a direct marketing division of Wyse Advertising in Cleveland, where he developed acquisition programs and helped launch a new technology product for Seiko Instruments by generating a predictable flow of qualified sales leads for its national sales organization. As vice president of new business development for the Grizzard Agency, he helped broaden the agency’s strategic capabilities and pursue new commercial and fundraising opportunities.

He is the author of The HMO/PPO Marketing Plan—A Step-by-Step Guide, published by Executive Enterprises, and has written numerous articles and conducted webinars on direct response strategy, testing, creative development, and marketing economics.

Ted earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from Abilene Christian University and completed two years of graduate study at Texas Tech University. He is the founder of DMCG, LLC.

http://www.dmcgresults.com
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