Don’t be so narrow-minded!
Kantar analysis finds the average brand campaign could have been 2.6x times more effective with more diverse spending allocations.
Recipe For Building Brand Equity with Media?
Brand equity is the value that branding adds to a product or service. The scale of brand equity is influenced by many factors. These include brand awareness, associations, personality, loyalty, advocacy, and brand experience. Building brand equity can drive growth by increasing market share, sales volume, price premium, and customer retention and advocacy.
There are many ways that marketers can influence brand equity, including price, promotion, packaging, and messaging, among others. Media, both earned and paid, can play a large role. But is there a single best recipe for using media to build brand equity?
As reported in Kantar’s Comprehensive Guide to Brand Equity and Growth (2022), Oxford University used Kantar’s CrossMedia database to conduct the largest ever academic study of media effectiveness. The analysis covered 1,105 multi-media campaigns, with an average spend of $12M, across 557 brands and 51 countries. The goal was to understand how successful the media mixes were in building brands based on four key metrics: awareness, association, consideration, and motivation.
Oxford found that no single mix is best for all brand outcomes; there is no single recipe for campaign success. No single medium or mix is best for every objective. Perhaps the biggest lesson: using multiple primary and supporting channels helps campaigns achieve resonance and attain their goals.
Key Findings
Underdelivering campaigns tend to invest too heavily in one or two channels. Consider creating synergy and resonance with a broader channel mix. This conclusion aligns with the previously released Advertising Research Foundation’s Ground Truths.
Linear TV remains an effective base for campaigns but shouldn’t over-shadow investment to the point where it makes investment in other channels ineffective.
Combining digital with offline channels is a powerful mix and should be considered carefully in line with campaign goals.
Clearly identifying campaign objectives and considering channel synergies at the start of the planning process should be a main priority for marketers. Regardless of the mix chosen, measure outcomes using mix models and/or brand studies to determine how each campaign contributes to brand equity and which mixes best drive toward goals.