Does your marketing Snap, Crackle and Pop?

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Does your marketing Snap, Crackle and Pop?

 
I just read a great article from The New Yorker, "Hanging Tough" by James Surowiecki, about the marketing spend between two leaders of cereal during the Great Depression. 

Kellogg
launched a new cereal, Rice Krispies, with heavy promotion. Kellogg doubled its ad budget as they promoted aggressively. Their "Snap, Crackle and Pop" campaign exploded on the scene across the country and saw tremendous success. While the economy was crumbling, Kellogg's marketing push gained market share and realized a thirty percent increase in profits.  

Meanwhile, competitor Post, did exactly the opposite, slashing their marketing budget and cutting back on advertising and promotions. As you can imagine, they did not fare as well and Kellogg emerged as the market leader. 

Increasing ad spend during a recession provides consumers and business leaders with the reassurance that said company is strong and thereby establishes trust in the product. Advertising proves which companies are strong. In fact as the weaker companies continue scaling back, it creates an even bigger "pop" to those companies that do advertise.  "When everyone is advertising, for instance, it's hard to separate yourself from the pack; when ads are scarcer, the returns on investment seem to rise," pointed out Surowiecki. 

TMC President Rich Tehrani's advice on marketing in a recession, "In order to take market share you must increase mindshare and marketing."  He continued in his blog post, "In This Recession, Would You Buy from Your Company?",to compare the philosophy behind waiting for sales to pick up before investing in marketing as waiting to throw a log in the fireplace until you feel heat. Obviously you'll end up standing in the cold just as you'll be left out in the cold by reducing or eliminating marketing. 

There's no better time than right now to invest in the future of your company. Spending on advertising shows the strength of your company and establishes brand awareness, the essential key to building the trust needed to close the deal. Particularly during a recession, business leaders are even more scrupulous with their money and they need to trust the brand they purchase for their company.

Advertising in today's market is critical to the success of your company, will make the biggest impact, and perhaps will provide the best ROI your marketing dollars will ever see. 

Jan Pierret