In the pre-digital period, companies were mostly utilising traditional media channels such as radio advertising, print advertising, and billboards. If companies had a hefty advertising budget, they might even have a television advertisement running at peak times to maximise their audience.
While companies still had to compete for their audience’s attention, it was easier to maintain their attention as there were minimal distractions and the audience was focused on one specific channel at a time.
In the digital world however, that has dramatically changed. The average consumer now sees about 10,000 advertisements per day over the course of a variety of channels. From traditional advertising to online advertising, and even native advertising, it’s getting harder and harder to compete for a consumer’s attention.
Today’s audience is easily distracted by a variety of channels – they could be watching television while playing on their phone, and simultaneously checking emails on their computer.
As marketers, with the amount of noise surrounding our consumers it’s getting increasingly harder to cut through it.
Consumers are so overwhelmed by the noise, that the term ‘advertising avoidance’ exists now. Consumers are actively downloading ad blockers to avoid having to look at advertisements while they’re surfing the web.
Either than the usual ad blockers, there have also been other innovative ways to block out the noise such as turning ads into art in New York City – a city that’s renowned for the sheer number of advertisements, especially in Times Square with its 24/7 flashing lights. Going one step further, Sao Paulo even had a clean city law in place to ban outdoor advertising.
With all of the above, it’s obvious that companies are having a much harder time reaching their intended audience. Even so however, there are companies that have successfully cut through the noise, and achieved success with their marketing campaigns. How have these companies cut through the noise and succeeded in the digital world?
Humour is Key
There’s nothing quite like being able to have a good laugh. Humor is a big aspect that companies have been using to engage with their audience.
Old Spice for example, is a company that really stood out with their “the man your man could smell like” campaign. It involved actor Isaiah Mutsafa engaging in rapid-fire monologue to promote the benefit of using Old Spice products.
Not only did the advertisement go viral, it also increased sales by 11% over the course of 12 months. Videos have been viewed more than 40 million times, and total brand views on the web are estimated to have surpassed 110 million. The video was hilarious and impactful, and was also short and snappy – just enough to hold an audience’s attention.
Snickers also did an excellent job with humor with their “You’re not you when you’re not hungry” campaign with a memorable tagline that is easily ingrained in one’s mind. Not only has the advertisement won numerous awards with the product being the centre of the ad, Snickers also increased global sales by 15.9%, and grew market share.
While both campaigns did have a spokesperson as part of their advertisement, they also utilised humour to grab the consumer’s attention. The storytelling was also compelling enough for it to become viral.
The impact of a ground-breaking message
The Always brand hit a home run when they launched this advertisement that went viral with 90m+ views after the 2015 Superbowl. It wasn’t the advertisement that went viral though, it was the message of the advertisement that stuck with individuals long after it aired.
The message was inspiring and communicated that girls are just as fit and capable as boys are even during puberty – a period of time where most girls start to doubt themselves, and a stage of life that is important for Always products.
Always was able to acknowledge not just the audience but delve deeper and talk about the challenges that they may encounter. While Always was able to deliver this seamlessly and resonate with the audience, organisations should still be tactful about the issues they bring up, as corporate social responsibility can backfire. In the case of Always however, the brand conveyed a message that resonated with their company’s belief and values.
Thinking out of the box
In this day and age, consumers have looked at countless advertisements conveying the same message in pretty much the same way except for slight differences. The Melbourne Metro Campaign – Dumb Ways to Die however, was an innovative and creative campaign that communicated a common message in an interesting way.
The famous campaign was able to communicate a simple idea in a way that was impactful with a unique perspective. While most other public service advertisements had a gloom-and-doom feel, this advertisement not only took a creative spin on it, there was also a catchy song with cartoon characters that gave it a universal appeal.
Unsurprisingly, the campaign was a hit and was one of the most shared global advertisements that generated over 60 million in media impressions, and most importantly resulted in a 20% reduction in rail-related accidents year-on-year.
Is it possible to cut through the noise?
While difficult, it’s certainly a possibility. As seen above, companies are coming up with different ways to cut through the noise, and stand out from the rest. What ties all of these advertisements together however, is that it’s more than just about the message, they also resonate with their audience on a deeper level be it with humour, emotion, or even cartoons with a catchy song.
Perhaps one of the most important things to remember as marketers, is that we’re not just blindly delivering a message, but also cultivating a relationship with our audience.
karmywidjaja.com 