Selecciones - Webs

Belch: Advertising and
Promotion, Sixth Edition
IMC PERSPECTIVE 8-2
V. Developing the
Integrated Marketing
Communications Program
8. Creative Strategy:
Planning and Development
The Perpetual Debate: Creative
versus Hard-Sell Advertising
For decades there has been a perpetual battle over the
role of advertising in the marketing process. The war
for the soul of advertising has been endlessly fought
between those who believe ads should move people
and those who just want to move product. On one side
are the “suits” or “rationalists,” who argue that advertising
must sell the product or service and that the
more selling points or information in the ad, the better
its chance of moving the consumer to purchase. On the
other side are the “poets” or proponents of creativity,
who argue that advertising has to build an emotional
bond between consumers and brands or companies
that goes beyond product advertising. The debate over
the effectiveness of creative or artsy advertising is not
new. The rationalists have taken great delight in pointing
to long lists of creative and award-winning campaigns
over the years that have failed in the
marketplace, such as the humorous commercials for
Alka-Seltzer from the 1960s and 70s and the Joe Isuzu
spokes-liar ads from the late 80s. They also point to
the recent dot-com explosion that brought with it a lot
of creative and award-winning ads but proved that
great advertising alone cannot make consumers buy a
product or service they really do not want or need.
There are many examples of creative campaigns
that moved consumers’ emotions but were terminated
because they failed to move the sales needle and they
put accounts and reputations on the line. In 1998 Levi
Strauss & Co. terminated Foote, Cone & Belding, of San
Francisco, from its Levi’s jean account after 67 years
because of declining sales, even though the agency
had consistently earned rave reviews and awards for
its creative work. The company moved its
account to TBWA/Chiat/Day, which won
accolades for its creative work on campaigns
such as “Opt for the Original” and
“Make Them Your Own.” However, the popularity
of Levi’s among young people
plummeted 74 percent from 1996 to 2001,
with only 8 percent citing the brand as
their favorite jean, down from 31 percent
in 1996. In early 2002 Levi Strauss parted
company with TBWA/Chiat/Day and
moved its business to Bartle Bogle
Hegarty, the agency that has handled
advertising for Levi’s in Europe for a number
of years.
Another company that had differences
of opinion with its agency over artsy versus
more hard-sell advertising is Norwe-
© The McGraw−Hill
Companies, 2003
gian Cruise Lines. The company’s marketing director,
Nina Cohen, felt that the sensual “It’s different out
here” campaign produced by Goodby, Silverstein & Partners
in the mid-90s was gorgeous but irrelevant. She
said, “Every frame of those ads was frameable, but
we’re not in the framing business.” Cohen added that
“while there are some creative icons out there who feel
they have some higher voice to answer to, as clients,
we’re the ones you have to answer to.” However, the
agency’s co-creative director, Jeff Goodby, considered
his agency’s creative work for Norwegian both beautiful
and effective and argues that the impact of creative
and entertaining advertising on sales isn’t always quantifiable
for good reason. He notes: “It’s where the magic
happens in advertising, and you can never predict that.
It’s dangerous to be suspicious of that.” Many of the
“poets” on the creative side agree with Goodby and like
to cite the teaching of legendary adman Bill Bernbach,
who preached that persuasion is an art, not a science,
and that its success is dependent on a complex mix of
intangible human qualities that can be neither measured
nor predicted.
Most of the “poets” who support advertising that
connects on an emotional level insist that selling product
is as much a priority for them as it is for those on
the rational side of the debate. One top agency executive
notes, “We’ve proven that this kind of advertising
works; otherwise we wouldn’t be in business, us or the
agencies that practice the craft at this level.” However,
Brent Bouchez, founder of Bouchez Kent and Company
and a creative director for 20 years, argues that the
poets are losing sight of the fact that advertising is
245